Friday, January 20, 2006

The richest poor country

Its hard to blame the widespread corruption in Nigeria on poverty. There are poorer countries with much less. Closer to the truth is that soon after the country achieved independence, the black gold was discovered. The largely agrarian society that was lost all sense of control: like villagers at a party discovering an abundance of wine. The problem of corruption in Nigeria is of course about weak leadership, and even weaker followership (is it only Soyinka who is allowed to voice his dissent?) But closer to the nub of the problem is the huge wealth of the country, that a tiny few are determined to hold onto, at whatever cost.

Here is a story: the Zamfara Gov's wife has been reprimanded for dancing. What else happened at the party she was attended? 63 cars and N1,000 000 were given to each musician who performed. Read all about it.

1 comments:

obifromsouthlondon 7:54 pm  

it's a shame Obsanjo has seen fit to resurrect the spirit of "Operation Feed the Nation" (OFN) he championed back in the 70s. Well even back then the merits of the whole thing was debatable.

as for Yerima's wife I dont even know where to start. thought that type of blatant opulence went out with the 80s.

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