Nigeria Content Online

Nigeria has fallen
four steps on the global ranking of countries listed on the Corruption
Perception Index (CPI), released yesterday by Transparency
International.

The list, announced
by the Berlin based anti-corruption watchdog, showed that Nigeria is
now ranked 134, dropping from its 130 position in 2009 and 121 in 2008.

The 2010 CPI, drawn
on a scale from 10 (highly clean) to 0 (highly corrupt), showed that
Nigeria scored 2.4 and is ranked 134 amongst the 178 countries surveyed.

On the regional
scale, Nigeria is ranked 28, ahead of Sierra Leone, Togo, Zimbabwe,
Mauritania and Cameroun. Botswana, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Seychelles
and South Africa were ranked the top five countries on the continent,
with Botswana having an above average index score of 5.8.

Transparency
International claims that corruption remains an obstacle to achieving
much needed progress, even as governments commit huge sums to tackle
the world’s most pressing problems, from the instability of financial
markets to climate change and poverty. Denmark, New Zealand and
Singapore tie for first place in the 2010 CPI, with scores of 9.3,
whilst unstable governments, battling with a myriad of conflicts,
dominated the bottom rungs of the index. Afghanistan and Myanmar share
second to last place, with a score of 1.4, while Somalia ranked last
with a score of 1.1.