Dealing with legitimate Nigerian companies

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 20 Nov 2012 Posts: 68

I am involved with the oil industry(as a tech- we build oil/petrol/diesel monitoring and recording equipment for everything from fuel bowsers to megatanks), and we have many want to be customers from Nigeria (many I suspect are actually legitimate)

However its now company policy to refuse every request- regardless of its `legitimacy' coming from Nigeria due to the widespread corruption from street level con artists doing the widespread email scams, to many senior government officials

Basically the whole country is regarded as being too corrupt to do business with

Unfortunately its not the only one- there's now around a dozen that are simply too risky to do business with, all but one in Africa...

So why is it that some countries seem to have this ingrained acceptance of corruption?- it seems that some places simply accept it as `normal'

Posted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 7:04 pm

Check this thread http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32877
No. 5
It's only in some communities in Nigeria.

*** BANNED *** Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 1123

.... then you have to worry about some tosser with an AK-47 rolling up on you while you install your equipment on whatever Nigerian oil infrastructure you happen to be working on. Said idiot wants to take you hostage and ransom you because foreigners are worth more when the oil companies pay ransom. All for the movement to emancipate the Niger Delta though I guess. Welcome to Nigeria's booming oil industry. Laughing

There are other reasons some in the petroleum industry do not want to do business in that country. Widespread corruption is just one of them.

Baiting Guru Joined: 27 Mar 2011 Posts: 21158

I read a post elsewhere the other day stating that you have to pay them up front for any kind of work also. I don't know if there is any truth to that but it does seem to fit.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:15 am

dabop wrote:

So why is it that some countries seem to have this ingrained acceptance of corruption?- it seems that some places simply accept it as `normal'

My theory is that it's a throwback to the days of the tribal society.

Back in the day, the chiefs took what they wanted and nobody batted an eyelid. It was expected. The strong and clever got rich whilst the weak just followed the leaders.
I think a lot of African countries are having problems throwing off the old traditions. But that said, go to a Nigerian forum and you will see hundreds of people complaining about corruption when 100 years ago it would probably just have been accepted as the norm.
Whether this is because African societies are changing to a less corrupt system on their own or if some of the West's "values" are rubbing off on it is open to question.
Personally, I believe that the less tribal a society becomes, diminishing the number of chiefs and amalgamating the different groups which they represent, the less corruption. If only because there's less options for it to get a foothold. The upshot of that is, the only groups which get a bite of the pie are big government or, as in the case of the Nigerian Delta and MEND, organised, armed gangs.

Go back through the West's history and you'll see that we weren't much different. The feudal system was as corrupt as any that survives in Africa today. Again, the strong got rich from just taking what they wanted. It was only when society became more universal and the idea of "equality" took hold that corruption began to shrink.

Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 1:03 pm

My advice would be to find an agent or reseller who can sell your goods into that area if you can't go direct. Similarly, they may be able to find an installation team who could work for you. It has worked for me in several territories.

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