"Nigeria - A Case of Corruption Masquerading as Democracy"
Sydney M. Williams
Democracy gets a bad name when the term is hijacked by greedy, unscrupulous men who once condemned the evil of colonialism and the victimization of Communism, while extolling the virtues of democracy, but all the while exploiting their own people in a manner that makes the British appear novices.
An abundance of resources and a quote/unquote democratic government does not assure wealth for its citizens. According to the CIA Fact Book, Nigeria is the fifteenth largest oil producing nation in the world. Writing in the Winter 1979/80 issue of Foreign Affairs, Professor Jean Herskovits wrote that as of October 1st 1979 Nigeria had become the world’s fourth largest democracy. Yet 64% of the population today lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. However, and in contravention of common expectations, Lagos (Nigeria’s former capital and largest city) ranks as the world’s 32nd most expensive city for expatriates, according to the Mercer Cost of Living Survey for 2009 – ahead of Madrid and Brussels.
Despite the nation’s wealth of oil resources, very little has trickled down to the people. The case of the missing petroleum dollars was the subject of an article by Adam Nossiter in yesterday’s New York Times. At the end of 2008, according to Mr. Nossiter, $30 billion sat in Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account. By the beginning of 2010, the account was worth $300 million. He writes that perhaps $5 billion to $8 billion was spent on “so far unfruitful efforts to upgrade Nigeria’s feeble power output.” But the rest, “some $22 billion remains largely unaccounted for.” What Mr. Nossiter leaves unsaid is the indubitable fact that the money resides in Swiss banks, in the names of Nigerian government officials.
Certainly, the money has not made its way to the general populace. In terms of population, Nigeria is the eighth largest country in the world. (Lagos, with eight million people, is the same size as New York.) It is the fifteenth largest oil producer in the world, with a reserve life of over thirty years, yet life expectancy is 48 years and, in terms of infant mortality, the country ranks 96 in the world.
In enriching themselves while impoverishing their people, these so-called leaders have committed a crime that makes Bernie Madoff appear a choirboy. Yet, their exploits go largely unreported in the Press, or unmentioned by our government – in part because of the cheap energy they export to the West. Unfortunately, what is true for Nigeria is also true for Egypt, Haiti and a host of other nations, functioning under the flag of democracy. Colonialism got properly condemned and Communism was deemed unacceptable to the West, again rightly so; but I would submit that these people would have been financially better off had the British never left.
The Deepwater Horizon spill paled in comparison to what has been happening in the Niger delta every year for the past forty. Life expectancy in the immediate region has declined to under 40. Between 1976 and 1996, it is estimated that 2.4 million barrels of oil contaminated the environment. Spills in the delta continue at a rate of over 300 a year. Some expect that the worst is yet to come, as the oil companies will be extracting oil from more remote and difficult terrain. The planet would be better served if our government would permit greater leniency in letting our oil industry, operating under our regulations and our safety standards, drill in the Anwar, off the continental shelf and other places onshore. Yet we export the exploration and drilling to those countries where bribes replace regulation. When blame for spills is assigned, it falls exclusively on the oil companies and certainly they are part of the conspiracy. But the real fault is with the system – our country for looking away and not exploiting our own resources to become more independent, the oil companies for ignoring basic conservation standards and a political system in Nigeria, rife with corruption, masquerading as a democracy.
Thought of the Day
“Nigeria – A Case of Corruption Masquerading as Democracy”
February 10, 2011Democracy gets a bad name when the term is hijacked by greedy, unscrupulous men who once condemned the evil of colonialism and the victimization of Communism, while extolling the virtues of democracy, but all the while exploiting their own people in a manner that makes the British appear novices.
An abundance of resources and a quote/unquote democratic government does not assure wealth for its citizens. According to the CIA Fact Book, Nigeria is the fifteenth largest oil producing nation in the world. Writing in the Winter 1979/80 issue of Foreign Affairs, Professor Jean Herskovits wrote that as of October 1st 1979 Nigeria had become the world’s fourth largest democracy. Yet 64% of the population today lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. However, and in contravention of common expectations, Lagos (Nigeria’s former capital and largest city) ranks as the world’s 32nd most expensive city for expatriates, according to the Mercer Cost of Living Survey for 2009 – ahead of Madrid and Brussels.
Despite the nation’s wealth of oil resources, very little has trickled down to the people. The case of the missing petroleum dollars was the subject of an article by Adam Nossiter in yesterday’s New York Times. At the end of 2008, according to Mr. Nossiter, $30 billion sat in Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account. By the beginning of 2010, the account was worth $300 million. He writes that perhaps $5 billion to $8 billion was spent on “so far unfruitful efforts to upgrade Nigeria’s feeble power output.” But the rest, “some $22 billion remains largely unaccounted for.” What Mr. Nossiter leaves unsaid is the indubitable fact that the money resides in Swiss banks, in the names of Nigerian government officials.
Certainly, the money has not made its way to the general populace. In terms of population, Nigeria is the eighth largest country in the world. (Lagos, with eight million people, is the same size as New York.) It is the fifteenth largest oil producer in the world, with a reserve life of over thirty years, yet life expectancy is 48 years and, in terms of infant mortality, the country ranks 96 in the world.
In enriching themselves while impoverishing their people, these so-called leaders have committed a crime that makes Bernie Madoff appear a choirboy. Yet, their exploits go largely unreported in the Press, or unmentioned by our government – in part because of the cheap energy they export to the West. Unfortunately, what is true for Nigeria is also true for Egypt, Haiti and a host of other nations, functioning under the flag of democracy. Colonialism got properly condemned and Communism was deemed unacceptable to the West, again rightly so; but I would submit that these people would have been financially better off had the British never left.
The Deepwater Horizon spill paled in comparison to what has been happening in the Niger delta every year for the past forty. Life expectancy in the immediate region has declined to under 40. Between 1976 and 1996, it is estimated that 2.4 million barrels of oil contaminated the environment. Spills in the delta continue at a rate of over 300 a year. Some expect that the worst is yet to come, as the oil companies will be extracting oil from more remote and difficult terrain. The planet would be better served if our government would permit greater leniency in letting our oil industry, operating under our regulations and our safety standards, drill in the Anwar, off the continental shelf and other places onshore. Yet we export the exploration and drilling to those countries where bribes replace regulation. When blame for spills is assigned, it falls exclusively on the oil companies and certainly they are part of the conspiracy. But the real fault is with the system – our country for looking away and not exploiting our own resources to become more independent, the oil companies for ignoring basic conservation standards and a political system in Nigeria, rife with corruption, masquerading as a democracy.
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