Between EFCC and HSBC – Tribune – Editorial – EFCC

UNTIL the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) decided to focus on it following a media report, very few Nigerians had heard about the report of the United Kingdom-based Bank, HSBC, on Nigeria’s immediate economic and political prospects. The report in question, “Nigeria: Papering over the Cracks,” was routine by any standard, and most probably prepared by the bank’s Financial Services unit for the consumption of its fee-paying clients. Dated  July 18 2018, it was on its way to a well-deserved oblivion when the EFCC decided to give it the oxygen of publicity.

For any reasonably informed observer of Nigerian affairs, the conclusions of the report are accurate to the point of being banal. For instance, alluding to what it calls the “unresolved structural shortcomings” of the Nigerian economy, the report notes that “Economic growth remains sluggish, and…