Corrupt Practices and Government Capital Projects in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria

Udo; Sampson Edemeka; Eno G. Ukpong PhD; Prof. Joseph Udoayang; Uwem E. Uwah PhD

doi:10.56201/jpslr.vol.12.no7.2026.pg13.28

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Corrupt Practices and Government Capital Projects in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria

Udo, Sampson Edemeka, Eno G. Ukpong PhD, Prof. Joseph Udoayang, Uwem E. Uwah PhD

Abstract

Corrupt practices continue to undermine the successful delivery of government-funded capital projects in Nigeria despite sustained public investment and institutional anti- corruption efforts. This study examined the effect of corrupt practices on government-funded project delivery outcomes in Nigeria, with specific emphasis on project underperformance , non-existing projects , and extra-budgetary contracts , while controlling for contract duration . An ex post facto research design was adopted using secondary data obtained from Nigeria's National Budget/Appropriation Bills and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission reports. From an accessible population of 250 government-funded capital projects implemented between 2020 and 2024, 102 projects were purposively selected based on documented evidence of corrupt practices, yielding 506 observations for analysis. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman rank correlation, and robust Ordinary Least Squares regression. Diagnostic tests confirmed the suitability of the regression model, with no evidence of multicollinearity (VIF = 3.95), while heteroscedasticity justified the adoption of robust least squares estimation. The regression results revealed that project underperformance (β = 0.693, p = 0.812) and non-existing projects (β = 0.008, p = 0.817) had positive but statistically insignificant effects on government-funded project delivery E-ISSN 2504-883X P-ISSN 2695 2432 outcomes. However, extra-budgetary contracts (β = -0.110, p = 0.005) exerted a negative and statistically significant effect, indicating that unauthorized expenditures and deviations from approved budgets substantially reduce project delivery performance. The robust model explained approximately 85.4% of the variation in project delivery outcomes (R2 = 0.854) and was statistically significant (F = 1131.533, p < 0.001). The study concludes that while some corruption indicators did not exert significant independent effects, extra-budgetary contracting remains a major governance challenge that undermines public project implementation in Nigeria. The study recommends strengthening budgetary controls, procurement oversight, project monitoring mechanisms, and institutional accountability to improve the delivery and value of government-funded capital projects.

Keywords

Corrupt practicesgovernment-funded projectsproject delivery outcomeextra- budgetary contractsproject underperformancenon-existing projectsNigeria.

References

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Corrupt Practices and Government Capital Projects in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria

Abstract

Keywords

References

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