Corruption in nigeria and china

Corruption in Nigeria and China

In any political system, corruption is a threat both to stability and legitimacy. Corruption is more common in developing countries, which have more noticeable social inequities. Out of 102 countries studied in 2002 by Transparency International, a coalition monitoring government corruption worldwide, the most corrupt countries have a pattern where"political elites and their cronies continue to take kickbacks at every opportunity. Hand in glove with corrupt business people, they are trapping whole nations in poverty and hampering sustainable development"1. Approximately 9 out of 10 developing countries scored less than 5 out of 10, which is beyond the boarder line that indicates serious corruption issues. Between the most corrupt countries in theplanet we find Nigeria and China. However, although both governments have attempted to solve this problem, Nigerians view it with normality and are almost resigned to its presence. On the other hand, corruption is regarded as a very serious problem in China, most Chinese citizens harshly condemn it and the CCP has made a lot of efforts to cleanse the system from corrupt officials.

The Nigeriangovernment has a very serious corruption problem. The Nigerian President from 1993 – 1998, Sani Abacha, figures as the fourth most corrupt leader on the planet having embezzled $2-5 billion according to Transparency International Global Corruption Report 20042. In Nigeria it is widely believed that he and his family channeled huge amounts of money from the oil revenue into their own, personalaccounts. The greatest problem with Nigerian corruption is that the population views its practice as part of their system and believes it is completely justified due to the fact that police officers’ salaries are low and often come late. The issue was further worsened by the oil boom and the huge amounts of money that it put in officials’ hands.

In 1999, shortly after he came into office,President Olusegun Obasanjo set up a commission to fight corruption. Parliament responded to this commission by challenging its activities, which created increasing suspicion amongst the population and a belief that they were hiding something. Obasanjo has stated that Nigeria’s greatest problem is corruption and that he would make it his top priority to fight it. Some would say he has spent most ofhis time as President portraying himself as an anti-corruption titan in front of his people, as well as to the whole international community. Before Obasanjo came to office, Nigeria was the second most corrupt country in the world. Transparency International said that while Nigeria had made progress between 2004 and 2005, it still ranked as the sixth most corrupt government on the planet3. Thesestatistics clearly show that there is still much more work that has to be done in order to combat corruption in Nigeria.
Corruption also represents a major problem to China and the Chinese Communist Party. The outrageous examples of Chinese officers’ corruption such as the incident where the top anti-corruption chief himself stole $7 million from a mayor corruption case deeply damage the CCP’simage and legitimacy. The CCP’s political legitimacy is based mostly on China’s constant economic growth, which unfortunately has also produced the conditions for official corruption. Being the economy the CCP’s number one priority, it is of vital importance to eradicate corruption since it damages both the communist system and China’s economy. Chinese citizens view corruption as a serious socialproblem, and often as the most serious problem facing the People’s Republic of China.

Xiao Yang, President of the Supreme People’s Court, assured in 2003 they were “vigorously continuing the `Strike Hard´ campaign against organized crime”4. This included harsher punishments on corruption and crimes pitted against state stability. Over the past half a decade, 819,000 people were given the...