The Failures of Nigeria's Presidents

On paper, Nigeria should be an economic powerhouse. Its abundant natural resources, remarkable unity, and strong economic relationships with other wealthy nations should have resulted in a nation as wealthy per capita as many Western European nations. Unfortunately, it has not been immune to the plague that has debilitated so many African nations--corruption. Nigeria's endemic political corruption has only now begun to wane in the last ten years. Its past presidents were oftentimes nothing more than military strongmen or civilians who saw one of the richest nations in Africa as their own personal piggy banks. This, then, is the tragic story of Nigeria's corruption.

"Public Power for Private Profit"

Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first President of Nigeria after its independence, was no stranger to enriching himself off the public dime. When he was first elected to a regional post prior to independence, he retained his holdings in the African Continental Bank, though it was illegal to do so; nonetheless, due to his importance in the nationalist movement, he was never challenged on this. Therefore he predictably governed in such a way as to grow the bank's wealth and his own along with it. Obafemi Awolowo, the chief member of the opposition in the first Republic, was no better: he oversaw the taking out of millions in loans, without ever paying back more than a fraction of it, and even that after he had been ousted from power. Aviation Minister KO Mbadiwe stole enough from the public to build himself a lavish mansion in his hometown. Ahmadu Bello, the prime minister, flaunted his wealth obtained with ill-gotten funds. Eventually, the military acted and launched a coup, assassinating most of the embezzling members of the First Republic's executive.

The False Promise of Reform

The coup started a long chain of military strongmen who would overthrow whoever was in power because of the incumbent's corruption, promise reforms, and then not only fail to prevent the looting of the public's money, but somehow make it worse. The spike in oil prices during the 1970's and early 1980's meant that there was plenty of money for public works projects, but this money would get diverted into the pockets of governors, contractors, and overseas investors. During Yakubu Gowon's administration, the bribery and kickbacks regarding public works was so endemic that the port of Lagos was inundated with 5 times as many ships laden with concrete bought at ten times the going rate, with many of the ships rotting as they waited to be unloaded. Four years later, during the Shagari administration, government officials found a way to become even more corrupt, with widespread unapologetic looting of the public funds. When oil prices crashed in the early 1980's, and the country lost its main source of revenue, there was yet another regime change on the promise of reform, followed by even more exacerbated corruption. British newspaper The Daily Mail pointed out in 2013 that Nigerian officials had embezzled $380 Billion dollars since independence--nearly equaling the $400 Billion that Nigeria has received over the same time period in foreign aid. The corruption continues today, with the average Nigerian citizen forced to live on $730 a year, which equals $2.00 a day, while the standard pay for a government official is an astounding $191,000 a year.

Nigeria's ruling class has proven to be among the least honest and most blatantly corrupt in the world. The countries it tried to model itself after--the U.S. and Britain--have long traditions of paying government workers far less than they would receive in the private sector, as a way to verify that those working "for the people" are truly doing so. Until everyday Nigerians demand the same, it is unlikely that the thievery will ever stop. 

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