Corruption is simply the abuse of public power, office or privilege for private and unauthorized purposes. It is pervasive and affects all facets of Nigerian society – public and private sectors. Once a duty, power or position of authority has been entrusted to someone and such power or duty is used for private gain and unofficial purposes, then corruption is made manifest. Corruption comes in various forms; bribery, fraud, nepotism, favoritism, misappropriation, embezzlement and so on.
Corruption is a global menacebut appears mostprevalent in developing countries like Nigeria. Nigeria has been ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ranking at No.158 out of 180 countries in the 2023 Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International. The trajectory of corruption is that the more it prevails in a society, the weaker the institutions become and this ultimately leads to lack of transparency and accountability in the system, thereby undermining democracy and the rule of law. Nigeria is a deeply corrupt society and corruption is considered as a normal way of life. Public officers no longer perform their duty without being bribed or influenced to do so.
The justice gap in Nigeria is huge, largely due to the difficulty encountered in accessing justice in Nigeria. Justice gap can be defined as the significant gap existing between the justice needs of citizens and the services available to meet those needs; the difference between the civil-legal needs of low-income people and the resources available to meet those needs; the number of people who have at least one unmet justice need. Millions of Nigerian citizens do not have access to justice with the poor being the most vulnerable. Access to justice is considered a human rights issue and this is founded on the commitment of states under regional and international standards to the fundamental and transcendental principles of equality, non-discrimination, human dignity, fair hearing, protection and fair treatment of citizens, etc.These principles facilitate access to justice. Nigerians face a lot of challenges in trying to access justice and some of these challenges are illiteracy, lack of information and sensitization, poor prosecution of offenders, bottlenecks in legal procedures and the pervasive corruption.
The Executive and the Judiciary armed with the responsibility of execution, protection and interpretation of the rights of citizens and ensuring access to justice are not left out in these corrupt practices plaguing Nigeria institutions. Bribery is widespread in these institutions and citizens will have to battle a long line of corrupt officials before their matter can even be heard and determined; from the investigation where money is demanded for detailed pursuit of the facts grounding the offence; prosecutorial bodies, who will demand money before they can take a matter to court, to the court officials whose palms must be greased or simple administrative actions; and finally to some judges who pronounce judgements antithetical to common sense, reason and unfounded in the law. There are also several instances where people of means who commit crimes easily get away with it because they know the judge or can buy judgment in their favor.
According to Gwar Terngu in his paper on impact of corruption in Nigeria; ‘a corrupt judicial system will violate the basic rights to equality before the law and deny procedural rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights conventions’
The police usually demand money to fund investigations as there is always a claim of poor budgetary funding. When they prosecute offences, the prosecution may not be diligent which often leads to the abandonment or dismissal of these cases even where there is abundance of evidence to prove the commission of a crime. The corruption practices in the judiciary have also greatly impeded the delivery of quality and reliable justice in Nigeria. These are not the days when judges stand on the direct interpretation of the law and dish out punishment to offenders in deserving cases or even pronounce the law as it is in civil cases. The corruption in the judiciary has greatly undermined the quality of judgments delivered in courts today. What we have today are scrabbled proceedings or proceedings which do not follow the basic rules of fair hearing; overnight interim injunctions and rulings to stifle the rights of people without giving them the opportunity to be heard. Judges seem to be at the call of the politicians and a tool to achieving political desires without recourse to laid down procedures.
Despite the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws, corruption cases in court still suffer undue delays. Many of these cases are tried indefinitely; they are continuously recycled from one court to the other with no just determination or determined in a rash manner to make offenders receive favorable judgments. It is pertinent to state that corruption is a big factor hindering access to justice in Nigeria and has stifled the voices of the people and made them unable to exercise their rights, which raises the call for the need to reinforce the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
In order to combat corruption in Nigeria and improve access to justice, a stronger campaign should be led to combat systematic corruption which has eaten deep into our institutions. A major step in combating corruption is the full implementation of total independence and financial autonomy of the judiciary to perform their duties. The judiciary stands at the center in the fight against corruption, but if the funds of the judiciary are still tampered or released discretionally by the executive, chances are that the executive will continue to dictate how the judiciary performs its duties and will invariably affect the overall objective of fighting corruption in Nigeria.
Appointment of judges should also be merit based and not predicated on political affiliations or favor. The National Judicial Commission (NJC) should be allowed to perform its duties with the appointment and discipline of judges without political interference. A strong, independent and corrupt free judiciary is key to maintaining a sane and corrupt free society.
The anti-graft agencies like the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) should be further strengthened to take up the task against corruption without fear, threats or intimidation. All resources, independence and strong government support needed to carry out their mandate should be made available to the anti-graft agencies. There should be amendments to existing anti-corruption laws to prescribe stiffer punishment for bribery and corruption. This should deter and discourage future attempts in engaging in such practices. Adherence to statutory timelines for the prosecution of corruption cases to avoid setbacks and delays is also necessary.
