The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has said that Nigeria was making progress in fighting corruption, with more citizens rejecting the practice and demanding accountability.

Country Representative of UNODC, Mr Cheikh Toure, who stated this at the 2024 International Anti-Corruption Day commemoration in Abuja cited a recent national corruption survey showing encouraging signs of progress.

Speaking on Tuesday, Toure said a significant 70 per cent of Nigerians, including youth, have refused to pay bribes on at least one occasion, as reported in the UNODC national corruption survey.

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According to him, there is also a nearly threefold increase in formal procedures against corrupt public officials, rising from 16 per cent to 45 per cent between 2019 and 2023.

“This statistic is not just a number; it represents a growing culture of integrity and resistance against corruption.

”Moreover, 42 per cent of respondents refused to pay bribes simply because it was the right thing to do.

“This moral stance is the foundation upon which we must build our anti-corruption efforts,” he added.

Toure stressed that in spite of the positive developments, there was still much work to be done, stressing the need to further foster integrity, transparency, and accountability in the public sector.

He called for the empowerment of youth to be an integral part of the solution, quoting Felipe Paullier, the Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, who noted that corruption impacts young people disproportionately.

He said it diminished resources for education, healthcare, social development, and climate action, stifled creativity, limited job prospects, and even affected the fairness of sports and public life.

The UNDOC Country Representative, however, expressed hope, saying that young people were not merely victims of corruption but powerful agents of change.