A culture of corruption : everyday deception and popular discontent in Nigeria

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A culture of corruption : everyday deception and popular discontent in Nigeria

Daniel Jordan Smith

Princeton University Press, c2007

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Includes bibliographical references (p. [247]-256) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

E-mails proposing an 'urgent business relationship' help make fraud Nigeria's largest source of foreign revenue after oil. But scams are also a central part of Nigeria's domestic cultural landscape. Corruption is so widespread in Nigeria that its citizens call it simply 'the Nigerian factor'. Willing or unwilling participants in corruption at every turn, Nigerians are deeply ambivalent about it - resigning themselves to it, justifying it, or complaining about it. They are painfully aware of the damage corruption does to their country and see themselves as their own worst enemies, but they have been unable to stop it. "A Culture of Corruption" is a profound and sympathetic attempt to understand the dilemmas average Nigerians face every day as they try to get ahead - or just survive - in a society riddled with corruption. Drawing on firsthand experience, Daniel Jordan Smith paints a vivid portrait of Nigerian corruption - of nationwide fuel shortages in Africa's oil-producing giant, Internet cafes where the young launch their e-mail scams, checkpoints where drivers must bribe police, bogus organizations that siphon development aid, and houses painted with the fraud-preventive words 'not for sale'. This is a country where '419' - the number of an antifraud statute - has become an inescapable part of the culture, and so universal as a metaphor for deception that even a betrayed lover can say, 'He played me 419'. It is impossible to comprehend Nigeria today - from vigilantism and resurgent ethnic nationalism to rising Pentecostalism and accusations of witchcraft and cannibalism - without understanding the role played by corruption and popular reactions to it.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: "Urgent Business Relationship": Nigerian E-Mail Scams 28 CHAPTER 2: From Favoritism to 419: Corruption in Everyday Life 53 CHAPTER 3: Development Scams: Donors, Dollars, and NGO Entrepreneurs 88 CHAPTER 4: "Fair Play Even among Robbers": Democracy, Politics, and Corruption 112 CHAPTER 5: Rumors, Riots, and Diabolical Rituals 138 CHAPTER 6: "They Became the Criminals They Were Supposed to Fight": Crime, Corruption, and Vigilante Justice 166 CHAPTER 7: Anticorruption Aspirations: Biafrans and Born-again Christians 191 CONCLUSION 221 Appendix 233 Notes 241 References 247 Index 257

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