NIGERIA IS 35th MOST CORRUPT NATION IN THE WORLD - TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL

Nigeria has been ranked as the 35th most corrupt country in the world in Transparency International's 2012 global corruption perception index released today,moving to 139 from 143 in 2011 when it hit its highest standing in the index.
Nigeria has been slipping with every passing year from 2008 when it was the 121th country on the list. In 2009 it climbed to 130, in 2010 to 134 and then to 143 in 2011.
"After a year with a global focus on corruption, we expected more governmentsto take a tougher stance against the abuse of power. The Corruption Perceptions Index results demonstrate that there are still many societies and governments that need to give a much higher priority to this issue," TI said as part of the release.
The Corruption Perceptions Index scores countries on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). While no country has a perfect score, two-thirds of countries score below 50, indicating a serious corruption problem.
Nigeria had a total score of 27. Denmark, Finland and Switzerland, which were the three countries with the best score this year, scored 90.
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceivedto be. It is a composite index – a combination of polls – drawing on corruption-related data collected by a variety of reputable institutions. The CPI reflects the views of observers from around the world, including experts living and working in the countries and territories evaluated.
"Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all aspects of decision-making. They must prioritise better rules on lobbying and political financing, make public spending and contracting more transparent, and make public bodies more accountable," the reportfurther said.