Individual Corruption

According to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2010, a large percentage of the surveyed households reported to have paid a bribe to get utility services within the precedent year. This is a sharp contrast compared to a 2008 household survey conducted by Afrobaromter, in which only a very small percentage of responding households stated they have often paid a bribe, given a gift or done a favour to government officials in order to get water and sanitation services in 2007.

Business Corruption

According to the US Department of State 2011, infrastructure in general and electricity provisions in particular are inadequate in Nigeria, with the result being that many companies are forced to provide their own water and power. Moreover, according to the World Bank & IFC Enterprise Surveys 2007, companies report that public utilities services in Nigeria are rife with corruption.

Global Integrity 2010 reports that officers at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC, which deals with company registration and administration) demand bribes, and if a bribe is not paid, the registration process may be delayed, sometimes beyond a month. Furthermore, according to the report, the unofficial cost, for obtaining a business licence can be inflated to about USD 400, which is a lot higher than the official fees. The unofficial cost includes the mandatory ‘tipping’ to officers to facilitate the process.

Political Corruption

In July 2008, the former managing director of Triumph Bank, Francis Atoju, was arrested and brought before a Federal High Court in Lagos on charges of corruption filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Together with a Lagos-based lawyer Jude Idigbe, he was accused of allegedly granting unauthorised loans of about USD 5.2 million to customers of the bank, according to Transparency International's Global Corruption Report 2009. In addition, Atoju and Idigbe were accused of conspiring to make an unlawful and unauthorised grant of an overdraft facility of USD 1.4 million to Idigbe and his company, Lushann Enternit Energy Limited.

In December 2009, the EFCC reported that it had brought additional charges against the former head of Bank PHB in one of several money laundering cases following a USD 4 billion banking sector bailout. Atuche and the bank's executive director are being tried for granting a USD 3 billion credit facility without any collateral, according to a December 2009 article by Reuters.

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2012:
- Starting a company in Nigeria requires the entrepreneur to go through 8 procedures, taking 34 days and costing 70.6% of income per capita. All three measures are lower than their respective regional averages.

- In order to obtain a construction permit, a company must go through 15 procedures and spend 85 days at a cost of approximately 504.8% of income per capita.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012:
- Business executives give government administrative requirements (permits, regulations, reporting) a score of 3.6 on a 7-point scale (1 'extremely burdensome' and 7 'not burdensome at all').

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 22% of households who had contact with registry and permit services in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.

- 43% of households who had to obtain public utilities in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.

- 17% of households who had contact with medical services in 2009 report to have paid a bribe.

Afrobarometer: Summary of Results Nigeria 2008:
- 3% of the surveyed citizens reported to have often paid a bribe, given a gift or done a favour to government officials in order to get water and sanitation services.

- 64% of the surveyed citizens stated that they have never paid a bribe, given a gift or done a favour in order to obtain the same services

Transparency International: Bribe Payers Index 2008:
- Business executives give the registry and permit services a score of 3.9 on a 5-point scale (1 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'extremely corrupt').

The World Bank & IFC: Enterprise Surveys 2007:
- 40% of companies expect to give gifts to get an operating licence.

- 53% of companies expect to give gifts to get a construction permit.

- 39%, 33% and 24% of companies expect to give gifts to get an electrical connection, a water connection and a phone connection respectively.