Unethical Trade Practices Underdeveloping Nigeria

The objective of the paper is to examine how unethical trade practices at the country-level underdeveloped Nigeria, using secondary source of data collection and businographic (i.e. narrative analysis interspersed with episodes or anecdotes – Clifford et al 1997) analysis as the method of study. The modified exchange theory is the theoretical framework of this study. Findings from the anecdotal studies includes; Illicit Financial Flow (IFF) from Nigeria consisting inflated credit lines offered by both the government and financial institutions in the developed nations; defects in the Nigerian criminal law system and penal legislation giving rise to itching palm judges who accept bribe in return for ready-made judgment; profligacy of lawmakers in their salaries and allowances; government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) waste, duplications, over-invoicing, round tripping, importation and payment for commodities not supplied leading to the depletion of available resources for capital expenditure on developmental projects; plagiarism, violation of intellectual property rights and copyright law in jeopardy of quality control mechanisms in tertiary institutions; cross border fraud among financial institutions especially in interbank settlement system. The recommendations are: Nigeria’s backing of US-based Global Financial Integrity (GFI) transparency campaign for the institution of transparent global financial system to stem the illegal financial transfer from Nigeria, constitutional amendment for the re-composition of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to live up to its responsibility; prune down the existing government MDAs together with domiciling the efficiency unit (E-unit) in all ministries of finance in the federation to vet the expenditures of government MDAs to cut down cost of administration; the legislative business of the bicameral national assembly should be part time activity to reduce salaries and perk of offices and free resources for capital expenditure by government; prosecution of persons suspected or accused of plagiarism; passing the Examination Malpractice Bill currently before the National Assembly into law and formulation of national ideology for zero-tolerance of unethical trade practice for the overall development of Nigeria.