(University of Zululand, 2014-01) Ademilokun, Mohammed Ayodeji
Corruption is entrenched in the public space in Nigeria. Various attempts by policymakers to stamp out this social
cankerworm seem not to be yielding positive results, as more incidences of corruption continue to ravage the polity. This
paper therefore contributes to the campaign for anti-corruption in Nigeria by drawing on proverbs to persuade Nigerians
to resist corruption. Proverbs as an embodiment of the distilled thoughts and wisdoms of a people can be applied to
different human conditions for change. Drawing on thirty purposively selected proverbs that touch on the Yoruba concept
of “Ewà Inú” (inner beauty), this paper deploys a sociocultural-linguistic approach to reveal how the rhetorical force of the
proverbs can help reveal the evils in corruption and persuade against it.