£220bn stolen by Nigeria's corrupt rulers

[seriousstan]

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.

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/25/wnig25.xml

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Damn!

Competition.

Chimp'll have to start another war.

[Scurrilous]

2. Jeb Bush....

...Nigeria, and suitcases full of cash.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/4221945.htm?1c

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Greetings, Good Eminent Governor Bush!

I reach out to you with an important message regarding £220 billion. The former Minister to the Undersecratary of Education, Scammo Njalumbo, died recently in a tragic car accident, leaving £220 billion in a trust for his dear children. Unfortunately, the political forces in Nigeria have prevented the movement of these monies to France, and I have been unable to contact any of Scammo Njalumbo's relatives for assistance. It is thus that I turn to your eminence, for assistance in moving these monies to Undersecretary Scammo's children. You will be compensated with half these monies, at £110 billion....

:evilgrin:

[sleipnir]

4. Wow! So that email WAS true.

I wish I had given that nice dictator's wife my bank account information. I could have been a millionaire like she promised in her email.

[1932]

5. Nigeria isn't a resource-poor nation. It has massive oil reserves.

They should be able to finance their own development if they, say, make shell take a much smaller percentage of the oil wealth and if they get out from under the debt that forces them to give a lot of the money they do collect to western banks.

With Nigeria, you obviously need political reform, but they still shouldn't be financing debt burdens out of public money when those debt burdens were incurred by corrupt governments who cared more about making themselves and a few people in the private sector immensely wealthy.

This article operates from the false presumption that the west is giving Africa money that they will give to someone else. That's not the case.

[KlatooBNikto]

7. What Nigeria needs is a local Hugo Chavez.

[1932]

8. Don't we all!!!

[arikara]

6. And they've been after ME to hold their money for them!

They've offered me millions for my bank account number.