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The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent - Politics - Nairaland

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The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by igbo2011(m): 6:38am On Oct 27, 2015
"Lagos Dissents Under IMF Hegemony

Nigeria: The Next Front for AFRICOM

On a recent trip to West Africa, the newly appointed managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde ordered the governments of Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Chad to relinquish vital fuel subsidies. Much to the dismay of the population of these nations, the prices of fuel and transport have near tripled over night without notice, causing widespread violence on the streets of the Nigerian capital of Abuja and its economic center, Lagos. Much like the IMF induced riots in Indonesia during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, public discontent in Nigeria is channelled towards an incompetent and self-serving domestic elite, compliant to the interests of fraudulent foreign institutions.

Although Nigeria holds the most proven oil reserves in Africa behind Libya, it’s people are now expected to pay a fee closer to what the average American pays for the cost of fuel, an exorbitant sum in contrast to its regional neighbours. Alternatively, other oil producing nations such as Venezuela, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia offer their populations fuel for as little as $0.12 USD per gallon. While Lagos has one of Africa’s highest concentration of billionaires, the vast majority of the population struggle daily on less than $2.00 USD. Amid a staggering 47% youth unemployment rate and thousands of annual deaths related to preventable diseases, the IMF has pulled the rug out from under a nation where safe drinking water is a luxury to around 80% of it’s populace.

Although Nigeria produces 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day intended for export use, the country struggles with generating sufficient electrical power and maintaining its infrastructure. Ironically enough, less than 6% of bank depositors own 88% of all bank deposits in Nigeria. Goldman Sachs employees line its domestic government, in addition to the former Vice President of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is widely considered by many to be the de facto Prime Minister. Even after decades of producing lucrative oil exports, Nigeria has failed to maintain it’s own refineries, forcing it to illogically purchase oil imports from other nations. Society at large has not benefited from Nigeria’s natural riches, so it comes as no surprise that a severe level of distrust is held towards the government, who claims the fuel subsidy needs to be lifted in order to divert funds towards improving the quality of life within the country.

Like so many other nations, Nigerian people have suffered from a systematically reduced living standard after being subjected to the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP). Before a loan can be taken from the World Bank or IMF, a country must first follow strict economic policies, which include currency devaluation, lifting of trade tariffs, the removal of subsidies and detrimental budget cuts to critical public sector health and education services.

SAPs encourage borrower countries to focus on the production and export of domestic commodities and resources to increase foreign exchange, which can often be subject to dramatic fluctuations in value. Without the protection of price controls and an authentic currency rate, extreme inflation and poverty subsist to the point of civil unrest, as seen in a wide array of countries around the world (usually in former colonial protectorates). The people of Nigeria have been one of the world’s most vocal against IMF-induced austerity measures, student protests have been met with heavy handed repression since 1986 and several times since then, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths. As a testament to the success of the loan, the average laborer in Nigeria earned 35% more in the 1970’s than he would of in 2012.

Working through the direct representation of Western Financial Institutions and the IMF in Nigeria’s Government, a new IMF conditionality calls for the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Olusegun Aganga, the former Nigerian Minister of Finance commented on how the SWF was hastily pushed through and enacted prior to the countries national elections. If huge savings are amassed from oil exports and austerity measures, one cannot realistically expect that these funds will be invested towards infrastructure development based on the current track record of the Nigerian Government. Further more, it is increasingly more likely that any proceeds from a SWF would be beneficial to Western institutions and markets, which initially demanded its creation. Nigerian philanthropist Bukar Usman prophetically writes “I have genuine fears that the SWF would serve us no better than other foreign-recommended “remedies” which we had implemented to our own detriment in the past or are being pushed to implement today.”

The abrupt simultaneous removal of fuel subsidies in several West African nations is a clear indication of who is really in charge of things in post-colonial Africa. The timing of its cushion-less implementation could not be any worse, Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan recently declared a state of emergency after forty people were killed in a church bombing on Christmas day, an act allegedly committed by the Islamist separatist group, Boko Haram. The group advocates dividing the predominately Muslim northern states from the Christian southern states, a similar predicament to the recent division of Sudan.

As the United States African Command (AFRICOM) begins to gain a foothold into the continent with its troops officially present in Eritrea and Uganda in an effort to maintain security and remove other theocratic religious groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army, the sectarian violence in Nigeria provides a convenient pretext for military intervention in the continuing resource war. For further insight into this theory, it is interesting to note that United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania conducted a series of African war game scenarios in preparation for the Pentagon’s expansion of AFRICOM under the Obama Administration.

In the presence of US State Department Officials, employees from The Rand Corporation and Israeli military personnel, a military exercise was undertaken which tested how AFRICOM would respond to a disintegrating Nigeria on the verge of collapse amidst civil war. The scenario envisioned rebel factions vying for control of the Niger Delta oil fields (the source of one of America’s top oil imports), which would potentially be secured by some 20,000 U.S. troops if a US-friendly coup failed to take place At a press conference at the House Armed Services Committee on March 13, 2008, AFRICOM Commander, General William Ward then went on to brazenly state the priority issue of America’s growing dependence on African oil would be furthered by AFRICOM operating under the principle theatre-goal of “combating terrorism”.

At an AFRICOM Conference held at Fort McNair on February 18, 2008, Vice Admiral Robert T. Moeller openly declared the guiding principle of AFRICOM was to protect “the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market”, before citing China’s increasing presence in the region as challenging to American interests. After the unwarranted snatch-and-grab regime change conducted in Libya, nurturing economic destabilization, civil unrest and sectarian conflict in Nigeria is an ultimately tangible effort to secure Africa’s second largest oil reserves. During the pillage of Libya, its SFW accounts worth over 1.2 billion USD were frozen and essentially absorbed by Franco-Anglo-American powers; it would realistic to assume that much the same would occur if Nigeria failed to comply with Western interests. While agents of foreign capital have already infiltrated its government, there is little doubt that Nigeria will become a new front in the War on Terror.


Nile Bowie is a blogger and photojournalist; he’s regularly contributed to Tony Cartalucci’s Land Destroyer Report and Alex Jones’ Infowars.

Copyright © Nile Bowie, Global Research, 2012"

Thoughts?

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Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by Demmocrats(m): 6:42am On Oct 27, 2015
Ok
Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by ANBAKO: 6:55am On Oct 27, 2015
They have started again. ...they are trying frantically to return Africa to late 80s and early 90s where war is at every angle in Sub Sahara Africa.

They have scattered middle east, North Africa and Eastern Europe now they are coming to Sub Sahara Africa. Instigating everyone against each other.

Please people let us remember Yugoslavia, Korea, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, USSR.

War does not begat good child. Splitting a country into pieces does not solve issues instead aggravate it as border conflicts, armed groups and anarchy will take over the land.

Let us manage our differences and live together as one.

Do good for good to come your way

2 Likes

Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by Nobody: 6:55am On Oct 27, 2015
Very old news from 2012.

But still relevant today.
Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by kossyablaze(m): 7:08am On Oct 27, 2015
True

3 Likes 2 Shares

Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by PRYCE(m): 7:19am On Oct 27, 2015
Nice piece!
Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by speedyGonzales: 7:31am On Oct 27, 2015
igbo2011:


Thoughts?


Alex Jones is a popular republican fool on the internet and almost everything he says is non factual... He is to Americans what Sahara Reporters is to Nigerians
Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by igbo2011(m): 8:09am On Oct 27, 2015
speedyGonzales:



Alex Jones is a popular republican fool on the internet and almost everything he says is non factual... He is to Americans what Sahara Reporters is to Nigerians

He has some conspiracies but aome of what he says is true.
Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by naijalander: 8:56am On Oct 27, 2015
igbo2011:


Thoughts?

Yes in a certain way SAP has a way of reducing the standard of living of the people but our leaders are doing worse to us by not investing enough in public infrastructure needed for development. Tax collected never trickles down to the populace due to corruption, ignorance or lack of controls.
Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by ril19(m): 1:25pm On Oct 27, 2015
Damn! What A Country We're Living In
Re: The IMF And US AFRICOM Join Hands In The Plunder Of The Africa Continent by birdman(m): 5:49am On Oct 30, 2015
igbo2011:


Thoughts?

this was one of my primary reasons (other than chibok) for wanting GEJ out as soon as possible. Some folks doubted Buhari could be counted upon to stand against IMF etc, but I knew he would do the right thing when elected. If you havent been paying attention, the IMF, Bloomberg etc are doing all they can to sabotage Buhari right now (2015), because it is obvious he will not play ball. However, the damage has already been done - the mindless borrowing GEJ went on WILL bite us. The only hope now is to see the next few years of hardship through, make the necessary reforms and emerge stronger. I shudder to think where we will be now if GEJ had won again. He would have borrowed enough debt to keep the next 4 generations in debt

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