Political will and anticorruption crusade management in Nigeria

Corruption in all ramifications has continued to jeopardize the efforts of governments in forging national unity, infrastructural development and in most cases, leaving the majority of a nation’s citizens to live in absolute poverty. The phenomenon has persisted in many countries mostly due to weak political will or the lack of it necessary to curb the menace. In its simplest form corruption reflects the use of public office for private gain. As a remedy to this there should be a demonstration of credible intent by political leaders, stakeholders groups to attack perceived causes or effects of corruption at a systemic level. This demonstration of credible capacity reflects political will. The political will to curb corruption is also the political will to pursue other goals like good governance and national unity. Political will is not equivalent to political manifesto rhetoric or pressure group statements. Rather, it is the manifestation of a robust system of checks and balances and strong political institutions for combating corruption and promoting good governance as well as restoring trust and confidence in democratic politics. Gowon’s proposal reflects strong political will for good governance, because, if political will is to be more than just a slogan, it must be understood in a broad context. This reinforces the believe that if there is an absence of political will at the top, there will be a general lack of commitment to combat corruption, and pursue other important national goals as political development and poverty reduction. The exploratory research design was adopted for the study. Secondary data were generated through a format designed by the investigator for the purpose of the study. Because of the sensitive nature of the study primary data were also generate through a Liker-type questionnaire to supplement the secondary data. Data generated were analyzed through descriptive and X2 statistics and presented in tables with absolute figures capable of easy understanding and further analysis. It was found that political will is essential in anticorruption crusade management in Nigeria, and has the reciprocal dimension of providing the incentives for good governance of any nation