by Ranti Joseph

Well as shocking as it sounds, Transparency International (TI) has rated the out-going government of President Goodluck Jonathan as the best compared to the past governments headed President-Elect Muhammadu Buhari and that of Olusegun Obasanjo.
According to the analysis done by Pointblank news, it stated that in TI’s data from 1979 till date, the tenures of both Buhari and Obasanjo were more corrupt than the tenure of Jonathan.
The data also showed that under the administration of Jonathan, Nigeria recorded its best score in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) since 1979.

But the point that the figures from Transparency International make so clearly is that, in comparative terms, Nigeria is actually much less corrupt today, and perceived globally to be much less corrupt today, than it has been in the last 35 years – including under the regimes of  Buhari and Obasanjo, both of who are in support of anti-corruption.

Shockingly, according to the TI data, Obasanjo’s first tenure had the worst scale of corruption during the 35 years period between 1979 and 2015.
The TI Corruption Perception Index is a rating of countries from 1 to 100 showing their corruption scale. A rating of 1 is the worst and rating of 100 means a country is completely free of corruption. The pass mark is 50 and any country scoring below 50 is considered a corrupt country.
In the year 2000, Nigeria was ranked the most corrupt country in the world and improved marginally in 2001 and 2003 when it was rated the second most corrupt nation in the world in the TI’s Corruption Perception Index. This was certainly not under the watch of President Jonathan.
Since 2012, Nigeria has made steady improvements in the CPI. Indeed, under President Jonathan, for the first time in decades, Nigeria is not in the list of 1-10 most corrupt countries in the world.
In the 2014 Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, issued in December, Nigeria was ranked 136 out of 175 countries surveyed in the report. This ranking placed Nigeria, alongside five other countries, as the 39th most corrupt country in the world. This is Nigeria’s best ranking in the last four years.
With this ranking, Nigeria leap frogged eight countries within a space of one year from the 31st most corrupt nation in 2013 to the 39th in 2014. This may be regarded by cynics as a small achievement: but it represents a big step in the right direction.
Indeed, the administration of President Jonathan deserves some commendation for the positive steps it has taken, and the modest achievements it has made so far, in the war against corruption rather than the vengeful knocks it is receiving from various quarters.

Apparently it appears that this media are an ardent supporter of President Goodluck Jonathan but with the details by the TI, it is something to consider critically. Is GMB administration going to be different this time around or should we expect something worse than the previous led administration.

Janeth J