I was just surfing the Quora digest page this evening and found this question and answers among foreign internationals about crimes in Nigeria and a particular answer caught my eyes:

Question: Why do so many scam mails come from Nigeria?

I recently connected with a Nigerian youth to find out answer to that question. He stated that the government is corrupt. It was difficult to understand him, but what I gathered was instead of taking the money and investing it into Nigeria to fix its poor infrastructure the government officials take the money the government receives and invest it into other countries. I couldn't get him to expand on that, and I meant to research that at a later date.

He kept citing electricity problems. When I pushed for clarification it appeared that the government charges outrageous amounts of money for citizens to use electricity. In fact they price it so high that poor citizens can't purchase it at all. so maybe those are the ones that are likely to turn to scamming.

When I asked specifically why youths scam. He said there were no job opportunities, poor living conditions and a corrupt government, that won't invest their resources back into their citizens. I asked what would be an alternative for a youth to choose for making a living versus scamming. He said they should pick a small trade and master that and that's how they could earn an honest living.

He went on to say the government doesn't care about the people. Mostly the poor people. He explained the roads and the hospitals are in bad condition. The corrupt government doesn't fight for the people they fight for their own pocketbooks. Also finding good water is an issue.

I asked how their politicians come to power. Are they elected? He said the politicians bribe people to vote for them.

Therefore all I can deduce from our conversation is that it's very very poor living conditions that turn people towards scamming. Plus it's been going on so long there I think it's just kind of second nature. I always liken it to the gangs in the United States.

The youth have no other place they feel they can turn to. So they turn to a life of crime and a family. and a criminal way of life. Those are just my thoughts.

What are your thoughts?