By Emele Onu, 07.02.2010

 

A business, crime and corruption survey in Nigeria, conducted by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) revealed that for more than 70 per cent of Nigerian businesses, crime and corruption constitute the most serious obstacles to conducting business in Nigeria.

 

 

The survey presented by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and published as “NBS/EFCC Business Crime and Corruption Survey” was carried out in 2007 as part of the project “Support to EFCC and the Nigerian Judiciary,” funded by the European Union with 25 million Euro.The survey, made available to THISDAY, covered over 2,200 businesses across all Nigerian States and sectors of the economy. It is aimed at gathering the perception and experiences of businesses with regard to corruption and crime, as well as their opinions regarding the efforts of the Nigerian Government to prevent and fight these phenomena.

 

 

It indicated that on average more than 50 per cent of Nigerian businesses become victims of crime at least once a year, revealing further that more than a third of businesses seem to be forced to pay bribes when coming into contact with the public sector. In particular, police and customs appear to be affected. 

 

 

The survey presentation, which was attended by large group of stakeholders, including representatives of anti-corruption agencies, public sector institutions, academia, civil society as well as the private sector and media, discussed the findings of the survey and reaffirmed the key importance of the data for the purpose of policy development as well as benchmarking the performance of government initiatives and institutions in the fight against crime and corruption.

 

(Source:ThisDay)