Politico-administrative Elite Corruption: The Bane of Nigeria's Underdevelopment

Nigeria earns millions of dollars yearly from crude oil; has vast resources and huge market potentials considering its large population. Thus, Nigeria has opportunities to be among the rich nations of the world enjoying economic prosperity, development, and well-being. Contrarily, Nigeria ranks lower in all global indices for measuring development and good life, mainly due to politico-administrative elite corruption which this study investigates. Data was collected through secondary sources, and content analyzed. Spoil system and political game theories were used in the analysis of how politico-administrative elite corruption engenders underdevelopment. It was found that the elite engages in anti-people activities like nepotism in appointment and recruitment, electoral fraud, looting, and deprivation of social justice to enrich themselves and have more power and wealth, thereby robbing the state of necessary resources and institutional capacity needed to derive development. Politico-administrative elite corruption and non-politico-administrative elite corruption were juxtaposed, and it was discovered that the politico-administrative elite corruption is responsible for Nigeria's underdevelopment and plights. The practice of open and e-government that leverages ICT to deploy modern technologies that detect, pre-empt, and consequently prevent corruption are recommended – not