BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron recently described Nigeria as "fantastically corrupt". Many Africans were outraged. But herein lies the complexity; the dualism of the realities of Africa.President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria had an intriguing response, observing that he would not demand an apology, but instead would simply request a "return of assets" to Africa, implying that Britain had raided Africa in the past and continues to obfuscate investments in British-controlled tax havens. In a subsequent BBC interview, Buhari conceded that the scale of corruption in Nigeria was "enormous".Corruption remains a classical connotation of Africa, with HIV/ AIDS, malaria and poverty.Even SA, long regarded as the gateway to Africa, suffers from reputational damage due to the high crime rate (including high-profile murders), the finance minister fiasco, parliamentary shenanigans and chicanery by President Jacob Zuma over payment for upgrades at his Nkandla home.However, to describe Africa ...

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