Transparency International has ranked Nigeria 136th among 168 least corrupt countries in the world, with a score of 26 per cent.
The ranking, which was for 2015, was released on Wednesday and showed that Nigeria dropped by one point in the TI index, which rated countries on a scale of zero (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be least corrupt). In 2014, the nation was also ranked 136th among 176 countries, but scored 27 per cent.
The TI, which has published the ‘Corruption Perceptions Index’ since 1995, defines corruption as “the misuse of public power for private benefits.”
Denmark, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand and The Netherlands were in the top five on the list, with their scores given as 91, 90, 89, 88 and 87 per cent, respectively.
No African country is in the first 10. Those in the group include Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada. Germany, Luxemburg and United Kingdom were ranked 10th.
Ghana is ranked 56th out of 168 countries with a score of 47 per cent, marginally down from a score of 48 per cent in 2014. The rankings of other African countries showed Guinea, Kenya and Uganda in the 139th position with 25 per cent; Congo Republic was 146th with 23 per cent; and Chad in 147th, scoring 22 per cent.
North Korea and Somalia remained at the bottom with unchanged scores of eight per cent.
The Chair, Transparency International, José Ugaz, was quoted as saying in a statement, “The 2015 Corruption Perception Index clearly shows that corruption remains a blight around the world. But 2015 was also a year when people again took to the streets to protest corruption. People across the globe sent a strong signal to those in power: it is time to tackle grand corruption.”
The group also said that 2015 showed that people working together could succeed in the battle against corruption.
Although it noted that corruption was still rife globally, more countries improved their scores in the 2015 edition of the index than declined.
It said, “Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries on the 2015 index scored below 50, on a scale from zero (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).
“Yet, in places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana, citizen activists in groups and on their own worked hard to drive out the corrupt, sending a strong message that should encourage others to take decisive action in 2016.”
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