It is worrisome to observe that corruption has surged to unprecedented levels in the continent and sub-continent. This unfortunate state of affairs apart from significantly contributing to the impoverishment of the West African region has in no mean measure exacerbated inequality in the sub-continent by widening the gap between the elite and the general populace. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the authors leveraged secondary data sources to critically evaluate the issues embedded in the discourse. Key among the findings of this research is the fact that though West Africa's development is inhibited by a multiplicity of factors, the corruption syndrome plays a very significant role in the developmental quagmire she experiences, and can truncate her attainment of the SDG's. The authors recommend that the various states in the sub-region form a common front adopting the platform of the ECOWAS to unitedly combat this scourge headlong.
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It is not news that corruption has become a recurring decimal in this part of the world (Blundo & de Sardan, 2006), and a public issue in the entire spectrum of the West African sub-region (Ighodaro & Igbinedion, 2020). It calls for concern that despite the adoption of the African Union Convention on preventing and combating corruption, African countries are still buffeted by the corruption bug (Mbaku, 2010). The reason for this is not far-fetched as while corruption occurs across the world which makes it a global scourge, it has become seemingly more prevalent with its impacts clearly evident in the West African states of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo. The worrisome dimension to the corruption syndrome in the aforementioned states is the fact that it has systematically evolved in method and permeated all levels of leadership and followership. To be more candid, it will not be misleading to state that the virus spread (corruption), has accentuated since the colonialists relinquished governance to the individual states. In fact, according to Jones et al. (2023), corruption has become a way of life in this segment of the globe as attested to by the corruption perception index (Faccia & Beebeejaun, 2023). So pervasive has corruption become in this part of the world which explains why Fagbadebo (2019), describes it as a pandemic and Van den Bersselaar and Decker (2011) referred to it as an entrenched institution.
It is worrisome to observe that corruption has surged to unprecedented levels in the continent and sub-continent which has led to it been described as one of the most corrupt regions of the world (Hanson, 2009). While most states in the West African agglomeration have made concerted efforts to curtail and checkmate the vice, such activities have yielded very minimal outcomes (Enweremadu, 2019). This unfortunate state of affairs apart from significantly contributing to the impoverishment of the West African region has in no mean measure exacerbated inequality in the sub-continent by widening the gap between the elite and the general populace. This deleterious force of corruption erodes the foundational pillars of democratic institutions, distorts due processes, contaminates societal values, and debases the principles of good governance. With states grappling with pervasive corruption, the resulting political climate stifles developmental progress across all fronts, impeding not only its realization but also its sustainability. That corruption can hinder the West African sub-region is not in doubt as it has slowed down the developmental pace of the sub-continent with respect to several goals. Suffice it to state that the corruption syndrome is a cancer to this global expectation on development as its effects are widely spread.