There is virtually no country on earth which can be said to be totally corruption free. What counts as corruption in different cultures may defer depending on the beliefs and moral orientation of the cultures. This paper is an examination of how Nigerians, ourselves inclusive, can wriggle out of the evil influence of corruption, thereby avoiding a complete collapse of the moral life of Nigerians. Our paper argues against attempts by some scholars to narrow corruption down to people in authority. On the contrary, we opine that corruption should be properly defined to incorporate everybody who does or desires to do things which are considered synonymous with corruption. This raises the question of who sets the standard of morality in Nigeria. A leader is a mirror of the society he is leading; a corrupt leader is a product of a corrupt society. Public office holders belong to homes, clubs, societies, communities etc and what they exhibit in public office is an image of what holds within that moral vicinity. The fight against corruption, our paper argues, should start from the people themselves rather than from the government. The campaign against corruption in Nigeria can only be worth its salt, if the law enforcement agents are themselves free of corruption.
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Ochulor et al. (2011) studied this question.