Ahead of the International Anti-corruption Summit hosted by Britain last week, Prime Minister David Cameron was caught on camera making disparaging remarks about Nigeria while talking with the Queen of England and the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. In his words: “We have got the Nigerians – actually we have got some leaders of fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain… Nigeria and Afghanistan – possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world.”
Of course this has sparked some controversy especially among the Nigerian populace with those for and those against Cameron's pronouncement trading blows of words. Merging the views of the two camps one cannot help but agree that the man was dead right when he made the statement. What with the deep seated corruption that has ravaged Nigeria since her independence from Britain or possibly even before then and which has continued till today. The level of corruption among the political elite has been monumental and has crippled almost every sector of Nigeria's social and economic existence. Lack of steady power supply, unstable petroleum industry, poor health care delivery and inadequate facilities, low standard of education occasioned by underfunding and the list is endless.
The amount of money stolen by politicians from the government coffers and stashed away in the western countries among whom Britain prominently features is mind boggling and has left the Nigerian economy in comatose while largely contributing to the relative stability the economies of these western countries enjoy. And here lies the hypocrisy of Cameron! Like the Nigerian President rightly said later while addressing the summit, what the western world should do to show real sincerity of purpose in helping countries like Nigeria fight corruption is to immediately repatriate all stolen funds in their banks.