Nigeria continues to grapple with both endemic and self-inflicted challenges in its anti-corruption efforts. As government purportedly prioritises reforms to tackle theft and the wilful mismanagement of resources, stumbling blocks have proliferated. They range from operational ones such as institutional weaknesses, defective personnel, disregard for due-process and a proclivity to create media spectacle to the detriment of serious anti-graft investigations. Then there are the political failings evident in the government’s lack of political will, sincerity, balance and the naked politicisation which has created sacred cows to the detriment of President Buhari’s very credibility. Indeed, analysts are likely to look back in a decade from now and adjudge his floundering anti-corruption drive as a case-study in how not to fight graft.
