Corruption: British citizens kick against aid to Nigeria
By Oladunjoye Opeyemi
Indication that some British citizens are currently not happy with they way the aids extended to Nigeria by their country are being stolen or mismanaged and have accused British government of fueling corruption in Nigeria.
This is a result of a report by the think-tank committee of Chatham House the home of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The report called Nigeria’s Criminal Crude, claimed that United Kingdom had doled out more than £1billion in aid to Nigeria, while Nigeria’s corrupt officials allow £2billion of oil to be stolen every year.
The report further questioned the cash payment for Nigerian naval equipment and training at a time the country’s maritime forces have deliberately neglected the need to stop shipments of stolen oil. The group thereby questions the fate of aid money sent to Nigeria, as it claims the aid may not be going to those who need it most after all.
The Chatham House report said: “Nigerian crude oil is being stolen on an industrial scale. Proceeds are laundered through world financial centres. In Nigeria, politicians, military officers, militants, oil industry personnel, oil traders and communities profit, as do organised criminal groups.”
“The greatest victims are ordinary Nigerians. The trade destroys the environment, weakens public institutions, swallows government revenue that could buy public goods, and imposes other social costs.”
The institute warned that the scale of the stolen oil trade ‘threatens the integrity of financial markets and the legitimate oil business’, as the proceeds of oil theft were then laundered in major financial markets, with the City of London key among them. Singapore and Dubai in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) are the other havens.
The integrity of the appropriation of the aid was first questioned last month when The Mail, a leading British newspaper disclosed the country’s plans to expand its space agency.
“Some 100,000 barrels of oil a day are being stolen from pipelines, ports and storage tanks with the connivance of politicians, officials and military top brass, says an authoritative report,” The Mail said.
Though,a number of Britons have have criticised Prime Minister David Cameron’s commitment to increased aid spending,The Department for International Development (DfID), which administers the aid budget, said Britain was working to fight corruption in Nigeria.
In reaction to the raised questions,an angry British citizen has asked the UK to burn the aid money instead of doling it to corrupt Nigerian leaders as he believes much of the cash amounts to subsidies for rich people in developing countries at the expense of the British poor.
Another Briton said: “It’s a magic trick. They (British government) take large amounts of public money and give it away then they get some back via business deals usually with company’s they are involved with or are very friendly with and some of the money magically makes it way back but ends up in their pocket in a round about kind of way.”