Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, April 29, 2011

The politics and economics of brooms

Sue Witmer, who teaches at Northeastern High School in Pennsylvania, pointed me to a Wall Street Journal article that featured a good background on Nigerian politics while, appropriately for the WSJ, highlighting the supply and demand for brooms.

There's a good slide show with the article.

Thanks, Sue.

A Campaign to Clean Up Politics Leaves Nigeria With Dirty Floors

At a political rally last week, one of many during this country's fevered election season, several hundred supporters of the Action Congress of Nigeria political party waved their brooms in the air to symbolize their aim to sweep away corruption.

"We intend to sweep all the evil things out," ACN District Chairman James Odunmbaku said as the rally kicked off. "All political parties with no vision, we will sweep them out of our domain in totality."

All this figurative sweeping has been great for Nigeria's broom business, better even than the real thing.

But housewives in Africa's most populous country are bristling. The price of brooms has more than tripled in some places. In parts of Lagos, it's difficult to find any brooms at all, illustrating the unwelcome intrusion of Nigerian politics on the home front…

Corruption runs deep in Nigerian politics. The World Bank has estimated that over $300 billion in government funds has been stolen by politicians over the past 30 years…

The ACN, which was formed in 2006, has tapped into the anger over corruption in particular. In the April 9 parliamentary elections, the ACN won a number of seats from the ruling People's Democratic Party. It's now the second biggest party after the ruling PDP.

The broom hasn't proved a magic wand for all the party's politicians, though. ACN presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu, who made a name for himself as the anti-corruption czar targeting billions of dollars secreted into foreign bank accounts, didn't fare well in April 16 elections. Mr. Ribadu won a single state out of 36.

Still, ACN supporters have latched onto the broom as a symbol for cleaning up just about any kind of political mess. The party's posters and advertisements carry slogans like: "Let Us Sweep Away Your Power Problems!," referring to electricity. Some Lagos neighborhoods can go weeks without a single hour of electricity…