Corruption and Economic Development in Nigeria: A Materialistic Observation

Abstract

The paper seeks to examine the effects of corruption on economic development in Nigeria. It highlights theprobable root – causes of corruption, and the likely factors that give vent to its exacerbation in the Nigerianeconomy. The paper examines the apparent machinery through which corruption impairs economic developmentin Nigeria. To meaningfully curb corruption in Nigeria, a selfless, disciplined, and visionary leadership isinevitable. The Nigerian judicial system should make the courts to, indeed, function as “courts of justice”, andallow the law to be practically “blind” in its operations. More so, Nigeria’s mode of production should changefrom the one (the present), which engenders and supports income inequality among the people to the onecharacterized by equity and justice in the distribution of national output. For without which, anti – corruptionstrategies adopted in Nigeria will have very little or no effect, and corruption will not attenuate, but rather it willaccentuate. And the yearning for meaningful economic development in Nigeria will aptly be equated with theyearning for hair by the lizard.