Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Inner workings of Nigerian politics

Is this a classic example of kleptocracy in Nigeria?

Sola Adeyeye's remark in the article reminds me of a line from Achebe's Man of the People. One of the characters says that corruption will continue "until the village notices."

A Nigerian Leader Plunges From Milestone to Scandal

"It is hard to say when, precisely, Patricia O. Etteh [left], the speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, a former beautician who became the fourth highest official in Africa’s most populous nation this year, fell definitively from grace.

"Perhaps it was when her detractors first accused her of spending $5 million to renovate the offices and official residences for her and her deputy, as well as ordering a fleet of a dozen cars. Or perhaps it was the $780,000 worth of massage machines she was accused of requisitioning...

"The final blow for Ms. Etteh, who resigned Tuesday, may have come on Oct. 17, when, amid fisticuffs between her supporters and detractors on the House floor, the chairman of the Health Committee collapsed and died, apparently of natural causes...

"'The Nigerian political elite to a large extent are like maggots,' said Sola Adeyeye, a former member of the House... 'They are creatures that enjoy the presence of corruption and stench. But the Nigerian people are only going to put up with that for so long. She had to go.'...

"The scandal exploded at a delicate time, just as Nigeria’s new president, Umaru Yar’Adua, made his United Nations debut last month. The trip was filled with carefully orchestrated appearances intended to transform Nigeria’s image from a land of oil-fueled kleptocratic chaos to a vanguard of progress and democracy in the new Africa. Despite pumping more than two million barrels of oil a day, Nigeria remains one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world..."

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posted by Ken Wedding @ 6:36 PM

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