Public Accountability and Anticorruption Commissions in Nigeria: Evaluating the ICPC’s Performance in the Southeast Zone (2020-2024)

This study evaluates the performance of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in promoting public accountability in Nigeria's Southeast geopolitical zone between 2020 and 2024. Anti-corruption commissions have been central to Nigeria's governance reform agenda, yet their effectiveness remains contested due to perceived selectivity, inadequate funding, and weak enforcement. The study is anchored on New Institutionalism Theory, particularly Douglass North's framework, which holds that institutions are effective only when supported by credible enforcement mechanisms and aligned incentive structures. A mixed-methods design was adopted, combining quantitative analysis of ICPC prosecution and conviction statistics with qualitative interviews of ten respondents including ICPC officials, legal practitioners, and civil society representatives in the Southeast. Secondary data was obtained from ICPC annual reports and the Bureau of Public Procurement. Findings reveal that the ICPC recorded 47 convictions in the Southeast zone between 2020 and 2024, representing a 22 percent conviction rate from cases filed. The study identifies prosecutorial delays, inadequate regional staffing, and political interference as key constraints on institutional performance. It further finds that ICPC's preventive and educational mandates are significantly underfunded relative to its prosecutorial functions. It is concluded that the ICPC's impact on public accountability in the Southeast remains limited by systemic institutional constraints. The study recommends increased ICPC operational funding, zonal office autonomy, and mandatory ICPC integration in all public procurement processes.

Keywords: Public accountability, ICPC, anticorruption, Southeast Nigeria, new institutionalism