The Oil Thieves of Nigeria • Hacker News Board

Re: The Oil Thieves of Nigeria

#41

Post by boeingUH60 » Fri, Feb 03, 2023, 10:37 PM UTC

kwere wrote: post #39

boeingUH60 wrote: post #5

A very long and interesting read…a true story of how incessant corruption and incompetence is making my country fall apart daily…but sure, people still continue to vote in the corrupt and inept leaders. I honestly think people largely get what they deserve. We’ve decided to shun competence and embrace corruption…no surprise we’re seeing the results in a failed economy. Really hope the Labour Party candidate wins the…

i read there is now a big divide across religious lines, muslim in the north an christian in the north, with muslim voters being more tribalist and in group biased, resulting in some of the most flashiest corrupt leaders in office, is it real or more like journalistic bias? how common folks deal with political corruption?

This is exactly how it is…The Northern people largely vote according to tribe and religion, competence be damned. No surprise they’re the poorest and most decrepit region…yet they keep voting for the same set of nincompoop leaders.

Re: The Oil Thieves of Nigeria

#42

Post by MathMonkeyMan » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 5:26 AM UTC

nisegami wrote: post #33

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> honestly think people largely get what they deserve. >but sure, people still continue to vote in the corrupt and inept leaders. i live in a military state so i don't see much of "democracy". Many years ago, 1986 to be exact, people came out and there was a grassroots level movement for "rights" and people did lots of campaigning and the whole exercise of "elections" but the union government saw that as an attack on…

The only language the state speaks is violence. Until you meet them where they are, your people cannot effect change.

Maybe this is true. I'm an American and I know Americans who speak this way, but none of them have ever fought against a corrupt domestic foe.

And how often do the violent victors reveal their true ambitions? To be exactly those they deposed.

Re: The Oil Thieves of Nigeria

#43

Post by pydry » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 11:51 AM UTC

lostlogin wrote: post #37

pydry wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eastern Europe has been routinely contested territory by great powers for the past 1000 years. It's got very unfortunate geography.

So have most other regions. Where hasn’t had this happen? The longer humans have been somewhere, the more they seem to fight.

Switzerland and the USA are two countries blessed with particularly fortuitous geography.

Re: The Oil Thieves of Nigeria

#44

Post by from » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 8:45 PM UTC

pydry wrote: post #40

from wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watch this video: https://youtu.be/watch?v=IQtB4KSzSyY This is not about fuel theft but a related crime called fuel smuggling where they buy subsidized gasoline and then illegally export it to neighboring countries (the government bans this to prevent exactly this kind of arbitrage). If you watch the video they actually follow along with a fuel smuggler, pay bribes (only $1-2 each) at several checkpoints, and just pr…

>This kind of bribery at every level of government does not exist in any first world country. I'm acutely aware of what corruption is like there, thanks. I got shaken down by corrupt cops just outside of Ikeja three weeks ago. Unlike Nigeria, first world countries have functioning economies that don't pale into insignificance compared to whatever resource extraction they do. This is the key difference you missed. Whe…

> Nonetheless, resources are still a curse for the first world even when they dont overwhelm their entire economy. For homework I suggest you contrast Oklahoma and Texas politics to those of New York and Washington State.

New York had the largest political machine and patronage system in the country for several decades (Tammany). Eric Adams' term has had scandal after scandal (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/eric-adams-scandals...., https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/nyregion/eric-adams-petro...). Illinois has plenty of corrupt politics despite having very few natural resources (4 of the past 7 governors there have gone to jail): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_politics, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madigan. I don't know the history of Oklahoma or Texas very well but I would say that the bigger issue is that the ability to authorize tens of millions of dollars of spending is placed in the hands of a few unaccountable poorly paid individuals. Natural resources obviously go hand in hand with this because they provide a giant pile of money for people to divert.

Re: The Oil Thieves of Nigeria

#45

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 1:54 AM UTC

MathMonkeyMan wrote: post #42

nisegami wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only language the state speaks is violence. Until you meet them where they are, your people cannot effect change.

Maybe this is true. I'm an American and I know Americans who speak this way, but none of them have ever fought against a corrupt domestic foe. And how often do the violent victors reveal their true ambitions? To be exactly those they deposed.

[deleted]