Nigeria Loses N6.75bn To Bribery …As Police, FRSC Top List Of Bribe Collectors

Nigeria lost the sum of N6.75 billion to bribery in 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have said.
This declaration is contained in a report jointly signed by the two bodies, at a one-day anti-corruption training in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.
The National Consultant, UNODC, Dr. Issac Adeniran, who spoke to The Tide from the sidelines of the  anti-corruption training, organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), noted that Nigerians paid the sum of N6.75 billion as bribe to public officers in 2019.
The UNODC consultant said the police and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were the public sectors that mostly collected bribes.
Adeniran observed that the amount paid as bribe by Nigerians to the public sector officials was almost the country’s budget for the health sector in 2018 and 0.52 percent of the country’s GDP.
He pointed out however, that despite the disturbing figures in bribe taking by public officials in 2019, the rate of crime reduced from the figures in 2016.
The summit, which had over 100 young persons from the South South region in attendance, was aimed at mapping out effective strategies in dealing with corruption by young people in the country.

Tonye Nria-Dappa