Abstract
This study focuses on the legal and institutional frameworks for investigating and prosecuting corruption in Nigeria. It examines the roles of the judiciary and the two foremost Anti-Corruption Agencies (ACAs) in the criminalisation of corruption-related offences in the country. These ACAs are the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Since May 1999 Nigeria has developed a large body of laws and institutions to combat corruption but indices from international bodies like Transparency International (TI) have consistently rated Nigeria as a corrupt nation. Likewise, existing literature argues that these institutions have not been effective in combating corruption due to the absence of political will on the Nigerian government’s part. Acknowledging that combating corruption includes preventive, criminalisation, international cooperation and public enlightenment approaches, this study adopts mixed methods for data generation and analysis to assess two key aspects of the criminalisation approach - investigation and prosecution of corruption-related offences in Nigeria. Data was collected and analysed from 24 semi-structured interviews (SSIs) and 216 self-completion questionnaires (SCQs) from subjects made up of employees of the ACAs, judges and legal practitioners. The SCQs included short vignettes, Likert-scale open-ended and closed questions. Thematic analysis of the data from the SSIs was adopted to answer the research questions. The findings show that there are interrelated institutional and individual factors affecting the investigation and prosecution of corruption. The absence of political will on the part of the government (encapsulating institutional factors) is connected with the non-participation of the public (encapsulating individual factors). For effective anti-corruption measures, leaders must demonstrate political will by strengthening institutions while citizens must actively participate in the country’s AC drive through reporting and visible intolerance of corruption. Furthermore, nonchalant citizens cannot transform to active enforcers of the AC mandate when elected/appointed to government. This study recommends that key Nigerian institutions be strengthened, and that the country’s anti-corruption model be modified.