Corruption in
Nigeria has grown because it is highly encouraged. In The Trouble with Nigeria
I suggest, “Nigerians are corrupt because the system they live under today
makes corruption easy and profitable.
They will cease to be corrupt when corruption is made difficult and
unattractive.” Twenty-eight years after that slim book was published, I can
state categorically that the problem of corruption and indiscipline is probably
worse today than it’s ever been, because of the massive way in which the Nigerian
leadership is using the nation’s wealth to corrupt, really to destroy, the
country, so no improvement or change can happen. Recently, out of despair, I stated, “Corruption
in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage, and Nigeria
will die if we continue to pretend that she is only slightly indisposed.”
The World Bank
recently released numbers indicating that about $400 billion has been pilfered
from Nigeria’s treasury since independence.
One needs to stop for a moment to wrap one’s mind around that incredible
figure. This amount - $400 billion – is approximately
the gross domestic products of Norway and Sweden. In other words, Nigeria’s corrupt ruling
class stolen the equivalent of the entire economy of a European country in four
decades! This theft of national funds is one of the factors essentially making
it impossible for Nigeria to succeed. Nigerians alone are not responsible. We
all know that this corrupt cabal of Nigerians in power has friends abroad who
not only help it move the billions abroad and help them hide the money, but
also shield the perpetrators from prosecution! (3)
[ There is no
attribution for this concluding statement, as indicated by the (3) footnote in
the Notes section of the book. Nor do footnotes 1 and 2 appear in this section
of the text titled “Corruption and Indiscipline’. Perhaps he was simply quoting
from his earlier book in all three cases.
He could also be referring to reports by the OECD or perhaps Poisoned Wells; The Dirty
Politics of African Oil by
Nicholas Shaxson; [associate fellow with the Royal Institute of International
Affairs (Chatham House) in London];Palgrave MacMillan, N.Y. 2007]
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