Mixed views on Nigeria's Obasanjo
The outgoing president, who steps down Tuesday after two 4-year terms, is credited with spurring growth. But few citizens have seen any improvements.
from the May 29, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Confronting a culture of corruption
To deal with this corruption – in 2006, Transparency International listed Nigeria as one of the 20 most corrupt nations in the world – Obasanjo created an Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and gave it free rein to investigate anyone in government, including members of his own cabinet. It was this anticorruption drive, in part, that encouraged Western donors to forgive Nigeria's crushing $12.5 billion in foreign debt.
Since April 2003, the EFCC has racked up an impressive 150 convictions against crooked government officials, arrested three sitting governors, all from Obasanjo's ruling People's Democratic Party, and recovered over $5 billion in stolen public funds.
"Corruption should be treated like terrorism, like genocide in a third-world country like Nigeria," says Ibrahim Lamorde, head of operations for the EFCC in Lagos. "All over the world, people want to come and invest here. The market is huge. Our people are hardworking, among the best educated in Africa. But, unfortunately, a few industrious guys are going around doing terrible things that soiled the name of the country.
"But we believe we will change the country," he adds. "If we say 'no' to corruption, then poverty will solve itself. It's just a question of determination."
While the overall economy has picked up because of investment in oil, with an average growth rate of 6 percent in the past six years, social indicators remain dire. Life expectancy is just over 40 years. More than 40 percent of the population does not have access to clean drinking water and 20 percent of children die before age age 5.
Despite being the continent's largest oil producer, Nigeria has very few working refineries, making it the 6th-largest importer of refined products like gasoline and diesel in the world. This adds a cost to everything Nigerians buy, from mangos to electronics.
Tusi, a bright, young hotel manager, can only smirk when she thinks of what the Obasanjo era has brought to her life.
"Yes, the economy is growing on paper, but the cost of living is going up, too," she says. "We may get electricity one hour every day, and 23 hours a day we run generators. That adds to your costs. If they solved the electricity problem, things would get cheaper, because we won't all have to generate power ourselves."
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