Changing the Old Narratives and Approaches in Curbing Corruption Revised manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the perspective of public officials in Nigeria about corruption and why corruption continues despite numerous efforts to curtail it. The study conducts a survey among a range of public officials in Nigeria. The paper finds that individuals tend to normalize corruption as they grow older. The results also indicate a slight difference regarding the beliefs of economic versus moral harm of corruption between different religious backgrounds of the public officials. The study concludes that establishing an alternative narrative at younger ages by raising awareness and education among school aged children could assist in preventing and normalizing corruption in later years.