Nigeria's Cobweb of Corruption and the path to Underdevelopment

Abstract

Corruption in Nigeria has grown slowly from the time of pre-independence and it has surely taken over Nigerians’ public and private spaces in the last five decades with compelling evidences to show first among the legislative, the executives and recently the judicial arms of government as well as the unexpected quarters in the private sectors such as the Stock Exchange. This paper highlights several factors and institutions in Nigerian society that have sustained and entrenched corrupt practices by government officials and high profile private sectors participants. The institutions identified here are regarded as eaters of corruption proceeds around which a cobweb of corruption has been weaved by the corrupt public/private individuals to create a network under the control of the grandfather- spider of corruption (The federal government); the father- spiders (the state government) and the children- spider ( the local governments spread across the Nigerian society). The paper concludes that corruption is a national thing in Nigeria and that the over centralization and the control of means of survival by the grandfather spider has weakened almost all major institutions in the Nigerian society; created a Master- Servant, Lordship and Serfs relationship, which if not re-structured will continue to sustain corruption and perpetuate further development of underdevelopment of the Nigeria Scale and Society. Therefore, Nigerians should shun corruption and see it as a major problem to development in Nigeria.

Key Words: Corruption, underdevelopment, cobweb, leaders, masses, Nigeria