Nigeria has yet again underperformed in the annual global corruption index, a report released early Thursday by Transparency International showed. 

The Berlin-based organisation disclosed in its 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report that Nigeria’s ratings plunged to 149 on a categorised scale for “highly corrupt” countries — three places down from its 146th position in 2019. 

Nigeria had previously dropped from its 144th position on the CPI in 2018 to 146 in 2019. 

The worsening public sector corruption ratings represent a consecutive decline in Nigeria’s CPI performance under President Muhammadu Buhari, who had launched an anti-corruption war when he assumed office in 2015. 

In 2015, Nigeria was rated 154th on the global corruption index but dropped five places to 159 in 2016. The country’s ratings fell even more drastically in 2017 at 171 on the CPI. 

In its latest report, TI listed Nigeria amongst countries that made little or no progress in the fight against corruption in recent years, citing propellants such as bribery and embezzlement, corruption in health care amongst others. 

The new rating places Nigeria as the 13th most corrupt nation in Africa and second in West Africa. 

Chairperson of the organisation, Delia Ferreira Rubio, believed that the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic fuelled sharp practices in the management of public finances, particularly amongst highly corrupt countries. 

Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, had recently queried how a purported N3.5tn was reportedly spent by the Buhari regime on COVID-19 in 10 months. 

Mr. Bello’s inquiry on national television on the alleged disbursement of the fund has yet to be confirmed or debunked by the presidency. 

Peoples Gazette has, in several exclusive reports, exposed unrestrained looting of public resources by cronies and officials of the regime. 

No indictments have been made by anti-graft agencies in light of the Gazette’s reports.