CORRUPTION - A GROWING THREAT TO AFRICA’S PRECARIOUS ECONOMIES

By Lisa Vives Global Information Network

Declining profits from oil and gas production may no longer be sufficient to cover up weaknesses in African economies, including surging food prices, high rates of food insecurity particularly among the rural population, and corruption.

With its once abundant oil fields, Equatorial Guinea, the third richest country in Africa, had a per capita income of over $8,000. Now, poverty in Equatorial Guinea is among the highest in the world. More than 70% of Equatorial Guinea’s population lives in poverty. Child poverty is also all the while investing in Kenya and other East African countries. The investigation shows how these individuals move funds and obtain weapons with support from government and military officials, business people, and financial institutions in neighboring countries.

BBC Africa Eye (Nigeria) with “The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara”. Every few years, a piece of journalism emerges that reveals an entire, largely hidden world — and one that should deeply concern the world outside. In a two year-long investigation that involved stunning bravery, BBC Africa Eye exposed the pervasive conflict and banditry that has engulfed Nigeria’s northwestern state of Zamfara.

It also showed the motives and causes of a conflict that killed hundreds of people in 2022, and which has displaced hundreds of thousands more. The reporting made use of unique access to warlords and victims gained by Yusuf Anka, a Nigerian reporter working solo who crossed dangerous roads by motorcycle to get to equally dangerous interviews.

Category winners will receive an honorary plaque, a $2,500 cash award, and a trip to the event in Sweden’s historic second city to accept the prize.