Key Points
- NLC warns Nigeria is actively losing its fight against corruption, citing state capture by a parasitic elite.
- Nigeria loses up to $18 billion annually to illicit financial flows and ranks 142nd on the 2025 global corruption index.
- Labor and civil society groups are demanding structural reforms, not just statements, including whistleblower protections and judicial independence.
Nigeria Labour Congress general secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja did not come to the podium with a measured statement. He came with a warning.
Speaking at a coalition-building meeting of trade unions and civil society organizations on March 27, Ugboaja said Nigeria is not just struggling with corruption. It is losing to it.
“We are not here to merely discuss problems and produce another communique for the shelves,” he said, represented at the event by NLC assistant secretary-general Onyeka Chris. “We are at war, which we seem to be losing. It is a war for the soul and the wealth of Nigeria.”
A system built to loot
Ugboaja’s diagnosis went beyond the usual complaints about bad governance. He described a full-scale system of kleptocracy, where public institutions have been hollowed out and redirected to serve a narrow elite.
Inflated contracts, capital flight and weak regulatory oversight, he argued, have consistently robbed the country of funds that should be going to healthcare, education, infrastructure and jobs.
He also hit at what he called selective enforcement of anti-corruption laws, a pattern where small-time offenders face prosecution while politically connected figures walk free, shielded by influence, patronage and constitutional immunity clauses.
Nigeria hemorrhages between $15 billion and $18 billion annually to illicit financial outflows, according to the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
Despite those losses, Nigeria scored just 26 out of 100 on the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, dropping two places to 142nd out of 180 countries, according to Transparency International and its Nigerian chapter, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre.
Civil society raises the alarm
The Abuja meeting drew voices from across the accountability space. Margie Peters, deputy regional director for Africa at the Solidarity Center, said corruption and illicit financial flows threaten far more than economics. They corrode democracy and push vulnerable populations further from basic services.
“Illicit financial flows rob citizens of access to essential services and erode trust in public institutions,” Peters said.
James Eustace, representing the Tax Justice and Governance Platform, said his organization, which counts ActionAid, Oxfam, Christian Aid and CISLAC among its members, is intensifying pressure on government for transparency in tax policy and financial regulation.
From talk to action
Participants at the meeting agreed the current approach to fighting corruption needs a structural overhaul.
They called for stronger whistleblower protections, judicial independence, beneficial ownership transparency and clear mechanisms to track and return stolen assets once recovered.
Nigeria’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force grey list in October 2025 was cited as a positive step, coming after the country implemented a 19-point action plan on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing. But labor leaders said that milestone alone is not nearly enough.
Ugboaja said the goal of the coalition is not analysis. It is action, with a national plan, defined roles and the organizational structure to sustain pressure over time.
“Our people must win,” he said. “And Nigeria must win.”
