Culture of Corruption

Daniel Jordan Smith is associate professor of anthropology at Brown University. He has worked in Nigeria since the late 1980s, first as a public health adviser with a nongovernmental organization and later as an anthropologist.

• List of Illustrations ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: "Urgent Business Relationship": Nigerian E-Mail Scams 28 CHAPTER 2: From Favoritism to 419: Corruption in Everyday Life 53 CHAPTER 3: Development Scams: Donors, Dollars, and NGO Entrepreneurs 88 CHAPTER 4: "Fair Play Even among Robbers": Democracy, Politics, and Corruption 112 CHAPTER 5: Rumors, Riots, and Diabolical Rituals 138 CHAPTER 6: "They Became the Criminals They Were Supposed to Fight": Crime, Corruption, and Vigilante Justice 166 CHAPTER 7: Anticorruption Aspirations: Biafrans and Born-again Christians 191 CONCLUSION 221 Appendix 233 Notes 241 References 247 Index 257

Winner of the 2008 Margaret Mead Award "The heart of the book concerns how Nigerians cope daily with the need to 'settle' with those who hold power, but are also experiencing a breakdown of the system that at least allowed for survival."--Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education "[Smith's] book offers a sophisticated and deeply troubling portrait of a contemporary Nigeria."--Nicolas van de Walle, Foreign Affairs "Smith has written a sharply critical, yet finely judged, book that every student of African politics should pay heed to."--Ebenezer Obadare, International Affairs "[Smith's] primary concern is with the perception of corruption amongst Nigerians and the impact this perception has on the behavior of Nigerians. Anyone who is concerned with the discussion of corruption and how it relates to the development of African economies should read Smith's book. The notion that corruption causes poverty is accepted by Western development banks and their critics alike. Smith demonstrates better than any opponent of this idea could that this assumption is rooted in the perception of African's behavior rather than in an analysis of the economic of development."--Stuart Simpson, Culture Wars "Smith examines e-mail schemes as cultural texts, analyzing their structure and what they say about the culture of corruption in Nigeria."--Susan Cotts Watkins, Population and Development Review "Corruption may be found everywhere. However, its particular pervasiveness in Nigeria is sometimes referred to as 'the Nigerian factor' by Nigerians themselves. Anthropologist Smith examines this corruption from the perspective of ordinary Nigerians in their everyday lives...This clearly written volume is for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of the dynamics of corruption in contemporary Nigeria."--E.P. Renne, Choice "This is a very good book that is relevant far beyond Nigeria... Daniel Jordan Smith has written a book that enlightens and entertains: a great achievement."--Jan Kees Van Donge, Modern African Studies "A Culture of Corruption is a well-written book ... and gives us a lively and accurate picture of a phenomenon that is particularly associated with Nigeria today. It is an extremely sympathetic portrait, seen from the inside, of popular reaction to a factor that is distorting the lives of Nigerians and postponing the development of their own form of real democracy."--Jennifer Greenleaves, Sociologica "The importance of Smith's study ... not only lies in the sincerity with which he often writes as a direct participant in the instances he lays bare, but also in his tracking of the dynamics of victimhood, dununciation, and connivance in them."--Nikolai Jeffs, Anthropological Notebooks