Recent Papers

West Africa endures a devastating "Kleptocracy Tax," systematically hemorrhaging $1.7 billion monthlyequivalent to 25.3% of regional GDPthrough 17 meticulously engineered illicit channels. This forensic investigation dissects the anatomy of this grand larceny across Nigeria, Ghana, and Cte dIvoire, quantifying a staggering $189 billion in illicit outflows between 2010 and 2022. Moving beyond aggregate figures, this study pioneers a granular, disaggregated analysis of corruption losses directly tied to specific governance failures. It achieves this through the novel "Corrosion Coefficient" framework, a groundbreaking integration of institutional economics and forensic accounting that precisely measures the rate of value erosion driven by institutional fragility and elite extractive intensity. Leakage Pathway Analysis, applied to 9,700 World Bank procurement records and IMF Balance of Payments anomalies, maps the intricate routes of diversion. Sectoral deep dives reveal the targeted mechanisms: Nigerias oil sector bleeds $4.9 billion annually through phantom "missing barrels" and opaque SWIFT payment gaps; Ghana witnesses 38% of critical infrastructure project costs siphoned off via inflated contracts and kickbacks; Cte dIvoire loses 22% of cocoa export value through sophisticated trade misinvoicing. The human cost is searing, translating into a per capita GDP loss of $412 in Nigeria, $173 in Ghana, and $98 in Cte dIvoireresources desperately needed for healthcare, education, and poverty alleviation. This research offers policymakers the first diagnostic tool to pinpoint the most corrosive governance nodes, transforming opaque graft into actionable targets for reform and reclaiming stolen futures. The findings demand a fundamental rethinking of anti-corruption strategies, shifting focus from symptomatic treatment to dismantling the systemic architecture of extraction.

Copyright © 2025 Simon Suwanzy Dzreke. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.