Transparency International’s Chairman Jose Ugaz has said that Nigeria still remained in 136th position in the ranking of prevance of corruption in about 170 nations despite its ongoing war against corruption.
He said that corruption remains a blight around the world.
He made the remark after the global anti-corruption watchdog released the list of its 2015 corruption perception index.
Denmark remained at the top for the second consecutive year as the country perceived as least corrupt. It scored 91 points out of a possible 100 while North Korea and Somalia remained at the bottom with unchanged scores of 8 points.
Ugaz said 2015 was also a year when people around the world sent a strong signal to those in power that it was time to tackle corruption with various protests across the globe.
He noted that more countries however improved in 2015.
The five least corrupt countries according to Transparency International are: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand and Netherlands. While the five most corrupt countries are: South Sudan (163) (tied with Angola), Sudan (165), Afghanistan (166), Somalia (167 tied) with North Korea.
Countries like Australia, Brazil, Libya, Spain and Turkey, have deteriorated according to TI.
According to the report, countries like Greece, Senegal and the UK are among those that have seen a significant increase in scores since 2012.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the report revealed that 40 out of the region’s 46 countries showed a serious corruption problem and there was no improvement for continent powerhouses, Nigeria and South Africa.
United States and United Kingdom have reached their best rankings ever, according to the anti-corruption watchdog. The U.S. rose one spot to 16th place with a score of 76, tying with Austria.
The U.K. rose three spots to place 10th, with a score of 81 that tied it with Germany and Luxembourg. The other top spots, from second to ninth, were occupied by Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada.
-Leadership