Nigeria has fallen to 142nd position out of 182 countries in the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International, retaining a score of 26 out of 100.
The country’s ranking slipped by two places from 140th in 2024, despite no change in its overall score, placing it among the 38 lowest-ranked nations on the global corruption scale. Nigeria shares the same position with Cameroon, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Guatemala and Papua New Guinea.
Across Africa, Seychelles recorded the best performance with a score of 68, followed by Cabo Verde (62), Botswana (58) and Rwanda (58). Other African countries ranked ahead of Nigeria include Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Morocco, Tunisia, Kenya and Egypt.
At the bottom of the index were Sudan (14), Eritrea (13), Somalia (9) and South Sudan (9).
Globally, Denmark led the ranking with 89 points, followed by Finland (88), Singapore (84), New Zealand (81), Norway (81), Sweden (80), Switzerland (80), Luxembourg (78), the Netherlands (78), while Germany and Iceland (77) completed the top ten.
Transparency International observed that Sub-Saharan Africa remains the lowest-performing region, with an average score of 32 out of 100. Only four of the 49 countries in the region scored above 50.
The organisation noted that 10 countries in the region have significantly deteriorated since 2012, while only seven have recorded improvements, underscoring the limited effectiveness of anti-corruption initiatives.
“Corruption remains a serious problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. With an average score of 32 out of 100 and only four countries scoring above 50, the region ranks lowest globally.
“Ten countries have worsened significantly since 2012, while only seven have improved, showing that current anti-corruption efforts are not delivering the desired outcomes.
“Corruption in the management of public funds reflects weak political integrity, restricts access to essential services and disproportionately affects the most vulnerable citizens,” the report stated.
During a visit to Brazil on August 26, 2025, President Bola Tinubu had said his administration’s economic reforms had reduced corruption levels in Nigeria.
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