“Nigeria is fantastically corrupt.” Those were the words of former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016. Nearly a decade later, the statement still holds true. Before we debate its fairness, let’s examine the scale of corruption in Nigeria.
Back in 2016, Nigeria ranked 136th out of 176 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), with a score of 28/100. What does this score mean? The CPI measures the perceived level of public sector corruption in countries, based on expert and business surveys. Scores run from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). It considers issues such as bribery, diversion of public funds, misuse of office for private gain, financial disclosure rules for officials, and protections for whistleblowers.
So, where is Nigeria today? In 2023, Nigeria ranked 145th out of 180 with a score of 25/100. In 2024, it ranked 140th out of 180 with a score of 26/100. The marginal change shows that little has improved since 2016. Corruption has long been part of Nigeria’s story, dating back to independence in 1960. This article focuses specifically on how corruption undermines infrastructure development.
How Corruption Manifests in Infrastructure Development
Corruption infiltrates every stage of an infrastructure project from selection, to construction, to completion. Public infrastructure demands vast resources. Without strong institutions to manage these resources in the public interest, funds often disappear before they reach the ground. Chatham House observes that, “Corrupt practices are deeply entrenched across various levels of Nigeria’s government and society. Corruption permeates politics, public administration, law enforcement and the judiciary, often undermining the delivery of basic services.”
The most obvious form is the diversion of public money. In many instances, there is a mismatch between what is budgeted for a particular project and what is eventually delivered. In a given project, there are monies unaccounted for and pocketed. Budgets are inflated, funds are siphoned, and the final project ends up substandard. We see roads riddled with potholes only a few years after completion, or power projects that never generate electricity despite huge expenditure. Diversion of public funds always results in subpar projects, breaking down only after a few years and needing more money to repair.
Furthermore, the Public Procurement Act of 2007 under Section 16(c) requires open and competitive bidding. In practice, many contracts are awarded without due process, often to associates of public officials in exchange for bribes or kickbacks. This denies Nigeria the best expertise leading to inflated costs and poor outcomes. Take the example uncovered by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) in 2023 where a restaurant’s bank account received ₦147.1 million from the federal purse to build classrooms and a skills centre in a Lagos primary school. In another case in 2020, the House of Representatives probed the award of ₦19.2 billion for the Port Harcourt–Makurdi railway section of the Eastern Railway Line to Eser Contracting and Industry Company Incorporated, a company with no incorporation record with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Olugboyega Oluseye in his study explains, “Political corruption affects infrastructure service delivery, delays delivery timeframes, raises infrastructure prices, diminishes infrastructure potential economy, reduces infrastructure quality, and leads to poor project selection.” He adds that it favours dishonest construction firms over the most efficient ones, drives up costs, and exposes projects to extortion, fines, blacklisting, and reputational harm.
Nigeria’s Hall of Shame: The Mambilla Project
Nigeria’s list of failed projects is long, but the Mambilla Hydroelectric Project stands out. Conceived in 1972, it was meant to deliver a hydropower plant of 3,050 megawatts of generation capacity. More than 50 years later, it remains on paper.
The project has stalled for decades due to allegations of corruption and contract irregularities amongst other factors. Former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, currently faces prosecution by the EFCC on seven-count charges including charges of unlawful procurement, forgery, and gratification up to a tune of $6 billion. These disputes have paralysed progress. While different government administrations and investors have promised to revive Mambilla, ongoing legal battles mean construction has never truly begun. The result of this is billions wasted in negotiations and arbitration, and an overall drawback for the power sector.
Breaking the Cycle
As Chatham House notes, “Corruption persists in Nigeria because of a complex interplay of systemic factors, including weak institutions, compromised governance structures, and deeply ingrained social norms.” To break this cycle, Nigeria must reform its public sector. To fix corruption in Nigeria is to fix the public sector. Stronger accountability, transparent budgets, open and competitive contract bidding, and free access to information are non-negotiable. Citizens and civil society must also have the tools to monitor projects and hold leaders to account.
Just two weeks ago, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu released his infrastructure plan, an infographic dashboard riddled with typos and confusing details which were called out by the public. The lesson is clear: transparency cannot be tokenistic. The government must present clear, accurate, and accessible information if citizens are to monitor and evaluate progress effectively.
Until corruption is tackled head-on, projects will remain abandoned, substandard, or over-inflated, while citizens continue to suffer poor roads, unreliable power, and broken public services. True progress will come only when integrity, accountability, and transparency guide the delivery of infrastructure.