A recently published report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on corruption index in Nigeria has revealed that gender and age play a role in the vulnerability of Nigerians to bribery.
According to the report, “In terms of the demographic profile of the people most vulnerable to bribery, a remarkable disparity in the prevalence of bribery exists between men and women in Nigeria: 37.1 per cent of men who had contact with at least one public official paid a bribe in the preceding 12 months, whereas the proportion among women was 26.6 per cent.”
The report noted that young Nigerians aged between 25-34 are more likely to give or take bribes.
“Young adults in Nigeria are more vulnerable to bribery than other age groups, especially those in the 25 to 34-year-old age group (36.4 per cent), after which the prevalence of bribery decreases, particularly after the age of 50. In fact, the highest age-specific prevalence rate of bribery ― among 25-34 year olds ― is almost twice that of people aged 65 years and older.
“It is also noteworthy that the residents of urban areas in Nigeria are slightly more affected by bribery than people living in rural areas, and that the prevalence and frequency of bribery vary across the different zones of Nigeria”, the report stated.
The report added that higher levels of education and income lead to a greater risk of bribery.
“While older age groups are associated with lower levels of bribery, the prevalence of bribery increases with the educational attainment of Nigerian adults, although the result varies greatly according to the type of public official receiving the bribe.
“This pattern is paralleled in the distribution of the prevalence of bribery by income level as persons with a higher income have a higher prevalence of bribery than those who are less well remunerated. The disparity in the prevalence of bribery between individuals in the lowest income households and those in the highest income households reaches 15 percentage points (29.4per cent versus 40.0 per cent). In other words, when they come into contact with public officials, households in the highest income group in Nigeria are 58 per cent more likely to pay bribes than households in the lowest income group”, the UNODC/NBS report said.
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