On Dec 27, 2021
Development experts have always engaged in intensive discourses of development in any nation within the purview of internationally recognized indices among which poverty, unemployment and their antecedents in the nations under review dominate the content of such discourses.
Expectedly, these are notable parameters by which a nation’s development and international competitiveness or otherwise are properly measured.
Nigeria has maintained the infamous position in the global rungs of poverty-burdened countries in the world, with 93.9 million people in Africa’s most populous country currently living below the poverty line despite the rich natural, mineral and human resources the country is endowed with.
Given the low level of development in Nigeria, the big capitalist elites in the Western nations who are at a vantage position in terms of economic prosperity are expected to act as a shield to protect the economic rights of poor nations of the world, considering how often the western developed nations have always claimed to be champions of protecting human rights worldwide. However, the activities of some of these western multinationals led by those from the US have left much to be desired, making pundits wonder if they are really interested in helping the poor of the poorest nations get out of the poverty brackets as they have always proclaimed.
The ugly reality is that despite the prevailing poverty level In Nigeria, the country has continued to be pummeled by organized illicit financial outflows like tax evasion and money laundering among others which are sometimes perpetrated in connivance with those who ought to prevent such. The activities of the International Oil Companies operating in Nigeria and how they have been milking the economy came to the fore sometimes ago in the National dailies as the Lagos Zone of the Tax Appeal Tribunal ordered Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to pay 83.4 million dollars (N13 billion) education tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). This is just one of the numerous cases of misdemeanors perpetrated by these powerful multinational concerns. In a report released in 2019 by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Trust Africa indicated that Nigeria loses between $15b billion and $18b yearly to illicit financial flow, and over 92 percent of the crime is reportedly committed in the oil and gas sector. Similarly, in 2015, the Economic Commission for Africa reported that the United States accounted for 29.0 percent of IFF from Nigeria, Spain accounted for 22.5 percent, France, 8.7 percent, Japan 8.5 percent, and Germany 7.7 percent. The five countries together contributed 76.4 percent of total illicit financial flows from Nigeria from 1970 to 2008, and were the key destinations of Nigeria’s oil products at that time.
In another instance, some banks in the United States of America were fingered in the accusation of helping to advance fraud in the P& ID case just as the Nigerian government is demanding records of 60 companies and individuals from 10 banks in the United States as part of its efforts to overturn the controversial $9.6 billion P&ID judgement. This is an indication that the Western Countries provide soft landings to help fewer Nigerians to launder currencies abroad. A Bloomberg report showed how Nigeria was seeking documents from banks, including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., in a bid to overturn the $9.6 billion arbitration award. Nigeria has asked a federal court in New York for permission to subpoena information about transactions involving government officials
Development experts have always engaged in intensive discourses of development in any nation within the purview of internationally recognized indices among which poverty, unemployment and their antecedents in the nations under review dominate the content of such discourses.
Expectedly, these are notable parameters by which a nation’s development and international competitiveness or otherwise are properly measured.
Nigeria has maintained the infamous position in the global rungs of poverty-burdened countries in the world, with 93.9 million people in Africa’s most populous country currently living below the poverty line despite the rich natural, mineral and human resources the country is endowed with.
Given the low level of development in Nigeria, the big capitalist elites in the Western nations who are at a vantage position in terms of economic prosperity are expected to act as a shield to protect the economic rights of poor nations of the world, considering how often the western developed nations have always claimed to be champions of protecting human rights worldwide. However, the activities of some of these western multinationals led by those from the US have left much to be desired, making pundits wonder if they are really interested in helping the poor of the poorest nations get out of the poverty brackets as they have always proclaimed.
The ugly reality is that despite the prevailing poverty level In Nigeria, the country has continued to be pummeled by organized illicit financial outflows like tax evasion and money laundering among others which are sometimes perpetrated in connivance with those who ought to prevent such. The activities of the International Oil Companies operating in Nigeria and how they have been milking the economy came to the fore sometimes ago in the National dailies as the Lagos Zone of the Tax Appeal Tribunal ordered Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited to pay 83.4 million dollars (N13 billion) education tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). This is just one of the numerous cases of misdemeanors perpetrated by these powerful multinational concerns. In a report released in 2019 by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) and Trust Africa indicated that Nigeria loses between $15b billion and $18b yearly to illicit financial flow, and over 92 percent of the crime is reportedly committed in the oil and gas sector. Similarly, in 2015, the Economic Commission for Africa reported that the United States accounted for 29.0 percent of IFF from Nigeria, Spain accounted for 22.5 percent, France, 8.7 percent, Japan 8.5 percent, and Germany 7.7 percent. The five countries together contributed 76.4 percent of total illicit financial flows from Nigeria from 1970 to 2008, and were the key destinations of Nigeria’s oil products at that time.
In another instance, some banks in the United States of America were fingered in the accusation of helping to advance fraud in the P& ID case just as the Nigerian government is demanding records of 60 companies and individuals from 10 banks in the United States as part of its efforts to overturn the controversial $9.6 billion P&ID judgement. This is an indication that the Western Countries provide soft landings to help fewer Nigerians to launder currencies abroad. A Bloomberg report showed how Nigeria was seeking documents from banks, including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., in a bid to overturn the $9.6 billion arbitration award. Nigeria has asked a federal court in New York for permission to subpoena information about transactions involving government officials
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