Corruption and consumption

Teju Cole’s [amazon_link id=”0571307922″ target=”_blank” ]Every Day Is For The Thief[/amazon_link] is an absolutely terrific book – his [amazon_link id=”0571279430″ target=”_blank” ]Open City[/amazon_link] is now on my wish list. It is a portrait of Nigeria – Lagos, rather – by a returned Nigerian. One of his main preoccupations is the absolutely pervasive bribery, which he tries to resist but rarely successfully; another the texture of institutional failure and what that means for the country – and how it is linked to the absence of a sense of why history is important. Highly relevant reading for anybody interested in development economics, not to mention a wonderfully written, moving, fascinating book.

[amazon_image id=”0571307922″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Every Day is for the Thief[/amazon_image]

Cole writes: “For many Nigerians, the giving and receiving of bribes, tips, extortion money or alms – the categories are fluid – is not thought of in moral terms. It is either seen as a mild irritant, or as an opportunity. It is a way of getting things done, neither more nor less than what money is there for.”  This is subtly different from Katherine Boo’s explanation for corruption in her book in life in an Indian slum, [amazon_link id=”1846274516″ target=”_blank” ]Behind the Beautiful Forevers[/amazon_link], where she shows that people are too poor to give up any opportunity to make some money.

Other snippets from [amazon_link id=”0571307922″ target=”_blank” ]Every Day is for the Thief[/amazon_link]: “One goes to the market to participate in the world. As with all things that concern the world, being in the market requires caution. The market – as the essence of the city – is always alive with possibility and danger. Strangers encounter each other in the world’s infinite variety, vigilance is needed. Everyone is there not merely to buy or sell but because it is a duty.”

“The oil and gas business rakes in lurid profits, there has been a great increase in cellphone use, and the banking sector is frenetic. The newspapers are full of mergers and acquisitions. These are the limits of the boom. It is good news in the sense that increased commerce is creating jobs, that the economy is active, and certain practical needs of the people are being met. Things are not as stagnant as they were in the dark days of the early and mid-90s. But there are now mores erious discrepancies in income levels, even among people with comparable educational qualifications. There is little incentive for people to go into professions that are not lucrative. Consumption, among those who can afford it, is conspicuous.”

And you ask, as I suppose you are meant to, who are the thieves.