Research institute explores behavioral change approaches to tackle corruption in Nigeria
The Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) is set to explore behavioral change approaches to tackle corruption in Nigerian public sector.
This follows after NISER was named the beneficiary of a MacArthur Foundation research grant advanced to empirically explore the various definitional and social dimensions of corrupt behaviour.
Speaking over the weekend on actualising behavioral change approaches for reducing Corruption in Nigeria’s public sector webinar, the Director-General of the Agency, Professor Antonia Simbine said the purpose of the grant is to institutionalise behavioral change approaches for reducing corruption in Nigeria’s public sector.
She noted that the evidence that emerges from this research effort will form the basis for Bahavioural Solutions Design in Nigeria’s public sector.
The intervention, courtesy of the MacArthur Foundation, is designed around a three year cycle starting September 1, 2021 till August 31, 2024.
NISER’s ABC series is a knowledge engagement platform established for encouraging debates and convening ideas which will enable the transition from behaviour change theory to practice.
The series commences with a webinar at the weekend on the theme – ‘Understanding and Analysing Behaviour’.
Professor Simbine said the agency is championing the cause for a paradigm shift in curbing corrupt practices in the public sector from a traditional approach to a behavioral and attitudinal approach
According to her, the agency is working round the clock to institutionalise behavior change approaches in reducing corruption in Nigeria’s public sector.
She noted that the agency would not relent in its quest to put a stop to corrupt practices in the public sector and emphasized that all hands must be on the deck to create awareness against practices in the public sector.
She pointed out that one of the objectives of the seminar is to explore the complexity-based map of the phenomenal of corruption in Nigeria and redesigned innovative interventions based on localized understanding, attitudes and behavior for the control of corruption.
However, speakers at the seminar noted that the traditional approaches to curbing the menace of corruption have registered a very low success.
They said the behavioral and attitudinal solutions would go a long way in putting an end to the practice and helping the government to reduce wastage and looting in the public sector.
