Corruption and Crisis of Governance in Nigeria: A Threat to Democracy

This study investigates how corruption serves as a trigger for governance problems, damaging democratic processes and contributing to public disillusionment. The corruption cycle is used as the conceptual framework to demonstrate a recurring pattern in which corruption is entrenched in the country. The study was qualitative and relied on secondary data gathered from peer-reviewed publications, news media, and relevant organisations, among others. Data was presented using textual descriptions, tables, and charts where appropriate, and analysis was done under appropriate themes with textual descriptions. The findings show solid evidence of chronic corruption in Nigeria, as seen by persistently low rankings on Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from 1999 to 2022. The investigation also revealed the systemic character of corruption, indicating its pervasiveness in governance. It emphasises the far-reaching impact of corruption-induced governance deficits on various democratic institutions and processes, such as constitutional supremacy, legitimacy, periodic election conduct, separation of powers and checks and balances, popular sovereignty, press freedom, and political parties, among others. The study also revealed that disenchantment with democracy in Nigeria has manifested itself in a gradual fall in voter turnout in elections since 2007. Finally, the study advocated for increased public participation and coordinated action by appropriate duty-bearers to combat the pervasiveness of corruption and its negative effects on governance and democratisation in Nigeria.