– Nigeria is 136th least
corrupt country
– The US, UK recorded highest
ranking ever.
– Somalia is the most corrupt
country in the
world.
Nigeria has been ranked as
136 on the list of world’s least
corrupt countries in the year
2015.
According to Transparency
International’s corruption
perceptions index, Nigeria’s
rating is a far cry from the top
ten in the world as is being
speculated in some quarters.
Denmark, the rating revealed,
tops the perceptions index for
the second consecutive year
but more countries are
improving than worsening
even as the United States and
United Kingdom reached their
highest rankings ever.
The list released on
Wednesday, January, 2016,
showed that Denmark scored
91 points out of a possible
100 while North Korea and
Somalia remained at the
bottom with unchanged scores
of 8.
Nigeria’s rating is expected to
be on the rise following the
recent corruption bedeviling
the $2.1 billion arms deal
scandal for which Sambo
Dasuki, former National
Security Adviser (NSA); Olisa
Metuh national publicity
secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), among
other top dogs in the country
are presently being probed.
But the report shows that the
country may have stepped up
in its corruption tag as
President Muhammadu Buhari
insists on fishing out every
corrupt public officer, whether
serving or out of service.
The index is based on expert
opinions of public sector
corruption, with a focus on
certain factors like whether
governmental leaders are held
to account for or go
unpunished for corruption.
Other perimeters considered
include the perceived
prevalence of bribery and if
public institutions respond to
citizens’ needs.
Transparency said there was
still a lot of room for
improvement in Europe and
Central Asia, which is seen as
one region.
It said: “In low-scorers
Hungary, Poland and Turkey,
politicians and their cronies
are increasingly hijacking
state institutions to shore up
power.
“It’s even grimmer further
down the index. In Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan
and others, governments are
restricting, if not totally
stifling, civil society and free
media.”