In Nigeria, Money Fuels Politics
If elected, man says he'll make a fortune
By Samson Mulugeta
AFRICA CORRESPONDENT

April 19, 2003

Abuja, Nigeria - For 30 years, campaign consultant Paul Ojukwu has
helped others enter politics and leave a few years later as rich men.
Now Ojukwu has decided his time has come to feed at the trough.

"Politics in Nigeria is the most lucrative business you can get into,"
said Ojukwu, who is running for a local council seat in this capital
city. "I need $150,000 for my campaign," he said Wednesday. "If you give
me $10,000, I will double your investment in six months."

Ojukwu stands for election next weekend, but as Nigerians go to the
polls today to vote for president and gubernatorial candidates, the same
kind of motivation threatens widespread violence as candidates battle
for the bounties of political power.

Sixty million voters are scheduled to vote in an election that pits
President Olusegun Obasanjo against 19 other candidates. The
governorships of 36 states also are up for grabs today.

Ojukwu and other political players have mastered the equation of power
and money. Eighty percent of Nigeria's gross domestic product flows from
its large oil reserves, which is exclusively controlled by the
government. To win office at any level is to hold the power to award
contracts and dispense patronage.

The eighth-largest producer of crude oil in the world, Nigeria has
earned more than $300 billion of oil revenue in the past three decades.
Most of it has been looted or squandered and 70 percent of Nigerians
still live on less than a dollar a day.

The use of public office for personal enrichment goes to the heart of
this nation's struggle to entrench a democratic process after suffering
through decades of military misrule. A number of officials come into
office not to help and protect their constituents but to enrich
themselves and help their family and friends.

Government officials' decisions affect every aspect of life, from
connecting a telephone line to obtaining a building permit. Scores and
sometimes hundreds of civilians are killed in every election, as
incumbents and candidates jockey for office and send their hired goons
to intimidate or eliminate their opponents.

Nigeria's winner-take-all tradition of politics is responsible for the
frequent election-related mayhem that wracks the country, according to
human rights groups. "Because political power is one of the few ways to
access wealth in Nigeria, politics often becomes what is frequently
referred to in Nigeria as 'a do-or-die affair,'" New York-based Human
Rights Watch stated in a 40-page report on political violence published
this month.

Some political observers attribute politicians' eagerness to loot the
government's treasury to the lack of national identity among many
Nigerians.

Most people remain loyal to their tribe or home village while paying
scant attention to the idea of Nigerian nationhood, a construct of
colonialism that patched together myriad groups with no sense of common
identity.

Ad'Obe Obe, a senior adviser to Obasanjo, offered this observation: "If
you embezzle the government and you go to your village, you are a hero,"
Obe said. "You steal a cent from your village, you get lynched."

For would-be office-holders such as Ojukwu, 53, the notion of elective
office as a surest and easiest path to wealth and power is so
self-evident that there is no shame in talking openly about it.

"It's not corruption. But if I help you out, you can do something nice
for me without me even asking." 
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

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