David Cameron told the Queen earlier this week that “we’ve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain… Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”
Cameron’s comments, which he made at the Queens 90th Birthday event, sounded so akin to Robert Mugabe’s comments two years ago.
At his own 90th Birthday luncheon in 2014, the Zimbabwean leader shared his opinion on just how corrupt Nigeria is, with some colourful illustration.
Decrying the deepening levels of bribery in his country, Mugabe asked, “are we now like Nigerians where you have to reach into your pockets to get anything done?”
At the time, Nigerians were so upset at the suggestion that their country was so corrupt. Citizens immediately took to social media to let Mugabe know. The Nigerian government summoned the Zimbabwean ambassador Stanley Kunjeku in Abuja to express their discontent. They labelled Mr Mugabe’s comments as “vitriolic and denigrating.”
Former US Ambassador to Nigeria John Campbell also joined in to defend Nigeria by pointing out that “technically,” Zimbabwe is more corrupt, but challenging both countries to face their “numerous other internal challenges.” With this recent history, one would not have been surprised at a similar reaction to Cameron’s comment.
However, on his part, President Buhari declined the call to demand an apology from Cameron, graciously averting a potential diplomatic incident. Speaking at the London Anti-corruption summit, Buhari said, “I am not going to demand any apology from anybody.
What I am demanding is the return of our assets.” This has been President Buhari’s request to international partners at many forums since he took office. He kicked off his first official visit to Washington last year, by appealing to President Obama to help in locating and returning $150 Billion stolen from Nigeria and held in foreign banks.
Buhari’s message echoes the joint appeal of African leaders. According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the continent is losing more than $50 Billion annually through illicit financial outflows. This routine, annual loss is approximately double the official development assistance (ODA) that Africa receives.
These figures were reported to African Union leaders last year, along with detailed analysis of the biggest losers by share of cumulative outflows, (Nigeria topped that list), and the countries where these African resources routinely wind up.(Destination countries.)
On behalf of the African Union, former South African president Thabo Mbeki is meeting with the international community to negotiate ways to stop these illicit outflows and see how to return the resources from the countries where they are sitting, back into African economies.
We have to recall that corruption is a complex problem that takes many different forms. While some corruption takes the shape of citizens bribing police and public service providers at the domestic service-delivery fronts, some manifestations of corruption are truly global, crossing borders and affecting many different countries near and far.
Resources illicitly extracted from one country wind up in another, (sometimes via yet a third country), depriving the source-country of the means to support its economy and provide services to its citizens.
Given the currently vast resources leaving Africa facilitated by corruption, it is a noble gesture for African leaders to welcome criticism, acknowledge and address the domestic problems, but also remain politically and diplomatically engaged with seeking international solutions.
Mr. Buhari acknowledges “an image problem abroad,” as he said on a visit to the UK earlier this year, much to the ire of some of his citizens. He has however insisted on just one thing. “Help us bring our money back.”
This call for joint action was his major request at the London summit this week, which was appropriately themed, “Tackling Corruption Together.” Mr. Buhari and other African leaders should be pleased that the London summit has agreed to widen this discussion by establishing a “Global Forum for Asset Recovery” supported by the UN and the World Bank.
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