Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Monday, March 31, 2014

Weak state; powerful corruption

Several years ago, the USA prohibited direct flights from Nigeria to the USA because drug smuggling was so prevalent. If this report by Chinedu Eze published in ThisDay is accurate, the smuggling problem has only gotten worse.

It demonstrates the weakness of the state and the extensive intrusion of corruption into the functioning of the government.

Growing Drug Trafficking At the Airports

Since the past 20 years Nigeria has been known as a corridor for illicit drug movement…

Airport security experts have at various fora disclosed that there is a drug cartel at the airports in the country, especially the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, that most members of the cartel are agency officials, especially those of Aviation Security of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

Few years ago a commandant of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), M.K. Jibrin… identified those involved in touting and drug trafficking to include uniformed officers that work for the aforementioned organisations and others who have easy access to the airports…

This is the way most drug couriers escape screening at the airports…

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