Friday, April 11, 2008

'Corruption's Nigeria's Biggest Devt Hurdle' Thisday

Analysts have identified official corruption as the single greatest impediment to Nigeria's rapid progress since independence in 1960. Elizabeth Donnelly, Africa Programme Coordinator of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), underscored this in a recent interview with Mike Sidwell of the Transparency Watch, which focused on Nigeria

Transparency Watch (TW): Is corruption evident in Nigeria and what are its effects? Elizabeth Donnelly (ED): I think most visitors to Nigeria come away with stories of their experience of corruption, whether it is being asked to pay an 'entry fee' at the airport, or to pay to pass a police roadblock. I think the most obvious way in which corruption is evident in Nigeria is the clearly staggering wealth of a handful of people in the face of the poverty of the majority.


It manifests itself in other ways also, the regular power cuts and lack of infrastructure and basic services. Billions of naira are ploughed into promised improvements on roads, power supply and so on, but the tangible changes that these promises would deliver are often very slow in coming.

The effects of corruption in Nigeria are considerable. Of course Nigeria faces great challenges to its development, but the biggest hurdle is the corruption. Nigeria is not a poor country; it is not aid dependent and has all the components necessary to be more developed and more successful. Yet an estimated 70 million Nigerians live below the poverty line. There are however even more profound effects than those physical ones such as lack of basic healthcare and education.

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