Where Is Live 8's Money Going? To African Despots' New Cadillacs and Beach Homes!

  • Wanna Join? New users you can now register lightning fast using your Facebook or Twitter accounts.
Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio

Sicc OG
#1
Jul 13, 2005
171
0
0
#1
£220bn stolen by Nigeria's corrupt rulers
By David Blair in Abuja
(Filed: 25/06/2005)

The scale of the task facing Tony Blair in his drive to help Africa was laid bare yesterday when it emerged that Nigeria's past rulers stole or misused £220 billion.

That is as much as all the western aid given to Africa in almost four decades. The looting of Africa's most populous country amounted to a sum equivalent to 300 years of British aid for the continent.

The figures, compiled by Nigeria's anti-corruption commission, provide dramatic evidence of the problems facing next month's summit in Gleneagles of the G8 group of wealthy countries which are under pressure to approve a programme of debt relief for Africa.

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, has spoken of a new Marshall Plan for Africa. But Nigeria's rulers have already pocketed the equivalent of six Marshall Plans. After that mass theft, two thirds of the country's 130 million people - one in seven of the total African population - live in abject poverty, a third is illiterate and 40 per cent have no safe water supply.

With more people and more natural resources than any other African country, Nigeria is the key to the continent's success.

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, set up three years ago, said that £220 billion was "squandered" between independence from Britain in 1960 and the return of civilian rule in 1999.

"We cannot be accurate down to the last figure but that is our projection," Osita Nwajah, a commission spokesman, said in the capital, Abuja.

The stolen fortune tallies almost exactly with the £220 billion of western aid given to Africa between 1960 and 1997. That amounted to six times the American help given to post-war Europe under the Marshall Plan.

British aid for Africa totalled £720 million last year. If that sum was spent annually for the next three centuries, it would cover the cost of Nigeria's looting.

Corruption on such a scale was made possible by the country's possession of 35 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. That allowed a succession of military rulers to line their pockets and deposit their gains mainly in western banks.

Gen Sani Abacha, the late military dictator, stole between £1 billion and £3 billion during his five-year rule.

"We are only now beginning to come to grips with some of what he did," Mr Nwajah said.

Nigeria has scoured the world for Abacha's assets but has recovered only about £500 million.

Olusegun Obasanjo, the current president, founded the commission and launched a crackdown on corruption to try to end the country's reputation as Africa's most venal. The figures all apply to the period before he came to power.

The amount of money involved has prompted the Government to seek ways to enhance Britain's ability to help developing countries recover stolen funds. In the autumn the Government will introduce legislation to pave the way for British ratification of the United Nations convention against corruption.

A money laundering directive agreed by EU finance ministers this month will impose new responsibilities on banks, casinos and other establishments to be more alert to signs of corruption. They will be expected to help stamp out financial abuse by high-risk customers in a position to abuse public office for private gain.

Mr Obasanjo will travel to the G8 summit to press the case for debt relief. Nigeria is Africa's biggest debtor, with loans of almost £20 billion, because previous rulers not only looted the country but also borrowed heavily against future oil revenues.

The G8 has refused to cancel Nigeria's loans, despite writing off the debts of 14 other African countries this month.

Prof Pat Utomi, of Lagos Business School, said that was the right decision. "Who is to say you won't see the same behaviour again if it is all written off?" he said.
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtm...6/25/wnig25.xml
Click to expand...
We give them money and what happens?

It gets stolen.

Giving them more money is inefficient. We could simply light cash on fire and it'd be as effective. I'm interested on the "minds" take on how to fix Africa.
 
T

the dreamer

Member
#2
Jun 14, 2005
31
0
0
#2
fix africa.I too wish it was as easy to do, as to say. how we gone fix africa if we cant fix america. how can we be trusted to do the right thing there if we cant do the right thing here. not trying to be counterproductive, just saying that it starts with us. and others will follow the example.whether it be positive or negative.
 
2-0-Sixx

2-0-Sixx

Sicc OG
#5
May 13, 2002
49,944
47,801
113
44
Seattle
www.socialistworld.net
#5
The blame cannot solely rest on corrupt African governments when foreign corrupt Western governments have been exploiting Africa for hundreds of years and continues to exploit them today, and in many cases are ally’s with these shady African governments. The fault lies exclusively on Capitalism, Imperialism, Colonialism, and the IMF/World Bank etc. etc. etc.
 
Jae iLL

Jae iLL

Sicc OG
#7
Jun 27, 2003
2,457
10
0
38
#7
Well, you could always make reforms in the way things work, but to actually change things I think you'd have to use a violent revolution. The people who run things, I'm not talking about the government, are firmly planted in their positions. If you think that protests, or passing a few laws, is going to change anything; you're mistaken. True power comes from the barrel of a gun, and that's the kind of power that needs to be utilized in order to stop the exploitation of the masses by an elite minority.

You ask what do about them??? Kill em.
 
m.w.merlino

m.w.merlino

Sicc OG
#11
Dec 18, 2002
3,928
5
0
38
#11
Who do you think puts the corrupt leaders in charge?

There is a thin line between money stolen and money given...the funds are accounted for, which means their was a "trail" to follow back to this information, which also means someone within the government knew about it the whole time.

So why would they fund corrupt terrorist governments?

Because these governments keep the people oppressed and under control. Without jobs the poor and oppressed cannot live, so foreign business owners move in, set up shop, and use cheap labor for their merchandise.

Just so we can walk into a walmart at any time during the day and buy cheap goods from overseas.

To "fix" Africa, we need to give the land back to the people, and let them become autonomous. They would develop and flourish, and establish (most likely) a socialist model of government (in one form or another) and commence to build infrastructure.
 
HERESY

HERESY

THE HIDDEN HAND...
#12
Apr 25, 2002
18,326
11,459
113
www.godscalamity.com
www.godscalamity.com
#12
KrypticFlowz said:
Who do you think puts the corrupt leaders in charge?

There is a thin line between money stolen and money given...the funds are accounted for, which means their was a "trail" to follow back to this information, which also means someone within the government knew about it the whole time.

So why would they fund corrupt terrorist governments?

Because these governments keep the people oppressed and under control. Without jobs the poor and oppressed cannot live, so foreign business owners move in, set up shop, and use cheap labor for their merchandise.

Just so we can walk into a walmart at any time during the day and buy cheap goods from overseas.

To "fix" Africa, we need to give the land back to the people, and let them become autonomous. They would develop and flourish, and establish (most likely) a socialist model of government (in one form or another) and commence to build infrastructure.
Click to expand...
Great post.
 
Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio

Sicc OG
#13
Jul 13, 2005
171
0
0
#13
KrypticFlowz said:
So why would they fund corrupt terrorist governments?
Click to expand...
The real question is, why is Bono from U2 throwing a benefit concert for corrupt terrorist governments?".

Without jobs the poor and oppressed cannot live, so foreign business owners move in, set up shop, and use cheap labor for their merchandise.
Click to expand...
Could you please cite some examples? I can't find anything in my home with a "Made In Africa" tag. Just asia.
To "fix" Africa, we need to give the land back to the people, and let them become autonomous. They would develop and flourish, and establish (most likely) a socialist model of government (in one form or another) and commence to build infrastructure.
Click to expand...
And what historical precedent can you use as evidence for this? I can point to Japan as evidence against it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom