A recent report done by the National Bureau of Statistics in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has revealed that educated Nigerians are more likely to be involved in bribery than those without formal education.
The 2023 report, released in July 2024, showed that Nigerians with master’s degrees or bachelor’s degrees are more likely to pay or be asked to pay a bribe than those with no formal education.
According to the report, 39% of respondents reported experiencing bribery, with those with tertiary education being 1.3 times more likely to have paid a bribe or been asked to pay a bribe when interacting with public officials.
The report also notes a significant decrease in the gap between bribery prevalence among citizens with no formal education and those with tertiary education, from 81 percentage points in 2019 to 9 percentage points in 2023.
This shift is attributed to an increase in bribery requests made to citizens without formal education.
The report reads: “With a prevalence of bribery of 39 per cent, people with a master’s degree and/or a bachelor’s degree are much more likely to pay or be asked to pay a bribe than those with no formal education.
“According to the 2023 survey, people with the highest level of (tertiary) education were 1.3 times more likely than people with no formal education to have paid a bribe, or been asked and refused to pay a bribe, when in contact with a public official.
“The gap in bribery prevalence between citizens with no formal education and those with tertiary education has decreased significantly, from 81 percentage points in 2019 to 9 percentage points in 2023. This can be attributed to a marked increase in bribery requests made to citizens without formal education.”
This report showed that education level does not necessarily translate to a lower likelihood of engaging in bribery, and that other socioeconomic factors may be at play in Nigeria.
The report added: “In 2023, 5.1 bribes were paid on average by each bribe payer in Nigeria in the 12 months prior to the survey. This represents a modest and statistically insignificant decrease in the frequency of bribe-paying from 2019, when on average 5.4 bribes were paid by each bribe payer.
“It is estimated that some 87 million bribes were paid in 2023 (compared with 17 million estimated in 2019) – the equivalent of an average of 0.8 bribes per adult.
“The frequency of bribery is, on average, higher in rural areas than in urban areas. In 2023, bribe-payers living in urban areas paid on average 4.5 bribes, while those living in rural areas paid on average 5.8 bribes.”(SaharaReporters)
