Demographic Variables and In-School-Adolescents’ Perception of Corruption in Calabar, Nigeria

Over the years, corruption has been recognized as a topical, pervasive and existential challenge to Nigeria’s development, but scarcely has there been attempt to relate its perception to in-school-adolescents who are being prepared for the future. This literature gap motivated the authors to focus on how young people perceived the prevalence of this persistent phenomenon that undermines the progressive well- being of the society. As future leaders, revealing their perception regarding corruption is significant in that it could guide policymakers and administrators to plan relevant and targeted anti-corruption policies and programmes for them. Using a questionnaire instrument to collect data from a sample of 200 subjects and simple percentage and t-test statistics for analysis, the study sought to ascertain the perception level of corruption among secondary school students across age, gender and self-concept. The results revealed a generally high perception of prevalence of corrupt practices which cuts across all the sub-variables of the study as they were found to be significant factors that shaped respondents’ perception. Amongst others, it was recommended that governments, schools and counsellors at all levels of the school system should provide programmes that will raise more awareness on corruption among students as well as build their self esteem and efficacy to appreciate and develop appropriate and better response patterns on the menace of corruption.