Your forthcoming research paper is called ‘Taking action against corruption in Nigeria: empowering anti-corruption role models and coalitions to change social norms’. When did Nigeria’s problem with corruption start?
One theory relates to Nigeria’s ‘resource curse’. After the discovery of oil in the 1950s, there was an influx of money that the fledgling independent Nigerian state, built on the foundation of the extractive colonial state, had neither the institutional capacity nor the accountability mechanisms to manage.
A rent-seeking economy emerged where the country’s elites sought to increase their own wealth without contributing any benefits to society, and corruption became widespread. It is very costly – between 2005 and 2014, for instance, some $182 billion was lost through illicit financial flows. Ordinary citizens, especially the poorest, suffer the most.
How to help Nigerians who want to act against corruption
Leena Koni Hoffmann tells Sara Seth why ‘integrity role models’ are key to ending a cycle that hurts the poorest most.
