Suchergebnisse

With this essay by Segun Osoba we begin an occasional series of guest essays by distinguished African scholars in which they reflect on key political, social and developmental issues. This essay is based on a paper presented to the August 1995 conference on Ethics in Government, organised by the Civil Liberties Organisation, at Ijebu‐Ode.

Corruption is a global phenomenon, intelligible only in its social context. It can he defined as anti‐social behaviour conferring improper benefits contrary to legal and moral norms, and which undermines the authorities' capacity to secure the welfare of all citizens. In Nigeria it became the principal means of private accumulation during the decolonisation period, in the absence of other means, and came to shape political activity and competition after independence.
All subsequent regimes, military and civilian, have been pervaded by corruption. Aided and enhanced by oil revenues, this has created a deepening crisis of kleptocracy, shown in is most extreme form since 1984. It results in a combination of scandalous wealth among the ruling class with growing poverty, misery and degradation among the mass of Nigerians. Political life has become dominated by winner‐take‐all factional struggles, political cynicism and violence, while the economy and social institutions have been driven into decay.
Corruption has thus become a way of life in Nigeria, one which existing governments neither wish to, nor can, control. Combating corruption requires a popular participatory democracy able to monitor and hold to account those in charge of the state and the treasury.

Korruption ist ein globales Phänomen im politischen und wirtschaftlichen Leben Nigerias. Verständlich wird es erst im sozialen Kontext seiner Entstehung. Der Autor befaßt sich daher mit der historischen Entwicklung von Klientelismus, Kleptokratie und Korruption. Ausgehend von einigen theoretischen und normativen Überlegungen, legt er in den anschließenden Kapiteln die Entstehung der wirtschaftlichen Elite und ihre Praktiken der Selbstbereicherung im Übergang von Kolonialzeit zu Unabhängigkeit, in der ersten Phase der Unabhängigkeit bis 1966, unter militärischer Herrschaft und zu Zeiten der Wirtschaftskrise in den 80er Jahren dar. Abschließend formuliert er politische Empfehlungen zur Bekämpfung von Korruption, die sich insbesondere auf die Einführung von öffentlichen Kontrollinstanzen und die Offenlegung von Finanztransaktionen öffentlicher Stellen beziehen. (DÜI-Spl)

Although previous workers have emphasised that venereal disease is rife in many developing countries there are no reliable statistics on the relative incidence of such infections. This dearth of information about these infections in Africa is directly related to economic factors, and the lack of modern diagnostic facilities and medical manpower. The pattern of these diseases was studied over a 30-month period at a hospital clinic serving an African population of about 2 million people. Standard diagnostic methods were used. The age distribution of patients conformed with that in other parts of the world except that more pre-pubertal patients were seen. The male to female ratio was 3:1. Non-specific genital infections were the most common (25·9%) followed closely by post-pubertal gonorrhoea (19·5%). Pre-pubertal gonorrhoea was commoner than reported elsewhere (4·0%) and this may be because the children have been in contact with infected clothing of their parents or members of their family. Most strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae were sensitive to penicillin by the disc method, but a few were markedly resistant to this and other agents. It is to be expected that the problem of gonococcal drug resistance will increase unless effective legislation is introduced to discourage self-medication with antimicrobial preparations. Venereophobia was common (6·6%) and sociocultural factors may play a dominant role in the incidence of the basically psychiatric condition. Syphilis constituted 2·5% of diagnoses and this can be regarded as an ominous sign in an area where yaws was endemic two decades ago and is now virtually non-existent. Altogether 9·5% of cases had multiple diagnoses making them dangerous sources of multiple infections. Up to 70% of the patients were infected after a promiscuous sexual activity. Such a high level of promiscuity would undoubtedly lead to an even greater dissemination of these infections. It is essential to provide facilities for diagnosis and treatment in every major town in Africa, otherwise it ...