Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Transparency International (TI) has said Nigeria’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2018 has improved by four places.
This was contained in IT’s latest report released on Tuesday in Abuja by the Head of Transparency International Nigeria and Executive Director Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani.
Nigeria is ranked 144 out of the 180 countries that were surveyed last year, it moved from upwards from the 148th most corrupt nation ranked in 2017.
Somalia, a country located at Sub-Saharan Africa was listed as the most corrupt country with the highest corruption report. It scored 10 over 100 and was raked 180 out of 180 countries analysed.
Denmark, was ranked number one corruption free nation with its score of 88 over 100 because of its little or corruption report.
New Zealand came second while Finland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland came third. Norway and Netherlands came seventh and eighth as Canada and Luxembourg came ninth, according to the report.
Nigeria scored 27/100 same as Kenya, Mauritania, Guatemala, and Comoros. In 2016, the country scored 27/100 and was ranked 136th but dropped to 148/180 in 2017 despite a higher score of 28/100.
The 2018 CPI draws on 13 surveys and expert assessments to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories, giving each a score from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.
TI Managing Director, Patricia Moreira, said the latest CPI’s report revealed that the continued failure of most countries to significantly control corruption contributed to a crisis of democracy around the world.