Abstract
The Nigerian society from inception has been faced with the challenge of corruption. The menace has affected the foundation and the structure of the Country in different ramification. The resultant effects of this corruption ill include poverty, economic setback, bureaucratic bottleneck, bribery, abuse of power, excessive materialism, decline in social and moral norms amongst others. Corruption is a serious threat to the well-being of Nigeria. The issue of corruption is unarguably a global one and does not affect Nigerian society alone, but the world at large. The concept like every other social science concept, lacks a unify definition. It can be described as a concerted effort by an individual to secure power or wealth through illegal means usually for private gain and at the expense of the public. It is a deviation or departure from the regulations and laws with the intention to abuse a public office an individual occupies to obtain private benefits. To fight this menace, successive government have made several attempts to eradicate the ill. However, despite several institutional, legislative and administrative efforts at combating this menace posed by corruption to the Nigerian society, the issue persists till present and remains largely unabated. This study aims at evaluating the effectiveness of the anti-graft agencies with reference to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the fight against corruption. This was addressed by a critical evaluation on the measures taken by the agency to combat the menace of corruption, such as the preventive, prosecutorial, collaborative, investigative, application of plea-bargaining, whistle blower policy and the role of civil society amongst others in the fight against corruption. The work also examined the institutional reforms of the agency, and measures taken to strengthen the effectiveness of the work of the agency, the work also considered the impact, forms and the causes of corruption in critical sector of the economy, such as the oil and gas sector, the judiciary and the political sector. The study also considered the challenges faced by the agency in course of the fight against corruption. The legislative frameworks of other jurisdictions under study were also examined while analyzing the comparative analysis of the selected jurisdictions to enable the EFCC in Nigeria learn viable lessons in their usual approach adopted for the fight against corruption. The doctrinal method of research was adopted in this research. It was found out that corruption is a global phenomenon and not synonymous to Nigeria, that the Nigerian situation is exacerbated due to lack of institutional autonomy and heavy political influence of the anti-graft agency. Again, that corruption flourished in Nigeria due to the culture and ethnicity diversity and the acceptance of corruption by the populace. Useful lessons have been proffered for Nigeria, prominent among which was the issue of resource diversification, to reduce dominance on oil export, in order to create more job opportunity for its citizens. This study also provided probable recommended factors that if considered could help in effectively fighting corruption.
Keywords: Anti-Graft, Corruption and Combat