Betrayed

[hemibum]

For 16 years I worked in Nigeria. During that time I managed 2 multi / international companies and ended up working for myself in the Oil & Gas sector.

Throughout that time I was very aware of the endemic bribery system in place. It is really unavoidable. If you wish to conduct business, then you pay local Government officials, Immigration officials, Police, or, if your contract is big enough ,then State or National politicians.

Simply, if you don't pay, you don't work. You know full well that if you don't fill the "brown envelope", then your competitor will.

Nonetheless, I persistently pissed eveyone off by reminding them of how proud we Brits were because of our ethical standards and political integrity.

I now feel totally betrayed by our whole political system which has thrown up a systematic abuse of power and privelege. A system which has been so finely honed as to make any Nigerian politican green with envy.

My personal integrity has now been called into question due to the behaviour of our elected representatives.

Moi naive? Yes probably, but the thought of everything that I'd ever believed in and tried to inculcate and now being laughed at fills me full of anger.

I never ever thought that a time would arrive where I would be ashamed of being British.

When Nigerians laugh at us, then we've been truly shafted by our system.

Yes, this is a wee rant, but I just needed to let of steam. OK?

[OnTheOverrun]

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

[eldar]

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

We just have different systems. You get caught breaking the speed limit here by a small amount, 3 points, 60 quid fine. There just the fine, but starts at 100 quid, negotiated to a tenner or a night in pokey. Wrong by our standards, but we do have the idea that we are right and they are just ignorant natives who know no better.

[OnTheOverrun]

eldar said:

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

We just have different systems. You get caught breaking the speed limit here by a small amount, 3 points, 60 quid fine. There just the fine, but starts at 100 quid, negotiated to a tenner or a night in pokey. Wrong by our standards, but we do have the idea that we are right and they are just ignorant natives who know no better.

Perhaps we are right - how many Nigerians lose their job for taking a bribe and have to pay back the bribes? The difference between the two systems is when you get caught here, something happens.

I'm not defending MP's, but to compare the two is ridiculous.

[jshell]

hemibum said:

For 16 years I worked in Nigeria. During that time I managed 2 multi / international companies and ended up working for myself in the Oil & Gas sector.

Throughout that time I was very aware of the endemic bribery system in place. It is really unavoidable. If you wish to conduct business, then you pay local Government officials, Immigration officials, Police, or, if your contract is big enough ,then State or National politicians.

Simply, if you don't pay, you don't work. You know full well that if you don't fill the "brown envelope", then your competitor will.

Nonetheless, I persistently pissed eveyone off by reminding them of how proud we Brits were because of our ethical standards and political integrity.

I now feel totally betrayed by our whole political system which has thrown up a systematic abuse of power and privelege. A system which has been so finely honed as to make any Nigerian politican green with envy.

My personal integrity has now been called into question due to the behaviour of our elected representatives.

Moi naive? Yes probably, but the thought of everything that I'd ever believed in and tried to inculcate and now being laughed at fills me full of anger.

I never ever thought that a time would arrive where I would be ashamed of being British.

When Nigerians laugh at us, then we've been truly shafted by our system.

Yes, this is a wee rant, but I just needed to let of steam. OK?

Where are you? I'm sitting in the office in Lagos right now.

You're correct, we're being laughed at down here. Corruption in Nigeria is still blamed on the Brits - it's 50years since independance! The Nigerians are now looking to handing all of the oil licences to Chinese companies, much to our chagrin. The way NuLabia are running things has lost us any credence we had.

There are 2 ways of doing business here: The Nigerian way, or none. You cannot beat the system, Halliburton tried and were thrown lock, stock and bbls out of the country. The Govt will allow you to go through the whole contract tender process and then pull some unknown, no-mark, incompetant co. out of a hat and throw it on the table. They get their 'dash' and you're fkuced.

There's a widely held notion that only the upper echelons here are corrupt, and that it can be stopped by removing the corrupt head and allowing a new, non-corrupt one to grow. Utter bullox of the 1st order - every last individual will exploit each and every avenue to wealth, it's culturally endemic and cannot be beaten....that's why it'll never change until the oil runs out and it reverts to the norm of the last few million years.

They still want to go to the UK though as there were 200,220 visa aplications from Nigeria last year, with Nigeria taking 2nd place from pakistan in the UK visa application league table!

I'm outa here soon. Was told last week that I have to start planning for re-assignment. I've truly had enough of it.

[Jasandjules]

OnTheOverrun said:

The difference between the two systems is when you get caught here, something happens.

You'll have to remind me exactly what punishment is being handed out to those MPs who fiddled their expenses, claiming for example for mortgages on property they don't live in, in a shining example of fraud.

[jshell]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

There was no punishment as they followed the rules, so didn't 'really' break the rules. Of course, they'd written the fkucing rules, but that just means it's all nauseating - not rule-breaking!

s they are though.

[Jinx]

jshell said:

There was no punishment as they followed the rules, so didn't 'really' break the rules.

IIRC one of the rules was they should not submit any claim that could bring the house into disrepute. The house is in disrupte ergo they all broke the rules.

[DSM2]

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

I think you miss the point.

For decades our governments have taken the moral high ground and pointed the finger at places such as Nigeria for their 'corrupt ways'. It has now been revealed that ur politicians are just as slimy and corrupt as the worst of them.

Thie country has a lot to be ashamed of, especially over recent years.

[jshell]

Jinx said:

jshell said:

There was no punishment as they followed the rules, so didn't 'really' break the rules.

IIRC one of the rules was they should not submit any claim that could bring the house into disrepute. The house is in disrupte ergo they all broke the rules.

It's only 'Disrepute' because we found out though......

[plasticpig]

DSM2 said:

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

I think you miss the point.

For decades our governments have taken the moral high ground and pointed the finger at places such as Nigeria for their 'corrupt ways'. It has now been revealed that ur politicians are just as slimy and corrupt as the worst of them.

Thie country has a lot to be ashamed of, especially over recent years.

Apart from the fact until quite recently there was a nudge, nudge, wink, wink approach to British companies bribing foreigners for trade deals. Just look at the BAE case where pursuing it was "not in the public interest".

[jshell]

plasticpig said:

DSM2 said:

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

I think you miss the point.

For decades our governments have taken the moral high ground and pointed the finger at places such as Nigeria for their 'corrupt ways'. It has now been revealed that ur politicians are just as slimy and corrupt as the worst of them.

Thie country has a lot to be ashamed of, especially over recent years.

Apart from the fact until quite recently there was a nudge, nudge, wink, wink approach to British companies bribing foreigners for trade deals. Just look at the BAE case where pursuing it was "not in the public interest".

As I say to my Nigeria colleagues, corruption is eveywhere. It's just a matter of scale. A few % in the 'civilised' world and 100% in Africa.

[cs02rm0]

OnTheOverrun said:

eldar said:

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

We just have different systems. You get caught breaking the speed limit here by a small amount, 3 points, 60 quid fine. There just the fine, but starts at 100 quid, negotiated to a tenner or a night in pokey. Wrong by our standards, but we do have the idea that we are right and they are just ignorant natives who know no better.

Perhaps we are right - how many Nigerians lose their job for taking a bribe and have to pay back the bribes? The difference between the two systems is when you get caught here, something happens.

I'm not defending MP's, but to compare the two is ridiculous.

When someone finds out about all the bribes the DVLA are taking then, they're going to be in a whole heap of it!

[AdeTuono]

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

You may say hypocritical, but you've obviously never worked there.

Several years ago, a company I worked for gained a large oilfield maintenance contract within Nigeria. It was set up from scratch, with every single piece of equipment from humungous Unimogs to the smallest Allen key sourced or purchased from within the UK. To give an indication of how much equipment we had, we rented a 6000 sq ft warehouse to store all this gear before shipping it to Port Harcourt and Warri. However, this represented less than half the financial outlay, as the same amount again was put in a pot for bribery to allow us to carry out our day-to-day operations.

Hypocritical? No; a fact of life in a Godforsaken part of the world.

[anonymous-user]

Overrun asked how many Nigerians lost their jobs for taking bribes, I've never worked in Nigeria, but I do know of two Angolans who lost their jobs for bribes and three Norwegians, and actually one English guy, but I havn't seen one MP loose his job yet. But thenI no longer vote in the UK so maybe next year they will.

[plasticpig]

AdeTuono said:

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

You may say hypocritical, but you've obviously never worked there.

Several years ago, a company I worked for gained a large oilfield maintenance contract within Nigeria. It was set up from scratch, with every single piece of equipment from humungous Unimogs to the smallest Allen key sourced or purchased from within the UK. To give an indication of how much equipment we had, we rented a 6000 sq ft warehouse to store all this gear before shipping it to Port Harcourt and Warri. However, this represented less than half the financial outlay, as the same amount again was put in a pot for bribery to allow us to carry out our day-to-day operations.

Hypocritical? No; a fact of life in a Godforsaken part of the world.

If the Bribery Bill gets passed bribing a foreign official could lead to 10 years in prison. I think that might deter some companies from such practices.

[jshell]

plasticpig said:

AdeTuono said:

OnTheOverrun said:

So you paid lots of bribes to earn yourself money, but now you're all angry and self-righteous because MP's fiddled their expenses?

I wouldn't say naive, I'd say hypocritical.

You may say hypocritical, but you've obviously never worked there.

Several years ago, a company I worked for gained a large oilfield maintenance contract within Nigeria. It was set up from scratch, with every single piece of equipment from humungous Unimogs to the smallest Allen key sourced or purchased from within the UK. To give an indication of how much equipment we had, we rented a 6000 sq ft warehouse to store all this gear before shipping it to Port Harcourt and Warri. However, this represented less than half the financial outlay, as the same amount again was put in a pot for bribery to allow us to carry out our day-to-day operations.

Hypocritical? No; a fact of life in a Godforsaken part of the world.

If the Bribery Bill gets passed bribing a foreign official could lead to 10 years in prison. I think that might deter some companies from such practices.

What they've done to counteract this is bring in laws in Nigeria that goods and equipment must be designed, sourced, fabricated within the country. You cannot any longer simply import all you need from overseas - 15% max I think.

However, bribery takes many forms, it doesn't have to be as traceable as cash....

[AndrewW-G]

OnTheOverrun said:

The difference between the two systems is when you get caught here, something happens.

Ben Chapman MP for Wirral South, was caught claiming interest payments for a mortgage he had paid off, his punishment?..........absolutley nothing, doesnt even have to give all the money back, he's now keeping his head down and hanging on until the GE so that he can claim an MP's pension (he had little chance of re-election before the scandal, so nothing lost there). his response when cornered by an angry constituant, "I've done nothing wrong & I dont have to listen to your abuse"

[jshell]

Berw said:

Overrun asked how many Nigerians lost their jobs for taking bribes, I've never worked in Nigeria, but I do know of two Angolans who lost their jobs for bribes and three Norwegians, and actually one English guy, but I havn't seen one MP loose his job yet. But thenI no longer vote in the UK so maybe next year they will.

The locals only lose their jobs if they get caught and caught publicly or they have pissed off their local 'seniors' who then use them as a scapegoat to say: 'look, we're tackling corruption'!

[sleep envy]

hemibum said:

Throughout that time I was very aware of the endemic bribery system in place. It is really unavoidable.

hemibum said:

Simply, if you don't pay, you don't work. You know full well that if you don't fill the "brown envelope", then your competitor will.

hemibum said:

Nonetheless, I persistently pissed eveyone off by reminding them of how proud we Brits were because of our ethical standards and political integrity.

the irony and naivety is strong with this one