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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the seeming paradox that underpins Nigeria’s war on corruption. This paradox centres on the undue interference of the presidency in the war against corruption. This interference has resulted in selective prosecutions and a deceleration in the tempo of the anti-corruption crusade.

The study used an admixture of primary and secondary data to evaluate whether indeed Nigeria is fighting against corruption to win it. The primary data were derived from key informant interviews. A total of ten diverse experts were interviewed through the instrumentality of unstructured set of questions, which were administered to them with room for elaboration. The secondary data were sourced from archival materials.

The findings of the study centre on three key issues: a characteristic one-sidedness in the prosecution of alleged corruption offenders by the anti-graft agencies. Those with pending corruption cases who have decamped to the ruling All Progressives Congress have had their cases placed in abeyance. There is evidence of the politicisation of the war against corruption as well as evidence of weak institutionalisation, which robs the anti-corruption agencies of the capacity to act independently.

The anti-corruption war may likely be derailed if the operational efficiency of the anti-graft agencies is not enhanced and their independence guaranteed.

If the anti-corruption crusade fails, it will have multiple negative domino effects on national development and quality of life of the Nigerian people.

The paper is original because no recent study has interrogated the declining efficiency of Nigeria’s anti-graft agencies or linked this declining efficiency on weak institutionalisation and interference from the presidency.

Corruption is a long-standing challenge in Nigeria. The country’s development crises, including widespread poverty and insecurity, have direct and indirect links to corruption. The paradox of corruption in Nigeria is that political elites have politicised its elimination: while preaching anti-corruption, they are still neck-deep in corrupt practices. The purpose of this study centres on Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade in the context of its effectiveness in attracting global support for external loot recovery. A related preoccupation of this study is to unravel the extent to which Nigeria’s anti-corruption accomplishments or otherwise have shaped international perception.

This study adopts a qualitative research design. It draws from primary data generated from 25 key informant interviews and complemented with secondary data from archival materials to examine Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade, especially global perception and its overall implication in motorising the country’s quest for external loot recovery. It deploys unstructured interview guide to generate data from the key informants.

This study unveils three interrelated issues: since 1999, the promise of eliminating corruption from Nigeria’s body politic has been a recurring campaign theme without corresponding credible action against it. Although anti-corruption agencies exist in Nigeria, the country’s corruption profile is high, an indication of their ineffectiveness. The persistence of corruption has resulted in poor national image, thereby shaping negative international perception about Nigeria. The politicisation of Nigeria’s anti-corruption crusade has undermined international support and created uncertainty in the country’s quest for the recovery of its looted national funds.

The negative perception of the international community about the commitment of the Nigerian Government in fighting corruption has negative implications on the strategic partnership necessary for loot recovery across the globe.

The overall social implication is loss of global support for Nigeria’s anti-corruption drive, including its quest to recover its stolen national assets and other forms of international assistance for national development.

The value of this study is two-fold, one, its recency and originality in terms of interrogating the interconnections between domestic efforts at anti-corruption and global perception of such efforts; and two, the contextualisation of the compromised efficiency of Nigeria’s anti-graft agenda and its overall implications in securing global support for external loot recovery.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications which the recent Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act (FIRS Act), 2007 have for the ongoing war against corruption in Nigeria.

The paper examines the relevant provisions of the Act, which confers on the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) some anti‐corruption‐related powers. It discusses how the FIRS may benefit from the existing third‐party information regime under the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act (MLA), 2004, and the amendments that should be made to the MLA to make the information regime under it serve the FIRS' purposes.

The paper points out that the main anti‐corruption‐related power conferred on the FIRS, to investigate the symmetry between taxpayers' lifestyles and their declared incomes, is similar to that conferred on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. It notes that declarations by certain categories of public officers to the Code of Conduct Bureau, which the Constitution (1999) contemplates, can provide the necessary base information for the FIRS in the discharge of its anti‐corruption‐related duties.

The paper discusses the desirable amendments to the MLA, 2004 that could make the third‐party information regime under the Act useful for the FIRS in the discharge of its anti‐corruption responsibilities. It also discusses how the taxpayer identification number, which the FIRS Act empowers the FIRS to issue, may be used as income tracker and thus play the type of role which the social insurance number or the social security number plays in Canada and the USA, respectively.

The paper explores the possibility of alternative, and equally potent, institution to prosecute the anti‐corruption war in Nigeria. It is the first to examine how the FIRS, which the newly enacted FIRS Act, 2007 creates, may serve as that alternative. It argues that the power to investigate the symmetry between taxpayers' lifestyles and incomes, which the FIRS Act confers on the FIRS, reinforces a claim that the Act concedes to the FIRS some anti‐corruption‐related responsibilities.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a historical review of China’s anti-corruption efforts, from the ancient period of Chinese slavery societies to the late 1970s before China launched its profound economic reform, under the current status of the harsh crusade against corruption that the Chinese new leadership initiated.

This paper is mainly based on a great deal of historical literature and empirical findings, with relevant comparative analysis on policies and regulations between various periods of China.

The phenomenon of corruption has existed in Chinese history for thousands of years, throughout Chinese slavery societies, feudal societies, republic period and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Anti-corruption laws formed an important part of ancient Chinese legal system, and each dynasty has made continuous and commendable progress on fighting such misconduct. Innumerable initiatives have also been taken by the ruling party Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the founding of the PRC. The PRC government created various specially designed government organizations and a series of updated regulations for preventing economic crimes. They have realized that periodic movements against corruption would no longer be helpful, and the paramount issue nowadays is indeed how bold the leaders are in striking out those unhealthy tendencies.

This paper fills in the blanks in the Western world with a comprehensive description of, and comments on, the historical efforts on China’s corruption and economic crime prevention. It also, in various ways, provides meaningful information that links to China’s current furious war against corruption.

Public procurement provides a fertile ground for corruption in the Nigerian public sector. Reforms to create an effective public procurement system, which have been almost exclusively the governmentʼs affair, seem to be yielding insignificant results. Effective reforms to control corruption in public procurement systems must be sustainably participative and inclusive of all essential stakeholders in the society. Most importantly, the preconditions for achieving a sound public procurement system are integrity and commitment to good governance practices through the provision of welldesigned legislation and supporting regulations and review processes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the anti-corruption performance of the Philippine government, particularly under the leadership of President Benigno Aquino III.

The paper evaluates the anti-corruption measures as represented by pertinent laws as well as anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) under the Aquino administration.

The Aquino government has exercised remarkable political will in acting on high-profile cases involving former government officials, including former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. However, the government’s overall anti-corruption performance is hampered by outdated and conflicting laws, lack of compliance with anti-corruption laws and regulations by public officials and employees, poor ACA operational capacities, judicial inefficiency, deficient organizational systems and change-resistant government agencies, and selective and partial enforcement of anti-corruption laws. These problems are characteristic of Philippine political administrations and are arguably rooted in a system long characterized by fragile state institutions, strong oligarchic control, and weak citizenship.

The paper is intended to update scholars, policy makers, and anti-corruption practitioners interested in corruption, ACA performance, and political reform in the Philippines. It discusses corruption-related problems of public administration within the purview of political economy. Based on this perspective, it argues that the key to effective control of corruption is a change in the political system’s configuration rather than the mere change in leadership.

The media is described as a fourth estate of the realm due to its ability to frame and shape discussions on governance and provide a stimulus for fighting corruption. But is the media really an effective tool for fighting corruption? This question arises due to the possibility of the media being used for propaganda, biased reporting and media owners’ and journalists’ engagement in corruption. The current study addresses the question by exploring the relationship between the media and corruption from the perspectives of Ghanaian justice and anti-corruption officials.

The study adopts a qualitative approach by interviewing justice and anti-corruption officials across three administrative regions in Ghana.

The results show that while justice officials describe the media as a medium for accusing officials unjustifiably and exaggerating the scale of corruption, anti-corruption officials believe the media helps to fight corruption. In addition to uncovering and exposing public officials’ corruption, the media is also a double-edged sword characterised by intra-vigilance: the media hold “their own” (i.e. journalists fighting corruption) accountable through criticism and exposure of wrongdoings.

The double-edged nature of the media can strengthen and enhance the fight against corruption because anti-corruption actors and journalists will be cautious as misjudgements or errors committed will not be overlooked or concealed by the media. Therefore, anti-corruption agencies in Ghana can collaborate with the media to uncover and expose corruption committed by public officials and even journalists or media owners.

This study is the first in Ghana to explore the relationship between the media and corruption from the perspectives of justice and anti-corruption officials. The approach, frameworks and methodology adopted in this study can be applied in similar studies in other countries on the African continent and beyond.

The purpose of this paper is to set out an agenda for promoting collaboration between researchers in critical geography and critical management studies.

The paper is divided into two main sections. In the first, a detailed discussion of the nature of critical perspectives in the two traditions is advanced which focuses upon the nature of the two disciplines, the contested meaning of “critical” approaches and our relationship with the wider political world. The opportunities for collaboration are explored in more specific detail through consideration of the ongoing attempts to develop a new perspective on the current international pre‐occupation with corruption and anti‐corruption initiatives, which is both critical and multi‐disciplinary.

In trawling through the political economy of the development of an idea, corruption, the paper demonstrates, not just the part that a critical geographical narrative has to play in informing policy, but also the vital links that geography has to develop with the critical appraisal of business, business management and economics. The paper calls for the combining of insights from both traditions to better assess what is signified by corruption, how the concept is used in the business world and how to convince policymakers that, in this area at least, there is no such thing as a consequence‐free policy.

This paper's originality lies in: its bringing together of two distinct research traditions in geography and management studies; and the novel approach it espouses in relation to refining our understanding of the meaning of corruption and its place in broader debates about economic policy and broad patterns of development.

This paper aims to appraise the roles of whistleblowing policy as a tool for combating corruption in Nigeria. Methodologically, it examines how the policy could be strengthened to effectively address the challenges of corruption in Nigeria.

This paper is essentially a desk research with reliance on the secondary source of data. Relevant materials were collected in an eclectic manner from official documents, statutes and other published outlets such as books, journal publications, online articles, news reports and newspaper articles. Its scope is limited to issue and content analysis relating to the use of whistleblowing policy as a tool to combat corruption.

The paper finds that whistleblowing policy is an effective anti-corruption instrument that has facilitated discovery and recovery of looted public resources and prosecution of culprits in Nigeria.

This paper demonstrates how whistleblowing as an anti-corruption mechanism could be strengthened in Nigeria when the legislator finally passed the Whistleblower Protection Bill into law.

This purpose of this paper is to discuss the relationship between political independence and operational impartiality in regard to the effectiveness of anti-corruption agencies (ACAs). Against this background of western orthodoxy, it asks whether a non-western country with high levels of corruption (Vietnam being an example) can find another pathway in its efforts to effectively combat corruption.

An exercise in qualitative conceptual clarification and theoretical speculation, drawing upon practical examples.

It is argued that it is important to distinguish between de jure and de facto political independence, and that neither can be fully understood unless they are considered in relationship to other key values, particularly operational impartiality, public accountability, and systemic legitimacy, and in the context of bureaucratic politics. There is little coherent theoretical knowledge available about the relationships among these variables. Such values are central to western notions of “good government” but are much less institutionalised in non-western jurisdictions with high levels of corruption. The question is raised: can such countries, Vietnam being one example, develop effective anti-corruption strategies which because of the nature of their own political system, cannot depend on political independence for its ACAs?

Attention is drawn to some conceptual and putatively theoretical issues relating to the effectiveness of ACAs, and which have received little explicit attention in the relevant academic literature.