Posted by Abbas Tajudeen, speaker of the House of Representatives, blames corruption for the country’s failure to develop to its full potential.
Tajudeen addressed the topic of corruption, social norms, and behavioral change at the ICPC Policy Dialogue on these issues in Nigeria.
Tajudeen, speaking at the ICPC Auditorium in Abuja on Tuesday, said that corruption is commonly seen as a major barrier to growth in Nigeria.
Despite this understanding, entrenched corruption-enabling social norms, attitudes, and expectations continue to permeate our culture.
Weak governance institutions, a lack of transparency and accountability, poverty, and cultural acceptance of corrupt activities have all contributed to the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria.
Even though we have laws, rules, and institutions in place to combat corruption, I believe it persists because of pervasive attitudes about riches, celebrity, power, and success.
Cutting off the source of corruption rather than just trimming the branches is the goal of the behavioural and social norms approach to fighting corruption. After all, it’s preferable to avoid illness altogether.
Therefore, transforming social norms and behaviors is essential to combating corruption, in addition to changes in the law and institutions.
The term “social norms” was introduced by the speaker to describe the unspoken standards and expectations that people adhere to when interacting with one another in a society or a group.
He pointed out that widespread corruption has become the norm in many places.
He argued that the difficulty in eliminating corruption by legal methods meant that understanding and altering social norms were essential to effective anti-corruption efforts.