Book Review

Corruption is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges facing the Nigerian state. It has beenfingered to be at the root of a wide range ofmaladies, such as insecurity, poverty, poor infrastructure, and general underdevelopment. Nigerian corruption has attracted the attention of numerous scholars over the years, and this has given rise to a plethora of insightful analyses, from several different angles. However, Steven Pierce, in Moral Economies of Corruption: State Formation and Political Culture in Nigeria, offers a new perspective and fresh insight into the discourse. He takes as a point of departure the position that Nigerian corruption is rooted in the culture of the people, and this explains why it has been extremely difficult to eradicate. According to Pierce, corruption is a cultural characteristic, and the prevalence of corruption in Nigeria derives from its cultural complexity (5). This cultural complexity explains the differentials in interpretation and definition of corruption in the country. In essence, wide gamuts of practices have come to be subsumed under the rubric of corruption, which therefore assumes different dimensions, aptly identified by Pierce as the corruption-complex. This corruption-complex, which predates colonial penetration, became part of the building blocks of the Nigerian state. Although the book has its setting in northern Nigeria, the author extrapolates it into the whole Nigerian state because “Muslim Hausa culture has been politically central to Nigeria from the start of internal selfrule onward” (9). The whole of the book, which is divided into two parts, was therefore written to explain this position. Part One, which consists of three chapters, provides the empirical discussion that supports the conclusion reached in Part Two. In this first part, the author explains the various elements of corrupt practices that predate colonial penetration. Pierce explains with historical details how traditional political leaders in northernNigeria used their offices and status for personal ends. Gratification of various forms was regarded as a perquisite of office and therefore it was demanded, even when it was not given. The pattern of