When ruled by a kleptocracy, there is hardly any motive for ordinary citizens to behave honestly themselves. Thus the dozens of Internet scams, the car thieves in the middle of Lagos who dress as police, the bureaucrats and officials who will not do their duty unless they are given money, and the army that has been so badly officered and trained and equipped that it runs away from a few manic Boko Haram thugs.
This is the financial and moral mess that former general Muhammadu Buhari is struggling to address. On paper he may have the executive powers to carry the job through, but the reality is that his reforms face an obdurate establishment reluctant to give up its profitable ways. As a respected army officer, who was last president when he seized power in a coup, Buhari has a chance to overhaul the decayed and inefficient army. For this he is receiving the eager help of outside military, particularly the Americans and British. But there is less international appetite to help address economic and infrastructural mess. Until Buhari makes officials and politicians recognize that there are serious personal consequences for their short-sighted criminal greed, little seems likely to change.

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