Feb 26, 2021
BOOK REVIEW: The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africa’s Wealth
Dozens of trucks were queuing to cross from Niger into Nigeria. Their contents seemed harmless enough: many contained textiles and clothing bound for the markets of Kano and Kaduna, northern Nigeria’s two main cities.
Following a nine-year stint reporting on Africa for the Financial Times, Tom Burgis unravels how the extractive industries has transformed into a hideous looting machine.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, the situation is the same: a cycle of corruption, illicit financial flow, and extreme poverty. Eventually this cycle leads to violent conflict.
Examining a different country in each chapter, this book went to the root cause of the issue. I found it interesting the impact of smuggling on the death of the Nigerian textile industry, and how this has led to the ‘happenings’ we hear about today in Northern Nigeria.
Smuggling, Textile and Violence
In partnership with Chinese Manufacturers, Smugglers actively bring into Nigeria, knock-off copies of Wax textile that used to be produced in Nigeria. The World Bank has estimated that textiles smuggled into Nigeria through Benin are worth $2.2bn a year, compared with local Nigerian production that has shriveled to $40m annually.
In the mid-1980s Nigeria had 175 textile mills- over the next 25 years, there were only 25 textile mills left. The textile industry directly employed about 350,000 people in its heydays and was serviced by about 500,000 cotton farmers from the neighboring communities. “Each textile employees supports maybe half a dozen relatives. It is safe to say that the destruction of the Nigerian textile industry has blighted millions of lives”
The impact of this vicious cycle is evident in the state of the Northern Nigeria where industry has all but vanquished.
I found this book to be educative, well-researched and educative and I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to know what is going is on in Africa.
The final chapter: Complicity draws to a close with the words of Nigeria’s impassioned singer Nneka: “Don’t think you’re not involved.”
