A vicious circle

In Nigeria, there is no middle class to speak of – there are those at the top who have great wealth, and there are those at the bottom who have next to nothing. Whether necessitated by this fact or caused by it, Nigerian culture is such that it is expected that those people who have money will provide for those who have little. So anyone who holds any sort of office, any sort of decently paid job, is subject to constant pleas for handouts: somebody needs money for fuel; somebody else’s daughter is getting married; etc. And even if there aren’t pleas, a Nigerian in that position would feel obliged to give anyway: that’s their culture.

Over time, the amounts that are expected from people in powerful positions have grown bigger: too big to be covered by these people’s salaries. That leaves these higher earners only a few options: refuse people’s pleas (an abhorrent idea to Nigerians); get a second job or start a small business to make more money (meaning that performance in their official job is, of course, adversely affected); or be creative with the books and get a little (or a lot) more money where you can. And so corruption sets in.

A big part of my experience of this country is the frequent requests from Nigerians to ‘dash’ (give) them things (a pair of flip-flops, my motorcycle helmet), or the question that immediately follows any sort of travel “What did you bring me?”, or the less frequent, but incredibly persistent visits from a colleague asking for money. This, of course, also comes from this culture of expecting the haves to provide for the have-nots.

The sense of pride in having earned everything you own, which I would associate with British working/middle classes, is all but non-existent here. That same pride which means that people in my own culture would often refuse charity, even from close family, is incredible to people here (to refuse to accept a handout is even more abhorrent than not giving one when it’s requested).

And this fact helps me a little to understand the per diem culture here which I find so difficult to swallow. Huge per diem payments are routinely given to employees who attend a workshop or travel out of town for a night for work – payments which far exceed any actual expenditure; payments for which no receipts or expenses claims are required; payments which workshop participants feel they are owed. With the knowledge that there is no value placed here on receiving only that which you have earned, I can start to understand that it does not seem anomalous to Nigerians that they are pocketing money for which - in my opinion - they have done nothing other than their (salaried) job.