Nigeria is a country of paradoxes. It has the highest economic ranking on the African continent, on the other hand, per capita income is amongst the lowest on the continent, ranking the country 17th (out of 20) in 2019. Nigeria also has the unenviable position of being perceived as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. As forms and perception of petty corruption have been monitored by organisations such as TI and UNODC, this working paper will be devoted to grand corruption.

In this roundtable on the last day fo the ICRN Forum 2021 we welcome an eclectic mix of researchers and practitioners to discuss how the two fields can learn from each other. Academics, also those studying corruption, are often accused of being in an ivory tower, far removed from real-world problems. Practitioners and policymakers, however, face criticism of not using empirically-validated methods to tackle corruption.