IMPACT OF CORRUPTION ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
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IMPACT OF CORRUPTION ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The study investigated the impact of corruption on socioeconomic development in Akwa Ibom State, with a focus on the Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area. To achieve the stated goal, the study used a descriptive and survey design, and data were gathered from both primary and secondary resources.
The study’s hypotheses were statistically tested using the chi-square technique and analysed within the scope of the available literature. The findings found that, among other things, corruption has a detrimental impact on socioeconomic development in Akwa Ibom State’s Ikot Ekpene local government area.
The embezzlement of public funds by council administrators or officials impedes the allocation of scarce resources (social amenities) in the Ikot Ekpene local government area, as there is insufficient development evidence to justify the large disbursement from federal allocations.
It was proposed, among other things, that officials of the local government Council caught in the act of corruption be tried in a court of competent jurisdiction, and if found guilty, such officials be imprisoned and their accounts or assets frozen by the government to serve as a deterrent to others.
Funds granted to local governments for socioeconomic development should be adequately supervised to avoid the reckless use of council resources for inappropriate, wasteful objectives and the reckless abuse of cash advances,
which violates the council’s financial regulations. This can be accomplished by staffing the council’s auditing unit with high-quality individuals.
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
The burning issue of corruption is one of the greatest crises confronting the globe today, and it has severely damaged or corrupted the implementation of development, democracy, human rights, and other programmes.
In many nations, the subject of corruption has received unprecedented attention in terms of study, discussion, analysis, explanation, and impact. Unquestionably, corruption has acquired recognition as a multidimensional (economic, political, social, bureaucratic, etc.) all-encompassing issue with numerous manifestations.
Insecurity, human rights violations, ethnic wars, capital flight, poverty, and massive economic inequality, among other things, have far-reaching effects for all of humanity.
In general, corruption is viewed as a pernicious disease of epic proportions that has severely damaged the socioeconomic and political fabric of society.
The reality is that it has been designated as an evil that must be eliminated. To that end, various experts, public administrators, political scientists, groups, organisations, and institutions, as well as international bodies,
have focused their efforts on properly diagnosing and understanding it in order to achieve the goal of curtailing, even eliminating, or preventing the evil. Thus, the most perplexing and frightening aspect of corruption is its apparent indefatigability, resilience, or quick speed.
If corruption is a global phenomena, it may be said that in the Ikot Ekpene local government area, the vice has reached a new epoch in terms of incidence and impact, proving to be more harmful, detrimental, and entirely impeding the development process than anywhere else.
The point is made that corrupt practices have historically and continue to undercut the development process in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, putting the area’s very existence and future viability at jeopardy.
In fact, there is no denying that the numerous crises (cultism, insecurity, nepotism, unemployment, and so on) in Ikot Ekpene local government are the inevitable outcome of a deeper crisis of ethical validation inflicted by corrupt activities.
Scholars, academics, and the general public have long debated the topic of corruption and have offered solutions to combat it on several occasions. The answer to corruption is not difficult to find out. The problem stems from politicians’ lack of daring attempts to combat corruption.
Seminars and symposiums are being held across the country to “figure out a solution to curb corruption.” However, the reality is that they (the political elites in charge of all aspects of governance) are aware of the genuine problem plaguing the country. With the formation of a new government in 2015, many Nigerians had tremendous hope that corruption in the country would be reduced.
In that year, power shifted from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress. One of the campaign pledges made by current President Muhammadu Buhari was the “massive eradication of corruption in the country”. Regardless of election promises,
Nigeria ranked low in transparency and high in corruption that year. Nigeria ranked 136th out of 168 countries in the 2015 Transparency Intentional study. This means Nigeria was the 32nd most corrupt country in the world in 2015.
Political corruption reigns supreme above all other forms of corruption. This topic has the potential to be studied. Thus, the political elites, who are in charge of all aspects of governance, are responsible for the distribution and allocation of values in society.
This misallocation of values and resources appears to be at the root of citizens’ socioeconomic difficulties, as evidenced by the recent cultism disputes that culminated in deaths and street-to-street arm battles.
Most of the time, one must wonder if someone can be exonerated of corrupt practices. Corruption appears at all levels of society and in all sectors of the economy. As a result, the key is to make daring attempts to permanently solve the corruption problem.
According to Transparency International (TI), Nigeria is one of the world’s most corrupt countries (TI 2015). This is due to the fact that, despite the country’s vast economic potential and abundant people and natural resources, the dividends are enjoyed by a select few (corrupt elites), resulting in socioeconomic underdevelopment.
On this note, the researcher focuses on the impact of corruption on socioeconomic growth in the Ikot Ekpene local government region of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria.
The primary goal of the study is to investigate the impact of corruption on socioeconomic development in the Ikot Ekpene local government region of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria.
It has been noticed that local governments, which are acknowledged to be effective instruments for socioeconomic and rural development, are no longer able to carry out their statutory tasks while receiving significant government funding.
This explains why fundamental social amenities and infrastructure, such as piped water, electricity, adequate roads, health care services, and education, are still lacking in most rural areas, including the Ikot Ekpene village, where the majority of the population lives.
Furthermore, the unbearable situation in rural areas (Adatak village, Ikot udo oboro, mbiaso, Amayam, Ikot atasung, etc.) has caused youths to migrate to urban cities where they can enjoy the facilities that are lacking in rural areas, exacerbating the severity of social problems in urban areas.
As a result, several scholars have attempted to explain why local governments, which are regarded as agents of socioeconomic growth in Nigeria, are failing to meet their expectations. Ugwu (2001) attributed the problem of local government administration in Nigeria to political and bureaucratic corruption,
which often takes the form of contract inflation, improper remittance of internally generated revenues (IGRs), ghost workers syndrome, contract awards and their subsequent abandonment, payment of huge sums to political godfathers, and embezzlement.
Misappropriation of public monies.
Others have observed that the majority of public office holders in Nigeria, particularly at the local government level, are not interested in serving the public but in amassing wealth for themselves through the award of high contracts and the reckless abuse of cash advances in violation of the council’s financial regulations.
The repercussions of these activities have been absolute insecurity, inadequate economic management, human rights violations, ethnic conflicts, capital flight, poverty, and massive wealth inequality.
This is firmly founded in political corruption in the Ikot Ekpene local government area, and it has remained a serious impediment to the area’s lack of appreciable socioeconomic growth, particularly in rural communities, despite its great endowment in both human and natural resources.
In light of this, the researcher conducted this study to analyse the primary issues impacting the performance of the Ikot Ekpene local government area in Akwa Ibom state.
The study will also investigate the origins and effects of corruption as they relate to socioeconomic growth in the study region, as well as suggestions for how to combat corrupt practices in the council area of study.
What are the causes and impacts of corruption on socioeconomic growth in Akwa Ibom’s Ikot Ekpene local government area?
Is misappropriation of cash affecting the performance of the Ikot Ekpene local government administration?
Are the administrators in Ikot Ekpene diverting focus from local governance development?
What are the most effective approaches to address the issue of corruption in Akwa Ibom’s Ikot Ekpene local government area?
This study’s aims are as follows:
To investigate the influence of corruption on the socioeconomic development of Ikot Ekpene local government area of Akwa Ibom state.
Nigeria.
Identify the primary sources of corruption in Nigeria, particularly at the local government level of governance.
To assess the influence of corruption on socioeconomic growth in the local government area of Ikot Ekpene community.
Identify strategies to combat corruption in Nigeria’s local government administration system.
Ho: In Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria, there is no significant association between corruption and socioeconomic underdevelopment.
Ho: There is no substantial association between fund embezzlement and the allocation of scarce resources in the Ikot Ekpene local government region of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria.
Ho: The administrators at the local level of administration in Ikot Ekpene do not divert their attention from growth.
The study’s relevance is as follows:
The study’s findings will be valuable to policymakers, students of political science and public administration, policy administrative studies, future researchers, and the study’s immediate beneficiaries, the Ikot Ekpene local government region in Akwa Ibom state.
The study is significant because it highlights the many types and causes of corruption, as well as the negative influence it has on socioeconomic development in Akwa Ibom’s Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area.
The study is crucial because it will serve as a reference for future scholars investigating corruption in Nigerian local government.
It contributes to broadening the scope of our knowledge and existing literature on the problems under inquiry.
The study is significant because its findings will assist in identifying effective methods to address this social problem in Nigeria’s local government administration.
This study focuses on the impact of corruption on socioeconomic growth in the Ikot Ekpene local government region of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria.
Also, the limitations of the study are as follows:
Insufficient Funding: The researcher had no money to source qualitative enough data required for the study, as it fell at a period when the price of fuel was at an all-time high, making transportation, typing, printing, and connecting to the Internet exceedingly expensive.
Time Constraint: Another issue that this study’s researcher encountered was time constraints. The researcher was dashing between lecture halls and libraries, looking for materials to complete the study on time for submission.
Some of the respondents in the Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, where the research instrument (Questionnaire) was administered, were hesitant to complete my questionnaire, but this was overcome by patience and my persistent explanation that the study was primarily for research purposes and that all of their responses would be treated with strict confidentiality.
However, the study was completed successfully due to the researcher’s determination to go above and beyond to obtain as much moral and material assistance as possible.
This study will define the following ideas for conceptual
clarifications:
Corruption, often known as corrupt behaviour, is defined as the breach of established rules for personal advantage or profit. To put it another way, it is an attempt to secure wealth or power through illegal means – private gain at the expense of the public or the misuse of public power or funds for private gain (lipset, 2000).
In this study, corruption is defined as the diverting or stealing of local government funds, whether internally generated revenues or statutory allocations, that are intended for the provision of social amenities and infrastructural facilities for socioeconomic development in rural areas.
Socio-Economic Development: Socio-economic development refers to the provision (availability) of basic social amenities and infrastructural facilities such as pipe-borne water, electricity,
good roads, health care services, education, recreational centres, and so on in rural areas such as the Ikot Ekpene community in order to stimulate socioeconomic development.
Impact: In this study, impact refers to the detrimental influence of corruption on socioeconomic development in the Ikot Ekpene local government area of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria.
The study is divided into five chapters. The first chapter of the study is the introduction, which discusses the study’s background, problem, research aims, and hypothesis, as well as the study’s importance, scope, and limitations, and the definition of concepts for conceptual clarification.
Chapter two of the study focuses on the literature review and theoretical framework. The third chapter examines the research design, study region, population and sample methodologies, data gathering and analytic methods.
The fourth chapter of the study focuses on data presentation, analysis, and discussion of findings. Chapter five contains the summary, conclusion, and suggestions.
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