The Impact of Corruption on Wealth Creation and Inequality in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects

The Impact of Corruption on Wealth Creation and Inequality in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of corruption on wealth creation and inequality in Nigeria: challenges and prospects. 
With corruption being the generally agreed major bane of Nigeria’s development, the paper adopts the elite theory as 
the framework to analyze the secondary data gathered. In the course of the study, it was discovered that the Nigerian 
state is made up of unequally yoked individuals and groups in terms of history and culture. This is just a colonial error 
which is not as sharp as the inequality that corruption has created in this globalized Nigeria. Primitive accumulation of 
wealth by the few economic, social, political cum religious oligarchy has created a wide gap between these groups and 
the bulk of the Nigerian masses. There is a sharp divide between the modern and traditional sections of the Nigerian 
social arrangements with the former enjoying a relatively sophisticated lifestyle while the later are closed to savagery. 
Corruption has created holes in the nation’s economy that drain the indigenous inventions and innovations that could 
help create more wealth for the country. To fight corruption, it is recommended that the attitudes of Nigerians should be 
changed towards the moral rebirth of the country. “a corrupt leader is a product of a corrupt society who gets his 
legitimacy from the support of his corrupt followers”