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Rhythm & Business: Oil & Corruption in Nigeria
By Norman Kelley, AOL BlackVoices Columnist
Nigeria, after South Africa, has the potential to become the financial engine of Africa, a hub of commercial and political importance. It is that continent’s most populous nation and it has a striving, well-educated middle class. But it has had (and still has) its share of problems, mostly dictatorships, corruption -- and oil. Nigeria is one of those nations like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran and Iraq that have suffered from what some call the "curse of oil."
The effects of this curse leads to oil-dependent superpowers like the United States taking an interest in these oil-soaked countries’ development and engineering their politics and economics to meet their needs. Aided and abetted by the home-grown elites, they use oil profits not for national enrichment and development, but for self-enrichment, and that of their patrons in the developed world. While Nigeria is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of its natural resources, a mind-numbing 70 percent of the population lives in destitution.
The politics of local development in nations like Nigeria -- with its North-South, Christian-Muslim schisms, as well as ethnic divides -- have fueled corruption and a get-over mentality. Nigerians such as Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe have denounced this tendency in their society. The late Afro-beat master Fela sang about it in numerous songs. Environmental activist Ken Saro-wira was executed by the state through what some have called an extra-legal judicial lynching.
If one wants to get a good idea of how a nation like Nigeria has been plundered and its people driven to criminality, one should consider the phenomenon of what Nigerians and international police agencies call "419" (pronounced "four-one-nine").
"Four-one-nine" is the Nigerian penal code for fraud, and Nigerians are world-famous for such. According to Reuters, every year corruption eats up about 40 percent or $40 billion of the oil-rich west African country’s annual income. Everyday, 100,000 barrels (some 4 percent of the country’s total oil production) are also squandered.
But the country’s corruption runs much deeper than oil theft. In Lagos, the Nigerian commercial capital, the streets are filled with con men who constantly devise shrewd ways to rob people. And crime has risen to epidemic levels both on the street and in the country’s public institutions. In Europe and the United States, Nigerian criminals have cultivated a reputation for themselves by organizing sophisticated scams and criminal networks, raising the suspicion and rage of law enforcement agencies all around the world.
We’ve all heard of the e-mail scams where Nigerians, usually working from Internet cafes in Nigerian cities like Lagos and Abuja, have managed to bilk unsuspecting Americans and Brits of millions of dollars.
Example: "You have been recommended by your country’s Chamber of Commerce in confidence of your ability and reliability to prosecute a transaction of great magnitude involving a pending business transaction requiring maximum confidence."
Or: "My name is Maryam Abacha, the wife of the former President of Nigeria. I am writing you this letter to propose a business that will be of mutual benefit to you and me."
Nowadays such entreaties arrive via e-mail. The modus operandi is to appeal to a "mark" (con men lingo for a potential fraud victim or sucker) and ask his or her assistance in transferring money from one party to another. For example: "I need your assistance to claim this fund from the security firm and invest part of it into a profitable business in your country under your supervision and control. As soon as the fund gets into your country you will then assist me and my family to come over to your country where we hope to start a new life."
If the e-mail recipient falls for the pitch, then the person then the person is usually asked to turn over credit or banking information to the Nigerian 419er. The appeal to the mark is usually "advance fees" said to be in the thousands or millions of dollars for the mark’s assistance. In the eyes of the mark it's easy money, or put another way: greed. Before the Internet, the con men would send solicitations via the mail or fax on an official-looking letterhead.
This form of fraud is well-known to the United States Secret Service and the United Kingdom National Criminal Intelligence Service. They keep a close eye on this crime specialty. It has been estimated that American citizens have lost more than $100 million a year in 419 scams -- and that’s considered a conservative estimate.
When Frantz Fanon wrote his seminal work 'Wretched of the Earth' more than 40 years ago, his chapter on violence and the colonial situation was either condemned by the establishment or lauded by revolutionary anticolonial intellectuals and activists. However, his most prescient chapter -- "The Pitfalls of National Consciousness" -- outlined the corruption and cronyism that would befall those nations that had liberated themselves from colonial masters and installed native elites:
"Neither financier nor industrial magnates are to be found within this national middle class. The national bourgeoisie of the underdeveloped countries is not engaged in production, nor invention, nor building, nor labor; it is completely canalized into activities of the intermediary sort. Its innermost vocation seems to be to keep in the running and to be part of the racket."
About the author
Author Norman Kelley is the editor of Rhythm & Business: The Political Economy of Black Music (Akashic Books). His latest book is The 'Head Negro in Charge Syndrome: The Dead End of Black Politics' (Nation Books)
Jan. 18, 2005