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Corruption And Underdevelopment
[A CASE STUDY OF HALLIBURTON]
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 7]
Page 3 of 7
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The
state is highly developed and acts as an instrument of wealth
accumulation, and naturally results in a bitter struggle to gain control
of it. A critical focus of this struggle is the control of government,
which is the formal access to state power. Thus in Africa, those in
office do all they can to perpetuate their hold on it, and those out of
office do all they can to get it. There is hardly any restraint to
struggle because the boundary between the state and the ruling class is
blurred. The implication of this according to him, “is a crudely
oppressive class rule, because the state and government are too involved
in the class struggle, and because of the high premium placed on
political power, this to him is what makes political power in Africa to
be highly authoritarian as the hegemonic faction of the bourgeoisie
adopts a siege mentalityâ€. Fortunately, the tendency to accumulate
through the use of state power rather than through productive activities
makes post-colonial capitalism less conducive to the development of
productive forces and the increase of surplus. In conclusion, he
recommended socialism but went on to say that the state of the
productive forces in Africa will be detrimental to the attainment of
socialism. He also mentioned the interaction of the external forces as
an obstacle to socialism, but said that, “in the long run objective
conditions are more likely to move Africa to socialismâ€.
Fanon
[1961] argued that Europe is literally the creation of the third world.
The wealth were accumulated is that which stolen from the underdeveloped
people. “He went as far as saying that we should not tremble with
gratitude when any help comes from Europe. He says this should be the
ratification of a double realization: the realization by the colonized
people that it is there due and the realization by the capitalist power
that in fact they must payâ€. What Fanon [1961] is basically saying is
that Africans should realize that Europe was created by them and
therefore should disregard anything that comes from them in the name of
gifts or aid. Fanon [1961] enumerated the criminal activities of the
colonialists in their robbery adventure in Africa. These include
deportations, massacre, forced labor and slavery. These are the methods
that capitalism used to increase its wealth, its gold or diamond
resources and establish its power. He said that violence was their main
instrument of accumulation. He mentioned in detail how the European
activities undermined the development of Africans both mentally and
physically through the imposition of western culture.
He further
castigated the indigenous bourgeoisie for their activities which is
instrumental to the internal weakness of the colonized. He said this
traditional weakness which is almost congenital to the national
consciousness of underdeveloped countries, is not solely the result of
the mutilation of the colonized people by the result of the colonial
regime. It is also the result of the intellectual laziness of the
national middle class, of its spiritual penury and of profoundly
cosmopolitan mould that its mind is set in. According to him, this
bourgeois class who took over from the colonialist had little or nothing
before they came into power. At the attainment of independence, they
engaged in the accumulation of capital to the neglect of the masses that
stood behind them during the time of struggle for independence. Instead
of investing in productive ventures, they prefer to invest in the one
that will yield quick money. Hence, he succinctly remarked. “The landed
bourgeoisie refuses to take the slightest risks and remained opposed to
any ventures and to any hazard, it has no intention of building upon
sand, it demands solid investments and quick returns. On the other hand,
large sums of money were spent on display on cars, country house and
all those things which has been correctly described by economists as
characteristics of an underdeveloped country. Fanon [1961], after
condemning bourgeoisie’s activities, recommended that it should not be
allowed to find the conditions necessary for its existence and growth.
In other words, the combined effort of the masses led by a party and
intellectuals who are highly conscious and armed with revolutionary
principles ought to bear the way to the elimination of this unuseful and
harmful middle class. He also recommended the complete obliteration of
the type of business to which this group of people engage in. Finally,
he advised the underdeveloped countries not to imitate the European way
of life and not to expect anything from them but to try and fashion out
new life for the entire people of the underdeveloped society and
recommended socialism if possible by violence because in his exact
words: Every
generalization must out of relative obscurity discover
its mission, fulfill it or betray it. Effiong [1980] and Nwankwo [1981]
dwelt extensively on the nefarious activities of the multinational
corporations [MNCs] in Nigeria, but unlike of Effiong [1980], Nwankwo
recommends outright nationalization of these companies. He enumerated
the visible activities of the multinationals which include:
• Monopolization of the means of production.
• The repatriation of profits etc.
On
the invisible activities of MNCs, he says that they engage in transfer
pricing and over-invoicing. After weighing the advantages and
disadvantages of the multinationals, he concluded that their
disadvantages outweighed the advantages and therefore argues that the
contributions of these corporations are at best illusory. All scholars
so far reviewed are basically saying the same thing but from different
angles. This boils down to the conclusion that the underdevelopment of
the third world countries in general and Nigeria in particular is due to
the integration of their economy into the capitalist system.
Corruption
and corrupt practice in all its ramification cannot succeed or thrive
without the connivance of the international bourgeoisie who provide a
safe haven for loot public fund in a various home countries, for
instance when Gary Foxcroft and Sam Itauma produced the documentary
entitled: “Saving Africans witch Children aired on the British
Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, and channel 4 of the United kingdom three
years ago, the whole world was outraged. The outrage was as a result of
the cruelty meted on children who were accused of being witcher. As a
result many individuals, corporate bodies, nations and governments took
decisive actions to curb the trend and doled out money to Foxcroft and
Itauma organization to assist the kids. But unknown to many donors,
Foxcroft and Itauma where scammers who were abusing the opportunities
and goodwill provided by the documentary to line their pockets. Sally
the duo has turned the misfortune of the children into a fortune making
business, amassing wealth from unsuspecting donors under the guise of
helping the ‘child witches’. None of the kids have sufficiently
benefited from then funds as they are being kept in a very particular
condition .so far they have collected over £10million pounds (₦2.6
billion) documentary available to news watch shows that between November
2008 exactly after two days after the documentary was first aired in
London and April 2009 .fox croft and his accomplice had collected
£25,638 British pounds or ₦68.2 million from donations made online
through his website WWW. Justgiving.com stepping stone Nigeria on behalf
of the stepping stone Nigeria, SSN, and his nongovernmental
organization ,NGO, supposedly for the upkeep of children in Akwa Ibom
state .records also shows that the amount realized within 6month after
the discovery was shown in UK was above their project target of £20000
pounds or ₦5.08 million. By September 2009, fox croft’s stepping stone
Nigeria whose UK headquarters is at 24 St Leonard’s house, Leonard’s
gate. Gate Lancaster, had raked in 1.5 million equivalent to 381 million
in donation for the purpose of financing the kids in Ituama’s child
rehabilitations network ,CRAR centre in Eket. When Foxcroft appeared on
channel 4 on November 16 2009 he claimed that the total amount he had
received as at then was £200000 pounds out of which he remained £72000
pounds CRARN for the upkeep of the children, but there was no record to
show that. But news watch learnt that Itauma was not even aware of the
£20000 pounds. Akwa ibom state government donated to stepping stone in
2006 during the administration of the former governor victor Attah and
Foxcroft claimed to have used in building a hostel and accommodation for
the kids in the CRARN centre, again without the knowledge of Itauma,
Foxcraft took two staff from CRARN to establish a parallel organization
like CRARN which he called stepping stone Nigeria child empowerment
foundation .SSNCEF. With the help of Leo Igwe, executive director of the
Nigerian humanist movement and secretary of the atheist in Nigeria he
has able to gather some indigent children which he quartered and
abandoned qua river hotel and the Ekets sport stadium. Unlike the
children of CRARN centre; the children at qua river hotel which stepping
stone claimed to have being taken care of were in very pitiable
condition before government came to their rescue. the cold between
Foxcroft and Itauma which is said to revolve around accountability of
funds was exposed at February 18,2011,when the Briton terminated his
partnership with the CRARN .he claimed that he took the decision himself
because of their unwillingness to uphold internationally held standard
in child protection accountability and transparency. Foxcroft decision
did not go down well with Itauma and his reaction exposed the fact that
Foxcroft activities were not in tandem with their agreement.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 7]
Page 3 of 7
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