ONGOING RESEARCH: NIGERIA
SOAS-ACE IN NIGERIA
SOAS-ACE research is addressing critical corruption issues across various sectors in Nigeria, aiming to enhance governance, service delivery and public welfare.
We are evaluating an agritech pilot that aims to increase farmers’ access to credit. The pilot is using a ‘tokenisation’ model, where farmers’ physical and intangible assets are converted into nonfungible tokens (NFTs). These serve as collateral and boost transparency and trustworthiness in farmers’ enterprises, attracting investor interest.
A longer-running research project has focused on the complex story of corruption that straddles the electricity value chain in Nigeria. Our work has identified pockets of the sector where coalitions can be built to reduce corruption and provide reliable electricity supply to enterprises, strengthening economic development in the process.
In the pharmaceutical sector, SOAS-ACE has investigated corruption within procurement units in hospitals. The study sought to generate new knowledge about opportunities that could help improve procurement processes, to create a system that is more efficient, resilient, and less prone to corruption.
In the banking and finance sector, SOAS-ACE has explored the impact of lending corruption on small and medium-sized enterprises. The research has focused on how corrupt practices affect access to credit for women entrepreneurs, impeding inclusive growth and economic diversification.
Addressing corruption in the education sector, SOAS-ACE has examined the prevalence of examination malpractice in Nigeria’s private secondary schools, particularly through ‘Miracle Examination Centres.’ This research sought to identify the systemic drivers behind these practices and to develop strategies to combat corruption in education.
The programme has also tackled the issue of illicit financial flows (IFF), which costs Nigeria billions annually. The research has examined how IFFs can be tracked and measured to ensure that legislation is being fully implemented and capital controls are transparent.
Finally, research in Nigeria has examined the role of media and impacts of anti-corruption messaging, including uncovering where messaging can be counterproductive.
OUR PROJECTS IN NIGERIA
Bribery Game in Nigeria
An experiment in Lagos demonstrated the impact of various anti-corruption messages on people’s willingness to pay a bribe. Analysis revealed that some forms of messaging are not only not effective, but even counterproductive.
Business Groups in Nigeria
This project mapped the historical evolution, contemporary structure and productivity levels of key conglomerates in Nigeria. Based on the political settlements framework, the project identified the specific nature of state-business relations which allowed conglomerates to expand, diversify and maintain dominant positions in certain sectors.
Busting the myth of ‘miracle examination centres’ in Nigeria: private secondary schools and malpractices in WAEC and NECO examinations
The education sector in Nigeria ranks among the country’s most corrupt. Private secondary schools are often involved in examination malpractice through ‘Miracle Examination Centres’ which offer successful results irrespective of merit. The research aimed to identify the political economy drivers of these examination centres and what feasible anti-corruption strategies could be designed to counter them.
Electricity in Nigeria: Finding Feasible Solutions to a Complex Challenge
This project has investigated the complex story of corruption that straddles the entire electricity value chain Nigeria. It has identified pockets of the sector where coalitions can be built to reduce corruption and increase reliable electricity supply to businesses, strengthening economic development in the process.
Evaluation of an Agritech Pilot in Abuja
We are evaluating a pilot that involves ‘tokenising’ smallholder farmers’ assets, as a means of improving their access to credit. The ‘tokenisation’ model converts physical and intangible assets of farmers into nonfungible tokens (NFTs), establishing a digital profile that mirrors a credit score or business presentation. This digital asset serves as collateral and boosts transparency and trustworthiness in farmers’ enterprises, attracting investor interest.
Exploring the links between foreign capital investment and Illicit Financial Flows in Nigeria
Nigeria loses USD 15 to 18 billion annually due to illicit financial flows (IFFs), despite strict legislation aimed at curbing them.This research explored tracking and measuring IFFs, assessing methods used by investors to exploit the foreign exchange market, and understanding the role banks play in facilitating these breaches.
Extractives in Nigeria
Despite earning over USD 1.23 trillion from oil, Nigeria has faced persistent challenges of poverty, unemployment, and inequality, linked to corruption, leakages, oil theft, and weak governance. This study examined the effectiveness of system-wide anti-corruption policies, institutions, and programmes within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector and its economic implications.
Fertilisers in Nigeria
Successive Nigerian governments have struggled to design and implement a fertiliser subsidy regime which increases farmer uptake and productivity, but is affordable for the government and does not become subject to corruption. This project analysed the changing dynamics of corruption in response to changes in policy, asking which approaches could limit the negative impact of corruption and fertiliser smuggling on policy implementation.
Health Providers in Nigeria
Corruption permeates Nigeria’s health sector, hindering universal health coverage. This project aimed to identify the most damaging forms of corruption, understand their causes, and evaluate various strategies to reduce corruption in healthcare delivery, ultimately improving health outcomes for Nigerian citizens.
Lending corruption and bank loan contracting: implications for gender inequity and inclusive growth in West Africa
The research project studied lending corruption’s effects on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMSEs) in Nigeria and Ghana, focusing on women entrepreneurs. It employed a mixed-methods approach to understand how corrupt practices influenced loan contracts, aiming to inform policies that enhance credit access and promote inclusive economic growth.
Media, Elections and Corruption
This research identified and audited the types of corruption-related media stories that were generated before and after the 2015 and 2019 elections in Nigeria. The audit aimed to identify if patterns in reportage are influenced by elections, or linked to particular political interests or security issues, and to investigate if there are any impacts of the stories on polling.
Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
In this project, we analysed the political processes that influence the workings of the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). We studied the evolution of the EFCC, from an organisation focusing on advance fee fraud to one targeting high profile political corruption (usually at the behest of the ruling party), and recently to a debt collector for large private sector actors.
Pharmaceutical Procurement in Nigeria
The cost of buying medicines is a large part of public health spending. However, the nature of the players involved, such as government agencies and big businesses, makes pharmaceutical procurement vulnerable to corruption. Our research offers insights into how corruption happens within Nigeria’s hospitals’ pharmaceutical procurement units. It uncovers new opportunities for improving the procurement process to reduce corruption.
LATEST FROM OUR WORK IN NIGERIA
Peer-to-peer enforcement among businesses to assure electricity payment in Nigeria: a lab-in-the-field experiment
Authors: Pallavi Roy, Mariona Tres Vilanova, Miguel Nino Zarazua, Adebayo Olajide, Najim Animashaun, Henry Adigun, Rahila Thomas
Publication date: March 2025
Since its privatisation in 2013, the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has been constrained by persistent inefficiencies, corruption and liquidity challenges. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have faced high ...
Improving energy access for SMEs in Abuja through horizontal checks and cooperative ownership: a scoping survey
Authors: Pallavi Roy, Najim Animashaun, Adebayo Olajide, Henry Adigun, Rahila Thomas
Publication date: March 2025
The Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has been plagued with liquidity challenges since privatisation in 2013. Poor payment of bills by customers is a key challenge, which has led to ...
The Promise of Grassroots Approaches to Solving Absenteeism in Primary Health-Care Facilities in Nigeria: Evidence from a Qualitative Study
Authors: Obinna Onwujekwe, Prince Agwu, Pallavi Roy, Eleanor Hutchinson, Charles Orjiakor, Martin McKee, Chukwudi Nwokolo C, Mushtaq Khan, Susannah H Mayhew, Dina Balabanova
Publication date: April 2023
Absenteeism among primary health-care (PHC) workers in Nigeria is widespread and is a major obstacle to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). There is increasing research on the forms it takes ...
Designing feasible anti-corruption strategies in the Nigerian health system: A latent class analysis of a discrete choice experiment
Authors: Blake Angell, Obinna Onwujekwe, Pallavi Roy, Chukwudi Nwokolo C, Martin McKee, Kate Mandeville, Divine Obodoechi, Prince Agwu, Aloysius Odii, Charles Orjiakor, Eleanor Hutchinson, Dina Balabanova
Publication date: April 2023
Health worker absenteeism is a major form of corruption in the Nigerian health system, reducing the impact of healthcare investment and disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities. Top-down governance and accountability measures ...
Film: Inside an artisanal oil refinery in the Niger Delta
In this video, an owner explains how a typical artisanal oil refinery works. The rudimentary technology has evolved over time into an industrial-scale phenomenon. There are thousands of similar sites ...
CASE STUDY: Mini-Grid Solution to Corruption in Nigeria’s Electricity Sector
Nigeria’s electricity sector, plagued by inefficiency and corruption, poses a daunting reform challenge. This case study demonstrates how an analysis of the sector’s political economy dynamics led to a solution to bypass the current corruption-ridden power network and establish a reliable electricity supply for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
