An Overview of Corruption in the Context of the Public Sector

Abstract

Corruption is the Hydra that truncated the potentials of Nigerians and stymied the growth of Nigeria. The full embedding and institutionalization of public sector corruption in the Nigerian culture has accentuated widespread poverty, unemployment, inequalities, crime, destitution, and fading transportation, health, housing, and education amenities. Corruption has been fingered as the main cause of Nigeria's socio-economic quagmires. Nigeria is evidently at crossroads and in dire straits due to its inability to decisively tackle public sector corruption, as all the anti-corruption initiatives from 1999 to 2023 didn't attain the desired results. This chapter will examine the definition, elements, and causes of corruption, and also highlight the implications of corruption. Because the public sector is the engine room of government and is central to public service delivery, the chapter will examine the nature and effects of public service corruption before proffering measures to tackle this virus of intractable strain.