CHAPTER ONE

1.0Introduction

Public debates recently in Nigeria have centred on the increasing rate of corruption resulting from inappropriate public finance planning and implementation mostly in some of the developing countries, Nigeria inclusive which in turn reduce the level of economic growth in the country. Corruption made itself visible when the institution of the government was founded due the behaviour of people appoint or elect to manage the government institutions (Anyanwu, 2002; Idomeh, 2006). Corruption has recently become a major issue in foreign aid and Nigeria nation as a whole. Corruption is an ancient practice that has been traced back to pre-biblical time and made itself known in the ancient civilizations of developed and developing countries. Political and social corruption is not a recent phenomenon that pervades the Nigerian state. Corruption is a social problem that has interested many scholars. Ruzindana (1999) sees corruption in Africa as a problem of routine deviation from affordable standards and norms by public officials and parties with whom they interact. The major concern for inter-nation aid policy during the last five decades has been to improve the living condition for the poor in the poorest countries of the world. But governments in poor countries are also the most corrupt country due to high level of poverty. Treisman (2000) and Paldam (1999) cited in Jens and Odd-Helge (2001) states that the level of GDP per capital holds most of the explanatory power of the various corruption indicators.

Corruption is a disease, which eats into the cultural, political and economic growth of any country and as well destroys the functioning of various organs of the government. Transparently international (2005) opine that “corruption is one of the greatest challenges of the contemporary world which undermines good government, fundamentally distorts public policy, leads to the misallocation of resources harms the private sector development and as well hurts the poor”.