"Life in Nigeria is rife with graft"
Between the lines (Only for those who can see)
Less than two months after that announcement, Nigeria is still Nigeria battling with itself. And rather than these "concerned nations helping to make Nigeria's struggles easier, they are, ironically, compounding the country's problems.
And when hapless Bolaji Akinyemi went pleading for support, he met deadends all through his globe-trotting.
It appears that when Babangida gleefully made that announcement on television, he did not know that he was getting Nigeria, Nigerians and himself into the battlefield and bracing for a fight with a sadistic enemy. And now the chips are down.
From God's own country, America, to her Majesty's Great Britain, Nigerians are now a target for vicious attacks, harassment, unwarranted searches at airports and most especially, media smear. Most recent is a long article in America's The Washington Times with the bold caption: "Nigerian Nationals are new syndicate plaguing the US '' by Ted Agnes and Jerry Seper. The article is an indictment and an insult that beats any Nigerian's imagination. Reproduced below is a boxed extract from the same newspaper. The caption of that article is quoted at the top of this piece. Now read on, and see whether you will pick anything between the lines.
"A country currently plagued by 40 per cent inflation and mounting international debt, Nigeria has long suffered with a reputation for rampant corruption. Travellers to Nigeria have complained about the Nigerian "dash" - a commonplace system of payoffs required to get even the most menial of services done or goods delivered.PS: I hope the Babangida government is listening and listening well and doing something. The battle line has been drawn.
"It has gotten so bad that you can't even get a postage stamp or a tea-bag without paying somebody off," said one political scientist specializing in Nigerian affairs. "And today, according to a private Washington expert on US-Nigeria trade, western firms doing business in that country often do not get paid on time or in the amounts agreed on. Many are happy that they get paid at all. One US government crime expert says the bosses who control the narcotics syndicate in Nigeria are wealthy businessmen known as the "Kaduna Mafia", named for the north-central region of that country. Some members of the Kaduna Mafia reportedly served as Cabinet secretaries in previous Nigerian governments.
"Nigeria has had three governments since 1983, the most recent led by Major Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, who seized control in a coup last August. He displaced a military government that had brought down Shehu Shagari, a former civilian president whose regime is widely believed to have squandered by official corruption millions of dollars in oil revenues accrued in the 1970s. Oil profits have fallen in the past few years from $22 billion to $10 billion and Nigeria has been struggling to keep itself afloat. This, coupled with rapid modernization, has made corruption and crime more appealing, a state Department official says.
"US officials maintain the Babangida government is willing to cooperate in stemming the heroin traffic through Nigeria. Nigeria officials have been meeting with their US counterparts to discuss the problem and six months ago the DEA opened an office in Lagos but it is staffed by one DEA agent.
The virtually unchecked flow of mideast heroin through Nigeria has raised more than a few suspicious eyebrows in Washington. Some sources believe Nigerian government officials and themselves involved in the heroin traffic and are protecting the system.
"Others believe at least part of the drug money generated by Nigerians in the US and Western Europe (predominantly England) is being used to stockpile arms and ammunition for political opponents of the current regime. Those who believe the political angle cite as evidence the fact that Nigerian narcotics operators in the United States are either members of the Ibo or Yoruba tribes, while the Babangida regime is primarily comprised of members of the Hausa-Fulani. Some observers believe activist members of the Ibo and Yoruba have joined forces to oppose the Hausa-Fulani. State Department officials discount that view.
"Other analysts believe that the opposition is not as much directed against the Hausa-Fulani as it is against the federal system of govern- ment, which is seen as ineffectual. In this view, members of the Ibo and Yoruba tribes would be seeking to return to the tribal method of government and are stockpiling arms and ammunition to mount a popular uprising at some point in the future.
"Regardless of which is correct, if either, arrests in the United States have been documented of Ibo and Yorubas seeking to smuggle guns and ammunition to their homeland.
"In September 1981, two Nigerian nationals were arrested in New York and charged with trying to smuggle out 177 guns and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
"The previous year, federal authorities investigating a $1 million Nigerian check-kitting and credit card fraud scheme in Dallas dis- covered that part of the money had been used to acquire 50.25 calibre semi-automatic pistols and 3,000 rounds of ammunition for shipment to Nigeria." Ted Agnes.
Culled from The Washington Times, Monday, January 27, 1986.
