Corruption and Public Service Delivery in Kaduna State: A Community-Level Analysis

This study examines the relationship between corruption and the quality of public service delivery at the community level in Kaduna State, focusing on primary healthcare and primary education services. Corruption in the public sector has been widely identified as a structural obstacle to development in Nigeria, diverting resources meant for essential services and eroding citizen trust in government institutions. Using a mixed-methods research design, the study combines survey data collected from 320 community members across four local government areas in Kaduna State with qualitative interviews involving frontline service providers and local government officials. The principal-agent theory is applied to analyse how information asymmetries and weak accountability mechanisms create opportunities for corrupt behaviour within public service delivery systems. Findings reveal that petty corruption in the form of informal payments for services that should be free, absenteeism by public employees, and procurement fraud are the most prevalent manifestations of corruption at the community level in the study areas. These forms of corruption are found to disproportionately affect low-income households, who have fewer resources to navigate informal payment demands. The study locates these findings within the broader governance challenges facing Kaduna State in the North West geopolitical zone and argues that community-level transparency mechanisms can supplement top-down anti-corruption efforts. Recommendations include strengthening local government audit systems, introducing community scorecards for service providers, and expanding access to formal grievance channels. Keywords: corruption, public service delivery, Kaduna State, community governance, accountability