ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to examine the regional dynamics in West Africa by analyzing the effects of corruption as a stress factor in the development process with a view to making suggestions that can propel new dimensions and directions for development planning in the region. It considers corruption as the main stress factor that Nigeria and West Africa in general must tackle in order to reduce the amount of resource mismanagement to ensure improvements in living standards for the people. Samuel Atuobi asserts that West African states have battled corruption since they attained independence in the 1960s. Research has widely shown that problems in different sectors across West Africa are related to corruption and mismanagement. Frantz Fanon’s and William Arthur Lewis’s observations show that corruption has been ongoing in West Africa since independence in the 1960s. The practice of ghost workers siphoning money from governments is prevalent in West African countries.
