Whither the ivory tower? Corruption and development of higher education in Nigeria

Abstract

In the struggle to combat corruption in Nigeria, popular and intellectual discourse has essentially been devoted to the behaviour of public officials such as politicians. However, only little intellectual attention seems to have been cast on corruption in the education sector. This article attempts to fill this knowledge gap. Based on desk analysis, it indicates that corruption proliferates in the education sector just as in other sectors in Nigeria with crippling effects on the ranking, and standard of tertiary education. Situated within the theory of functionalism, it ascribes the proliferation of corruption to negative societal influence, poor funding, poor reward system and acute infrastructure decay. However, it holds that there is yet the prospect of redemption based on some measures that have been undertaken in various tertiary education institutions to tackle the social malaise. It recommends the need for men and women of integrity to champion the desired reform in the ivory tower.

Keywords:

• education
• professional
• corruption
• anti-corruption

Notes on contributor

Dr. Oarhe Osumah was educated in Nigeria. He currently lectures in the Department of Public Administration, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria. He has authored and co-authored several articles in reputable journals in Africa, Asia, America and Europe.