Nigeria is now ranked 146 out of the 180 countries on the 2019 corruption perception index published by transparency international, having dropped two places.

According to the report released Thursday, the country scored 26 out of 100 points, dropping from the 27 points that it has maintained since 2017.

In the 2018 index, Nigeria rose by four places from 148 to 144.

The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption in the opinion of experts and business people, using a scale of 0 to 100, where zero means “highly corrupt” and 100 means very clean.

According to the report, “our analysis also suggests that reducing big money in politics and promoting inclusive political decision-making are essential to curb corruption. “from fraud that occurs at the highest levels of government to petty bribery that blocks access to basic public services like healthcare and education, citizens are fed up with corrupt leaders and institutions”.

The sub-Saharan Africa region was classified as the lowest-performing region while Western Europe was the highest-scoring region.

“Corruption is hindering Africa’s economic, political and social development. It is a major barrier to economic growth, good governance and basic freedoms, like freedom of speech or citizens’ right to hold governments to account,” said Patricia Moreira, Managing Director of Transparency International”.

“While governments have a long way to go in regaining citizens’ trust and reducing corruption, these things don’t exist in a vacuum. Foreign bribery and money laundering divert critical resources away from public services, and ordinary citizens suffer most.”

The police is considered the most corrupt institution, with 47 per cent of people believing that most or all police are corrupt. Many citizens also think government officials and parliamentarians are highly corrupt, at 39 per cent and 36 per cent respectively.

Of the 19 countries in the West African region, Nigeria was ranked the fourth most corrupt country.

In the last eight years, only 22 countries significantly improved their CPI scores, including Greece, Guyana and Estonia. In the same period, 21 countries significantly decreased their scores, including Canada, Australia and Nicaragua. In the remaining 137 countries, the levels of corruption show little to no change.

Transparency international’s chair, Delia Ferreira Rubio asked the government to urgently address what she describes as the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on political systems.

“Frustration with government corruption and lack of trust in institutions speaks to a need for greater political integrity”, she added.