The Nigerian economy is currently bewildered with several socio-economic problems with its citizenry clamoring for the dividends of democracy six years on the democratic terrain. The economy has performed low when assessed with the major macro economic indices, as the myriad of economic reforms have not impacted significantly on the economy. Perhaps, the greatest quagmire facing Nigeria is corruption, and the attempts at cleansing the society of it has been only a splash in the pan. The societal epidemic is the major reason why the economy has failed to attract the required domestic and foreign investments to impact positively on its citizenry. Government’s efforts at combating this scourge have not yielded much result because it has failed to muster enough political will to purge itself in the first instance. Corporate governance is completely lacking not only in the public sector, but also in the private sector of the Nigerian economy.

The first quarter of year 2005 did not fair any better than the whole of year 2004. The economic performance was with mixed results, with the economy scoring well on the external sector indicated by increasing levels of external reserves, stability in the exchange rate of the Nigeria to the dollar, and some moderation in public expenditure as a result of the activities of the Due Process Office (DPO).