CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA ; THE THESIS FOR A 2017 PhD AWARD IN TSU USA

On Thursday the 12/8/2017 , South Texas university[TSU ] Houston  community members and some invitees gathered to listen to the thesis defense of Mr s -Ngozi-Justina Ihe  with the title -"HISTORICAL AND CRIMINOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CORRUPTION ;A CASE OF NIGERIA "-                          in the department of administration of justice at Babara Jordan  and Mikey Leland school of public affairs .

    The committee members were Drs  R Mupia , D,baker , E Nwagwu  and professor I D Onwudiwe who was  sitting in as chair .

   After presenting the outline of her presentation , Mrs Ihe in her introduction made it clear that though corruption was a global phenomenon . the  was no generally accepted definition of Iit  as she gave the position of transparency international that defines corruption as abusing of public office for private gain ,while  the world bank defines corruption as  using a public position for unlawful private gain [Zhang, capo an Vaughn , 2009], Wehmeier [2000] describes corruption as any dishonest or illegal conduct mostly by people in power and Jain who states that corruption is an act in which the power of public office is used for personal gain in the manner that contravenes the rules of the game .

The Theses which was basically to examine the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria was grounded in a background finding that  shows that Nigeria though largely dependent on oil which sustain corruption practices , losses Billions of dollars annually because of corruption [Ifeanyi , 2012]. Nigeria looses about 20% of her gross domestic product [GDP] annually to corruption [TI 2015].

 As purpose , she tried to examine the impact of official corruption on the economy , the educational , social and political institutions in     Nigeria , explored how corruption has impoverished the masses and created different patterns of criminal behaviors . How corruption has led to the recent economic recession as she sought to recommend policies that would help to reduce corruption in Nigeria while contributing to the body of knowledge .

The study is very significant to her because Nigeria ranks among the first ten corrupt nations in the world with high unemployment rate  and  associated high rates of crime in the country . She beliefs Nigeria now has a very  negative image in the world because of corruption which if left unaddressed , may crumble the so called economic giant of Africa as  Nigeria is known today  into a failed state .

 She presented a critical over view of the literature associated with her theses.

  She emphasized the anomie, Strain and Rotten apple theories to explain the corruption behavior in Nigeria . Emile Durkheim and Robert K Merton applied the term anomie  to refer to a state of normlessness or lack of social regulation in modern society as one of the factors that promote higher rates of criminal behaviors , suicide , including corruption .

 She used the single -instrument case study as methodology, presenting data which she analyzed to come to certain conclusions which included types of corruption like bribery , embezzlement and  election fraud committed mostly by the politicians , those of the executive arm of government , the judiciary and the military with the politicians accounting for the most .

 She cited the deficiencies in the fight against corruption mechanisms already in place in Nigeria like many people  charged but not convicted because of influence peddling . Legal actions have not followed public condemnation expressed in the media , eroding public confidence in the investigators and their agencies like the economic and fianancial crimes commission [EFCC]. 

 The policy initiatives she proposed include the following ,1 Immunity clause policy implimented in the Nigerian constitution should be expunged 2 Implimentation of the deterrent theory using punishment to serve as deterrent 3 Implimentation of the rotten apple policy , that is getting rid of the bad persons from the good ones . 4 Accountability mechanisms put in place in the public sector 5 Reorganization of the criminal justice system in Nigeria .

   She took questions from the committee members who invited questions from the audience after them . 

    The committee held a  close door deliberation session with her , after which she was presented to the public as granted the PhD.