Factors That Undermined President Muhammadu Buhari’s Anti-Corruption Campaigns in Nigeria

An Empirical Appraisal

Abstract

 In Nigeria, corruption has remained intractable despite efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administrations in reducing it. This work title “Factors that undermined President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption campaigns in Nigeria: Empirical Appraisal”, seeks to interrogate how the specificities of the state affects both the character of the regime and the regime’s anti-corruption policy implementation. The researcher adopted quantitative method of data analysis which entails collecting and analyzing numerical data to examine relevant issues of interest in the history of corruption in Nigeria. The work examined why corruption has persisted in the country under President Buhari’s administration from 2015-2023 despite his anti-corruption stance. Also, the work seeks to determine whether the anti-corruption policy implementation in Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was a success or not. Theory of Moral Development was adopted for this study. The following questions guided the work; What is the character of the state under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, 2015-2023? How is the anti-corruption agency under PMB a significant factor against the anti-corruption drive in Nigeria? What are the implications of the character of the state on anti-corruption drive in Nigeria under President Buhari 2015-2023? Findings show that, with the compromised sincerity of those mandated to fight corruption under President Muhammadu Buhari, winning the fight has remained a mirage. Based on the findings, the work suggested persistent value reorientation as a sine-qua-non for winning the war against corruption in Nigeria. Again, the anti-corruption agencies should be given free hand to operate; this will reduce political influence and financial inducement of judicial officials. Finally, it was recommended that those guilty of corruption charge should be banned from contesting for any political position to deter others.