Anti-Corruption in Nigeria: Towards a Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This paper makes a case for discursive analysis of anticorruption in Nigeria. It argues for an alternative understanding of anti/corruption discourse by examining anticorruption as a discourse shrouded in a complex inter-related process shaped by socio-historical continuities, meaning-making, interests, perceptions and interpretations that (inter)act to impel, and sometimes propel, anticorruption to produce contradictory outcomes. Without impugning on the strides of government, through the efforts of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in the fight against corruption, this piece interrogates why anticorruption campaign appears to have little or no impact in its fight against corruption in Nigeria and argues it is not unconnected with emphasis on institutions as against interests and meaning-making processes that goes into the making of ‘institutions’. It contends that emphasis on institutions in the campaign against corruption loses sight of and does not take into account what corruption is, what it portends, and whether its re/presentation captures or reflects the needs, views and experience of the society. Grounded in postcolonialism and relying on extant literature on (anti)corruption in Nigeria, this study deploys critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine how the discourse of (anti)corruption in Nigeria is generating a social process of anticorruption with (un)intended consequences.

Keywords: Corruption, Anticorruption, Critical Discourse Analysis, Postcolonialism, Institutionalism

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/13-8-01

Publication date: April 30^th 2023