This was something new for me. I never new that Nigeria produced so much oil and that much of it was being robbed due to corruption of epic proportions.
Many countries, such as the United States have benefitied immensely from the exploitation of Nigerias rich natural resources, without ever trying to fix the corruption.
What's even more saddening is that over 70% of Nigerians living a life of devastating poverty and lack of opportunity.
Here's an excerpt:
The effects of this curse leads to oil-dependent superpowers like the United States taking an interest in these oil-soaked countries’ development and engineering their politics and economics to meet their needs. Aided and abetted by the home-grown elites, they use oil profits not for national enrichment and development, but for self-enrichment, and that of their patrons in the developed world. While Nigeria is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of its natural resources, a mind-numbing 70 percent of the population lives in destitution.
The politics of local development in nations like Nigeria -- with its North-South, Christian-Muslim schisms, as well as ethnic divides -- have fueled corruption and a get-over mentality. Nigerians such as Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe have denounced this tendency in their society. The late Afro-beat master Fela sang about it in numerous songs. Environmental activist Ken Saro-wira was executed by the state through what some have called an extra-legal judicial lynching.
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