Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Has globalization failed in Nigeria?

Corruption in Nigeria, and indeed, in other African countries, is an institutional problem--it is a problem exacerbated by the existence of weak and dysfunctional institutions. No one individual, president or otherwise, and no matter how much power that person is granted, can deal effectively with corruption, unless he or she begins by bringing together all relevant stakeholder groups in the country to reconstruct the state and provide the country with institutional arrangements that adequately constrain state custodians (i.e., civil servants and political elites). If anyone on this forum is really interested in minimizing corruption in Nigeria and creating a new foundation on which the country can build a new nation characterized by peaceful coexistence, rapid creation of the wealth needed to fight poverty and improve national living conditions, including those of heretofore marginalized groups and communities, that person should recognize the role played by the country's dysfunctional institutions in the perpetuation of a corrupt and/or "chop" mentality in the country. Such an individual might begin by reading Jean-François Bayart's L'état en Afrique: la politique du ventre (1989). I believe there is an English translation: The State In Africa: The Politics of the Belly (1993). Also La criminalisation de l'état en Afrique (Jean-François Bayart, Stephen Ellis & Béatrice Hibou eds., 1997). I believe there is an English translation--The Criminalization of the State in Africa (1999). Reading these materials should help the reader recognize the importance of institutions to corruption. If he or she is still not convinced, then read the following: John Mukum Mbaku, Corruption in Africa: Causes, Consequences, and Cleanups (2010). The key point brought out by all this research is that: unconstrained power can turn even a saint into a despotic and uncontrollable tyrant. 

On Sat, Apr 4, 2015 at 4:10 AM, Ibukunolu A Babajide <ibk2005@gmail.com> wrote:

Ikhide,

You supported Jonathan who personified the stealing political elite and you campaigned against Buhari whose ONLY credential is to stop the looting.

YOU and educated elite of your ilk are complicit in the looting. Before you raise any unsustainable defence my good self and many like me have been fighting against this looting. I started at 17 and I am still at the task.

There is no Utopia in politics. There is no black and white but shades of both colours but when you exposed your privates and intellectual shallowness in public you abstained from choosing the better alternative. That your moral abdication deny you any moral high ground to speak against corruption because you are corrupt too or at the minimum you are complicit in supporting a corrupt government or by not actively supporting a man who personifies anti corruption.

Cheers.

IBK

On 4 Apr 2015 05:46, "'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:

"Since 1960, over $600 billion in oil revenues has flowed into Nigeria's coffers; it represents an opportunity unavailable to much of the developing world. These petrodollars could have been spent pro­duc­tively, could have transformed agriculture, laid the foundation for an effective public education system, pro­vided much-needed infrastructure. Yet, according to the World Bank, of that $600 billion, $300 billion has simply disappeared into overseas bank accounts through theft and corruption."

http://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/has-globalization-failed-nigeria

I have another source document that insists that $400 billion was looted. By the way, Oby Ezekwesili and others use these figures...

- Ikhide

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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
J.D. (Law), Ph.D. (Economics)
Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Attorney & Counselor at Law (Licensed in Utah)
Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow
Department of Economics
Weber State University
1337 Edvalson Street, Dept. 3807
Ogden, UT 84408-3807, USA
(801) 626-7442 Phone
(801) 626-7423 Fax

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