Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

chapter argues that these incidents marked the beginning of grand/official corruption in Nigeria, a clear indication of a privatised/oligarchic state. Johnston defines such state as ‘appropriated to the service of private interests by the dominant faction of the elite’. In this regard, Daniel Agbiboa suggests that ‘the failure of the political elites who took over power from the colonialists complicated matters in the postcolonial period, due to their failure to address the root of these problems and, particularly, their inability to transform … social structures … ’. 2.3 Grand Corruption: A Post-Colonial Experience (Nigeria’s First Republic 1960-1966) Michael Ogbeidi recounts that ‘the First Republic under the leadership of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister, and Nnamdi Azikwe, the President, was marked by widespread grand corruption’. Ogbeidi maintains that ‘government officials looted public funds with impunity. Federal Representative and Ministers flaunted their wealth with reckless abandon… Politically, the thinking of the First Republic Nigerian leadership class was based on politics for material gain; making money and living well’. The immediate civilian regime after independence did not last long. Grand corruption was pervasive with records of abuse of office, personal material aggrandisement, kickbacks, nepotism, awarding contracts to front companies, lodging public funds into private accounts, over invoicing, approval of substandard projects,…

A brief summary Nigeria was colonised in the year 1885 by the British, it then went on to become a protectorate under the Britain. Nigeria got her name from Flora Shaw who coined it from Niger and Area as there was a river called Niger flowing through the country. In the year 1960 on the first of October, Nigeria gained her independence after many meetings and conferences were held. Leading patriots, politicians and scholars of the time namely Nnamdi Azikwe, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa amongst many…