The Ethics of State Capture: Dangote and the Nigerian State

Abstract

This chapter critically outlines the theoretical and ethical issues involved in understanding the concept of state capture. It traces the emergence of the concept in the socioeconomic and political experiences of transitional societies in Eastern Europe, and its arrival into global media coverage and ethical discourse through the South African Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family alliance. The chapter then attempts to unravel the possibility of the incidence of state capture through the political relationship of Nigeria’s business mogul and the richest man in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote. It concludes that while there is no doubt that Dangote’s business model demonstrates the worst form of an unethical patrimonial monopoly capitalism, it is difficult to see it as essentially a type of state capture.