 |
  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
FRONTPAGE VIEWPOINT MAGAZINE BY SECTION Special Report Business Nigeria COVER POLITICS BUSINESS & ECONOMICS BACK OF THE BOOK REGULARS NEIL FORD LETTERS PUBLISHERS NOTE AROUND AFRICA POLITALK WILMOT ADVERTISING Email us for advertising information COMPANY PROFILE MISSION TEAM EDITORIAL BOARD DIRECTORS |
|
|
Click here for the NewsAfrica Special Focus Article SOMETIME IN 2007, Nuhu Ribadu, then anti-corruption chief in Nigeria, carried out a study of corruption in the country and realised that $400bn had been stolen from the public purse between 1960 and 1999. No one has quantified the amount stolen in the 10 years following the exercise. Even by Nigerian standards, the sum was staggering. The funds were enough to give the country a world class infrastructure covering transportation, power and social services. Paradoxically, Nigeria cannot even generate enough electricity to power homes, not to talk of industries. The tragedy of Nigeria is not that so much money was stolen from the state, but that almost all the looted wealth was taken out of the country and stashed away in foreign bank accounts. Not only was the treasury denied the benefits of the funds for development, the economy was also denied the benefit of the resources. The sorry state Nigeria has found itself today is the outcome of a combination of corruption and capital flight. Corruption has thrived in Africa through the help of foreign collaborators, be they the bankers who launder the looted funds, the lawyers who create offshore trusts to hide the wealth or the foreign companies who bribe their way through the continent. It has been accepted as normal to bribe an African official to secure contracts. The exposure of foreign firms involved in corruption is a challenge to all developed countries to adopt a zero tolerance of corruption in Africa. The US took the lead in checking corruption in by enacting the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, under which Halliburton got caught for bribing Nigerians to secure lucrative oil and gas contracts. Britain has in its own way has used its money laundering laws to check illicit funds from being brought to the UK. The Swiss are still very slow to support investigation into accounts held by corrupt officials. The French government, for its own part, appears not to be too bothered so long as the corrupt leaders serve French national and economic interests. The money these leaders steal could have been used to buy vaccinations to reduce child mortality or build schools to cut the illiteracy rate. Rather than vote funds for aid to Africa, Western countries should simply repatriate looted wealth hidden in their banks to African countries. The complicity in keeping stolen funds makes these countries and their governments as guilty as those stealing the continent dry. The real fight against corruption is for the civil society in Africa to wage. Unless African people are willing to stand up to their corrupt leaders, the incentive for abuse of office for personal gain will always be there. What has happened now is that those who steal public funds are celebrated as achievers. In a recent case in Nigeria, a leading member of the ruling party, Bode George, was convicted on corruption charges. Surprisingly, his supporters turned up in court to demonstrate against his trial. What kind of people celebrates criminals? If those who loot the treasury are treated as common thieves, looted wealth would be stripped of any grandeur . Our cover story in this edition looks at the complicity of foreign firms in some corruption cases in Africa. We believe that sensitizing the international community to the role played by others in corruption in Africa may force a rethink of how to tackle the malaise. If the world can collectively fight terrorism, it can also collectively fight corruption in Africa. |
|
|
|
CURRENT ISSUE 
| |
|
| NEWS AFRICA | [ home | news | archive | advertise | subscribe | contact ] |
Designed, hosted and powered by 247webhost.net