gia đình, cộng đồng, hoặc các kết nối chính trị sẽ cung cấp cho họ theo dõi bên trong. Mọi người chia sẻ một cảm giác rằng tham nhũng đã nghèo đói tồn tại trong một vùng đất của sự giàu có, và rằng chỉ những người giàu trở nên giàu hơn. | Popular Participation in Corruption in Nigeria 297 family community or political connections will give them the inside track. People share a sense that corruption has perpetuated poverty in a land of wealth and that only the rich get richer. Nonetheless everyone aspires to be rich. Although Nigerians recognize and condemn in the abstract the patronage system that dominates the allocation of government resources in practice people feel trapped. A university professor and friend who was appointed as state commissioner of agriculture explained corruption to me in this way Even if I wanted to avoid the practice of awarding contracts on the basis of favoritism I could not. My people would say that I am selfish and foolish. Who gets to such a position of power and then refuses to help his people Only the worst kind of person. A man who enriches himself through emptying government coffers is in his community despised only if he fails to share that wealth with his people through direct gifts to individuals and community development projects but also through more ceremonial distributions such as lavish weddings for his children spectacular burials for his parents and extravagant chieftancy installation ceremonies for himself. At such events his people enjoy his wealth they chop eat his money. Although their wealth must be shared the pressure on big men to be corrupt goes beyond awarding contracts to their relatives and cronies. One also enriches oneself. To be a commissioner and not build a palatial house in the village would be to fail to fulfill the expectations of one s family and community. A big man in government or business can only distribute to and share with relatively few people the fruits of his office through official channels but there are additional expectations that he should accumulate significant personal wealth wealth that one s kinsmen and townsmen feel entitled to draw The case studies of the awarding of contracts that are detailed below .
