Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Who Made That Nigerian Scam? - NYTimes.com

OA:

Sorry, but I do not buy your explanation about Nigeria. Sure, people are shaped by their cultural, social, economic, and political experiences--common historical experiences, you might say. What is it about Nigerians that makes them more likely to turn to crime to deal with their poverty than, say, people in Zimbabwe? Remember that the Nigerians who turn to crime instead of engaging in legitimate pursuits to deal with extreme poverty are a very tiny minority---these people are certainly not representative of a cross-section of the people of this great country.

There are just criminals! Poverty has nothing to do with their decision to engage in crime.

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 4:54 PM, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:

Criminals are criminals. Excuses should be sparingly made for criminal behavior.  The sociology of crime suggests that there are enabling conditions for criminality. Some  societies are more enabling of criminal behavior than others  just as some societies for cultural, economic, political  and other reasons may be more tolerant and therefore supportive of discrimination, inequality, and injustice than others.

JM asks why economic hardship has caused more Nigerians to peddle in financial criminality than it has Zimbabweans? I do not know that this comparison is appropriate or even makes good sense. My suspicion is that economic and other hardship tolerance differs from people to people, and from country to country. My thinking is that economic and social pressures are also different among peoples and countries as is acceptance of the indignity of the enduring state of want. Is cultural difference a factor?  Why for example are more Eritreans, risking their lives in overcrowded, rickety boats to get to Europe than Yemenis? There are no easy answers.

What might be the case though is that people and societies are individually and collectively shaped by their shared past experience, and contemporary dreams and pressures. Nigerians it would seem, have been so buffeted by implacable  politics-driven corruption that some Nigerians, following their conversion to the idolatrous creed of riches by hook or crook, have developed a nascent, unrestrained greed. A new morality is replacing the old morality. Only time will tell which morality will serve the country better.

 

oa     

 

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of John Mbaku
Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2014 2:24 PM
To:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Who Made That Nigerian Scam? - NYTimes.com

 

Sorry, but I do not buy this narration--fraud as a response to economic hardship? Is Nigeria the only country that has ever faced economic collapse? What about Zimbabwe, whose economy completely collapsed, including its monetary system and a rate of inflation that placed the country's economy in the hyperinflation category?

 

Individuals who engage in fraudulent activities, regardless of their nature, are criminals. No one should excuse their behavior. Nigeria is a great country and most Nigerians are hard working, honest, and people of high integrity. Those few involved in 419 and other illegal schemes (e.g., ritual killings) are simply criminals and the law will eventually catch up with them. Let us not try to justify their decision to enter the realm of criminality. 

On Sunday, January 5, 2014, Ikhide wrote:

"Advance-fee or 419 scams, known by the section of the Nigerian criminal code that outlaws fraud, took on a global character when oil prices crashed along with the national economy. A newly installed military ruler, Ibrahim Babangida, cut salaries for civil servants and the military and ended price supports for the local currency. Within three years, the country's inflation rate was greater than 38 percent. The English-speaking, entrepreneurial class found itself with little buying power and in need of foreign money. "Some of these guys came out and started perpetrating fraud," says Andrew Apter, an Africa historian at U.C.L.A. "They used the language and insignias and letterhead of financial offices to lure people in.""

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/magazine/who-made-that-nigerian-scam.html?smid=tw-nytimes


- Ikhide

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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
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Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Attorney & Counselor at Law (Licensed in Utah)
Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow
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(801) 626-7423 Fax

 

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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
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Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Attorney & Counselor at Law (Licensed in Utah)
Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow
Department of Economics
Weber State University
3807 University Circle
Ogden, UT 84408-3807, USA
(801) 626-7442 Phone
(801) 626-7423 Fax

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