Legislative Ethics and Corruption in Nigeria’s House of Representatives 2003 and 2015

Abstract

Legislative ethics is pivotal to guiding the conduct of legislators in combating corruption in any legislature. This study examines the effects of ethical standards in guiding the conduct of legislators to averting corruption in Nigeria’s House of Representatives, 2003 and 2015. The study adopted a survey research design using Likert’s scale questionnaire as instrument for data collection. Purposive sampling techniques was used to select the respondents that provided primary data, while secondary data was based on the Legislative Houses (powers and privileges) Act 2017 as the basic ethical instrument in the legislature. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data from the primary source while simple percentage was used for the secondary data. Percentage and frequency counts were also used including bar-charts and pie-charts in the data analysis. Findings shows that legislative ethics standards have played vital role in guiding the conduct of legislators in combating corruption. However, corruption persisted partly in the House of Representatives because legislators do not take ethical standards serious by adhering to it strictly. Lack of enforcement of ethical rule, weak and inadequate provision of ethical standards also provide basis for corruption in the House of Representative. The study recommends that enforcement of ethical standards should be taken very seriously in the legislative houses while non-adherence should met with severe consequences. The need to strengthen the legislative houses (powers and privileges) Act for effectiveness and as the basic legislative ethical instrument is of utmost importance. It is finally recommended that good governance should be the hallmark for legislators to ensure the trust of the citizenry and provide the dividends of democracy.