Essay Case

Nigeria is a country with abundant resources and the potential to be a very powerful nation, but it is hampered by many problems. These problems are caused by Nigeria’s colonization by England. Because of this intrusion on their way of life, their future was altered dramatically. The nation of Nigeria as a whole has suffered greatly as a country because of this colonization, its problem is rooted in the way it was colonized and ruled.

Political- economy is a complex term, consist of politics and economy. So at first we have to know what politics is and what economy is before discussing political economy.

First, it is important to define what corruption is. The term, “corruption” covers a broad range of human actions,

growth. Corruption reduces the efficiencies of the operations of the market economy and a loss

Corruption has been seen as a major obstacle of rapid economic growth and development. It is a complex phenomenon whose roots lay in political and bureaucratic institutions and affects the economic growth of different countries. It makes the governments intervene where they do not need to, and it weakens the ability of the government to enact and implement policies in areas in which government intervention is needed. Over the years, the dispute of the economic consequences of corruption on economic growth has been a topic of analysis. The analysis is focused on the effect of corruption on economic growth. Several studies have generally found a negative correlation between corruption, economic growth, inequality, governance, income distribution and business environment. At the same time also some positive correlation with economic growth has been found to exist.

Corruption is something very common in the world today. This corruption has seriously affected the economy and resulted in misappropriation of public resources. Many place policies have not changed the situations because of lack of commitment by government in enforcing the set policies. Corruption is defined as the abuse of power for personal gain. People who are in the politics become corrupt because of greed; they want the public resources to satisfy their own needs. This term is very broad, and people perceive it differently, and thus politicians and civil society have a different definition of the term. Although there are some practices that have been defined to constitute corrupt practices, still corruption is extraordinarily broad and

In the world, just like crime, corruption is a problem that is in most of the society, which causes the breakdown of social classes. In the first place, the government does not generate aid and prevention mechanisms for poverty and unemployment. Therefore, the personal wishes of the governors cause inequality, and they do not promote equity between social classes. Poverty also occurs because the upper class accepts corruption, for they are benefited and want to make every decision for their own benefit without thinking about the needs of the community, and that makes a weak and poorly organized government. Nelson Mandela says, “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its citizens with a better position, but by how it treats those who have little to nothing”. In the same way, the inequality of opportunities present in the social classes by government creates a lack of economic development. On the other hand, many poor families lack resources because they begin to grow and they only have one child, if not five or more, which cannot be easily maintained. Even so, that does not justify government actions by not generating a space for inclusion of all society in politics and other situations. But, everyone wonders how these phenomena cause crime, and it is because when a person does not have what it takes to live and cannot find work in a legal way, they try to find an easy and quick way to make money.

Nigeria is an Agricultural and oil rich nation but characterised by Political instability, corruption, poor

In addition to the importance of corruption in the policy agenda, there is emerging consensus in academia, empirically as well as theoretically, that corruption has detrimental effects on society on different levels. Odell (2010) describes it as a ‘systematic disabler’ damaging economic and human development and adding

Incidentally nothing seems to have changed in the character of the operators of the Nigerian state since independence. The same reasons of corruption, nepotism, tribalism, exclusion, marginalization, high handedness, dictatorial tendencies, fraud maladministration, injustice, human rights abuses and the like vices are usually repeated to justify each change of government in the country but nothing has really changed for the

The internal factors can also include the attitudes and mindset of the people. Factors such as greed and ignorance have greatly undermined the levels of development due to things the embezzlement of public funds, the ‘free-rider mentality,’ and the dishonesty of those in office who opt to constantly undertake trips to foreign nations for routine medical checkups rather than provide such hospitals in the countries they lead. Umez (2004) writes regarding Nigeria that the people have illusions to that encourage such activities; “that corruption in everywhere and that Nigeria is still a young country when compared to the US which took over 200years to get to where it is today.” As such, it is grueling to develop a country when the people still see the current situation as fine and justifiable and this is what has contributed to the crisis of development.

Political economy means the study of different economic theories and methods that influence political ideology. In a broader sense, political economy is the nexus between economics, law and politics and how concerned institutions work to develop in various social and economic system, such as socialism, capitalism, and communism, and also is an systematic approach or analysis of how public policy is formulated and implemented. (Investopedia, 2016)

Ethnic conflicts continued to escalate through the democratic transition in Nigeria, as various ethnic groups demanded political restructuring. The federal structure has developed deep cracks and demands urgent action to fix it. What is most worrisome in Nigeria is the religious dimension of ethnic conflict and competition for power and oil wealth. The numerous ethno-religious conflicts that the northern cities of Kaduna, Kano, Jos and Zamfara have witnessed, came about from the introduction of Muslim Sharia courts, in addition to the South's demands for autonomy. The continuing conflict is a sign Nigeria’s lack of effective mechanisms to manage ethnic conflicts.

Corruption can be distinguished regarding to where it happens: at the political or management levels of the public sector, or in the private sector between customer and supplier. It can be identified regarding

Political economy is a branch of social science. The term of political economy has come from Greek word ‘polis’ means city or state and ‘oikonomos’ meaning one who manages a household or state. So we can tell political economy thus can be understood as the study of how a country or household is manage or governed taking into account both political and economic factors (David N Balaan)