A man walks past election campaign posters in Kano, northern Nigeria, last April. The country's oil revenue is monopolized by a tiny elite of well-connected political insiders, leaving only a small fraction for the north.STR/Reuters
The latest horrific terrorist bombing in Nigeria is focusing attention on the economic neglect of the northern half of the country, the apparent breeding ground of the militants who launched the attacks.
The widespread poverty in northern Nigeria, largely excluded from the country's oil wealth, is a key reason for the social unrest that fuels the growing strength of Boko Haram, the radical Islamist group that claimed responsibility for last week's attack on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja. The bombing killed at least 23 people and signaled a new escalation in terrorism in Nigeria.
By some measures, Nigeria's economy is booming. With its vast oil resources, and its forecast growth of more than 6 per cent annually for years to come, Nigeria could overtake South Africa as the biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa within the next 15 years. Multinational companies are scrambling to establish a foothold in the country, the most populous on the continent.
Yet the oil wealth is poorly distributed, offering little hope for impoverished regions like the Muslim north. Nigeria's huge potential has been sabotaged by one massive problem: corruption. Its oil revenue is monopolized by a tiny elite of well-connected political insiders, leaving only a small fraction for the north.
The extent of the corruption is alarming. According to research by the World Bank, more than 40 per cent of Nigerian companies are expected to give gifts or informal payments to government officials in exchange for government contracts. This makes it one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Transparency International, which measures the perceived corruption of countries based on detailed surveys, ranks Nigeria as the 134th-worst country in the world, out of 178 countries in its latest index.
By some estimates, Nigeria lost more than $380-billion to graft and mismanagement in the 40 years after its independence in 1960. In the past decade, it has continued to lose up to $8-billion annually to corruption. The theft may be actually increasing as rising oil prices bring more money into the country.
"Corruption is so pervasive in Nigeria that it has turned public service for many into a kind of criminal enterprise," says a new report by Human Rights Watch this month.
"Graft has fueled political violence, denied millions of Nigerians access to even the most basic health and education services, and reinforced police abuses and other widespread patterns of human rights violations."
In a promising step in 2003, Nigeria created an anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to challenge the traditional impunity of Nigeria's political class. But since then, only 30 politicians have been arraigned on corruption charges, and only four have been convicted, according to Human Rights Watch.
"Those convicted have faced relatively little or no prison time," the report said. "Other senior political figures who have been widely implicated in corruption have not been prosecuted. At this writing, not a single politician was serving prison time for any of these alleged crimes."
Even those convicted of corruption have been welcomed back into the highest ranks of the political elite, the report said. "At a fundamental level, Nigeria's political system continues to reward rather than punish corruption."
Geoffrey York