Politics Is $20 Billion in Missing Oil Wealth the Explanation for Extremist Group Boko Haram? - PRI

Vunderkind

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No one is shocked these days by allegations of corruption in Nigeria. But the amount of oil revenue that is reportedly being stolen there now is staggering.

In recent weeks, a Nigerian official went on record alleging that some $20 billion of his country's oil revenue had gone missing in just the past 18 months.

That official — Central Bank Governor Lamidu Sanusi — was about to do some serious asset-tracking to find out what had happened to the cash.

But the country's President Goodluck Jonathan fired Sanusi.

Sarah Chayes, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says western officials have told her the $20 billion has been laundered and is at the disposal of President Jonathan.

Chayes has been looking at several acutely corrupt countries, including Nigeria, and she sees a pattern.

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Source: PRI
 

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I read the whole thing, and I had mixed feelings towards it. I listened to the audio session as well. Basically, Sarah Chayes is saying that foreign nations are aiding and abetting Jonathan's corruption by generously giving funds to Nigeria. Her logic is that if the funds weren't given, Nigeria would need to use its own cash to handle its own needs. Basically, Sarah says the UN is feeding Nigeria so that its leaders can steal unnoticed.

She also stated that crude oil gets stolen and exploited from the first second it comes up from the soil. She says most of the stolen money goes through Jonathan, and it is the 'declared' bit that enters our reserves and makes its way to our budget. She also added that Nigeria had two budgets: the one we see declared in papers, and the other one behind closed doors.

She painted a picture of skulduggery and political judo. It is bleak, seeing it painted by a clinical foreigner, honestly.
 
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