Abuja, Oct, 16, 2022 – The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is planning a national corruption survey to assess the success of the Federal Government’s fight against corruption.
Semiu Adeniran, the Statistician-General of the Federation, said this on Monday at a ‘Train the Trainers’ programme for the Third National Survey on Quality and Integrity of Public Services in Nigeria in Abuja.
The survey will be the third of its kind with the first two conducted in 2017 and 2019.
Adeniran, represented by the Bureau’s Director of ICT, Biyi Fafunmi, described the training as a significant development in efforts to collectively combat the scourge of corruption in Nigeria.
He said corruption had remained a formidable challenge as such the insights gathered would guide the country towards a more transparent and accountable future.
He said the outcome of the survey would not castigate nor point fingers at any individual or institution, but to improving the quality of public service in Nigeria..
“It is also to enhance the trust in the relationship between the citizens and public offices. This is an important hallmark of development in any society.
“This third round is being conducted in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the MacArthur Foundation.
“The survey is not only important as a policy decision tool but also strategic and timely.
“The results will help assess the effectiveness of the efforts deployed by the government to tackle corruption, identify remaining gaps, and determine priority areas for future initiatives
“It will also help the government craft future anti-corruption policies that are better designed, better targeted and thus more effective to tackle corruption in our society,” he said.
Adeniran said the survey focused primarily on understanding the experiences of corruption by Nigerians, rather than perceived corruption whenever they encounter public officials.
According to him, two new vital modules on gender and disability have been introduced to the instrument in the third round of the survey.
“As the third aspect of the survey, following the 2017 and 2019 rounds, we are presented with an opportunity to conduct a trend analysis of corruption experienced by households in the country.
“Thus, this round will seek to gain a deeper understanding of the differential impact of corruption on marginalised or typically excluded groups such as women, youths, and persons with disabilities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Musa Mohammed, Director of Demography and Household Statistics, NBS, said a test run survey was carried out in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, and Nasarawa State as a build-up to the main survey.
Mohammed, who is also the Project Director, said the trainers would review the questionnaires to be used for the survey, adding that 30 per cent of the numerators for the exercise were from the NBS.
“We will use this opportunity to build the capacity of the state Bureau of Statistics,” he said.
He said the survey of 2017 and 2019 showed a decline in the prevalence of bribery from 32.3 per cent to 30.2 per cent adding that it’s at variance with the report of Transparency International.
Adebisi Adeniran, the National Research Consultant, said that the two previous surveys impacted on policy formulation in Nigeria and expected that the third round would look at trends and patterns of corruption in the country.
Princess Chifiero, Project Officer, Anti-Corruption in UNODC, said the focus was on an experienced-based corruption survey shared by citizens themselves rather than on perception.
He said the survey questionnaires were usually translated into the three Nigerian official languages and pidgin English with 33,000 interviewers across the 36 states and the FCT.
Chifiero said that bribery refusal, gender dimension, items to measure disability and items to measure the location of bribery were new additions to the survey.
