Fraud and the Nigerian Public Sector Performance: The Need for Forensic Accounting
Adebisi, J. F. Ph.D; Gbegi, D.O Ph.D

Abstract
The research is designed to examine fraud and the Nigerian public sector performance: The need for forensic accounting. The population of this study comprised of 190 senior staff of the three Anti-Corruption Agencies in Nigeria (EFCC, ICPC, and CCB) with the sample size of 129. The study methodology includes both primary and secondary sources of data collection; questionnaire was used in collecting primary data while secondary data were obtained from EFCC, CCB and ICPC. The data generated for this study were analyzed using simple percentages and presented in tabular form while the hypotheses were tested using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis with the aid of SPSS version 20.0. Our findings show that, first, Public sector fraud has significant effect on economic growth in Nigeria, and second, there is positive and significant influence between the use of forensic accounting and the performance of the Nigerian public sector. The research recommends that, first, it is obvious that public sector fraud affects economic growth in Nigeria and as such appropriate sanctions should be applied when fraud is discovered or detected. Second, Government should establish a Public Recovery Fund (PRF) where money recovered through forensic accounting should be kept and this money should be properly used to enhance efficient and effective performance in the public sector.

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