Nigeria Oil Fields: Corruption Piled on Corruption

The title of the below linked article covers the situation in Nigeria except to the extent it makes it look as if the corruption is solely that of the oil companies. After all, Nigeria is a place where corruption is piled on corruption - and one of the major suppliers of oil to the world.

At any rate, if you wonder about how hard it is to do honest business in some parts of the world, I commend this piece from the London Review of Books by Alexander Briant: "Diary: Oil Industry Corruption" of which this is a small excerpt:

The final meeting I have in Nigeria is with the senior partner of a respected law firm. He is an impressive individual: knowledgeable, realistic, straight-talking. I ask him what our chances of bringing a prosecution would be. ‘To make sure that the police investigated your complaint fairly, you’d have to bribe them.’ We laugh at the absurdity of a system where corruption is necessary in order to get someone to act in good faith. And with that, there’s nowhere else to go.

Nigeria certainly is not alone in this sort of thing, but it might be a leader. (Not at all exclusively directed against foreign entities, for example, fake merchant marine training academies which rip off Nigerians)

You really should read the whole thing.

Hat tip: Sam Ignarski at the Maritime Advocate.