WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- The House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, held a hearing Thursday to discuss financial corruption in Nigeria that has called into question U.S. assistance to the oil-rich nation.
Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-NJ, chairman of the subcommittee, noted that the Nigerian government is one of the most corrupt in the world. He cited a report from the Nigeria-based Economic & Financial Crimes Commission, which revealed Nigeria's government has stolen or misused $400 billion over the latter half of the 20th century.
The theft of oil profits that are desperately needed to help the poor and improve domestic infrastructure are of particular concern to the United States, he said. According to a 2004 World Bank report, 80 percent of Nigeria's oil wealth is usurped by just 1 percent of the population, the majority of which lives on less than $1 a day.
Annual per capita income has dropped from $1,000 to $390 in the last 25 years, a phenomenon that has earned the country third-to-last ranking on Transparency International's 2005 corruption index.
Smith also addressed the problem of online financial frauds originating in Nigeria, known as "419 scams", which are solicitations on the internet that have swindled scores of people worldwide.
The subcommittee listened to various testimonies from experts to determine how Nigerian from the United States may be modified.
State Department official Linda Thomas-Greenfield said further U.S. assistance with law enforcement would bolster efforts by Nigeria's Independent Corrupt Practices Commission to combat the problem. She explained that corruption on a local level must be addressed with a stronger imposition of law.
Thomas-Greenfield said that better police training in Nigeria would not only combat corruption but also restore faith in the government.
"All these initiatives point to the robust bilateral law enforcement cooperation with Nigeria but more needs to be done," Thomas-Greenfield said.
David L. Goldwyn, president of Goldwyn International Strategies, said the United States should encourage proper fiscal management in Nigeria.
"We need to concretely support this," Goldwyn said. "Which means the Secretary of State needs to talk about it when she talks to another leader. The president needs to talk about it when he talks to another leader."
He also said the United States could assist Nigeria with training on public diplomacy, building a communications strategy, modernizing regulatory systems and taxation.
"We have technical assistance in all these areas where they don't," Goldwyn said.
George Ayittey, president of the Free Africa Foundation, offered the subcommittee a few suggestions for how the United States could assist Nigeria's current efforts for reform. One step he advanced would be the formation of a sovereign, national conference, a method he said helped Benin become a democratic state and end South African apartheid.
"It is exactly the same mechanism that we should goad, not the president of Nigeria, but the Senate of Nigeria to convene; a sovereign, national conference."
