The currency of corruption is gradually inclining towards sexual favours besides money and gifts, NBS 2023 Corruption in Nigeria: Patterns and Trends showed.
The request for sexual favours from individuals interacting with public officials, without resorting to physical coercion (referred to as “sextortion” or “sexual corruption”), is a global phenomenon in countries, and across all income levels.
This form of corruption disproportionately affects women and may reinforce gender inequality and further deepen the disparity between men and women in accessing basic services.
In the three years leading up to the 2023 Corruption Survey in Nigeria, 5.3% of women who had contact with public officials reported being asked for sexual favours before they could access the service they requested, compared to 4.8% of men.
Sextortion occurs when those entrusted with power use it to transact a sexual favour as currency with those who depend on them to access vital services.
When considering respondents who chose not to answer the question about sexual favours, the prevalence rate of sextortion increased to 6.9% among women and 6.4% among men.
This trend points to an increasing culture of sextortion among public officials, who often condition access to essential services on sexual favours.
Most of these cases among the Nigerian population go unreported because victims prefer not to speak out or because they do not recognise it as corruption.
Due to the highly sensitive nature of this discussion, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicated that collecting reliable and nationally representative data on requests for sexual favour when accessing public service is challenging.
Furthermore, people are currently debating the legal framework for prosecuting sextortion and whether it should classify as a corruption offence or a sexual offence.
Transparency International’s report highlighted that the applicability of sexual offence laws depends on the nature of the sexual conduct (such as rape, sexual assault, inappropriate touching, pornography, or sexual harassment) and whether evidence of physical force or refusal is necessary.
While sexual harassment laws may address sextortion between a supervisor and an employee, they may not cover sextortion involving an immigration official and a work permit applicant.
Anti-corruption laws might apply if they broadly define sexual bribes, state that using power to extort sex is corrupt, and do not require proof of financial harm.