Where does the money go?

The hooligans who tried to disrupt the summit have gone home, the banners shouting “End Poverty Now” have been taken down, the rock musicians have packed up their amps, and sleepy Gleneagles, Scotland, has returned to its everyday cycle of tea time and tee times. British Prime Minister Tony Blair may not have gotten everything he wanted at the recent Group of 8 summit, but he did get the club of wealthy nations to promise a doubling of aid to Africa by 2010, and that’s progress.

Yet despite that success, Nigeria’s recently formed anti-corruption commission provides stark evidence of the problems G-8 nations face as they try to spend the money in ways that will solve Africa’s problems instead of just enriching its leaders.

The commission’s figures reveal that since Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960, a staggering $375 billion has been stolen or misused -- as much as all the Western aid given to Africa in nearly four decades, and six times the American help given to postwar Europe under the Marshall Plan.

With more people and natural resources than any other African country, Nigeria has a high profile, and reports of wholesale plundering on such a phenomenal scale by a succession of military rulers call into question whether the G-8’s planned infusion of aid to nations lacking a strong rule-of-law tradition will do any good. Because of the mass theft, two-thirds of Nigeria’s 130 million people live in abject poverty, one-third are illiterate and 40% have no safe water supply.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest debtor, with loans of $35 billion, because previous rulers not only looted the country but also borrowed heavily against future oil revenue. The G-8 leaders have refused to cancel Nigeria’s loans despite writing off the debts of 14 other African countries.

Yet the mere fact that Nigeria, the continent’s biggest looter, has established an anti-corruption commission that has made public the crimes of the country’s past leaders gives grounds for hope. Heedful of President Bush’s blunt warning that “countries like ours are not going to want to give aid to countries that are corrupt or don’t hold true to democratic principles,” Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo not only established the commission but has begun rooting out the thieves and embezzlers from his government.

Nigeria isn’t alone. Recognizing that donors are getting more concerned about good governance, African leaders are starting to focus on accountability. Twenty-three countries have submitted to peer review under an African Union program, and nations such as Mozambique, Ghana and Zambia are being cited as models of reform. Millions of dollars in aid are still going astray and corruption remains rife, but the efforts at progress and cooperation are unprecedented.

During the Cold War, the United States and other donors poured billions into Africa and then looked the other way, caring less whether the money went for its intended purpose than whether the government was an ally in the struggle against communism.

That’s all over. Those nations looking for a piece of the $50 billion a year in aid that G-8 members have promised to give by 2010 will be scrutinized like never before. And that means there’s a strong chance that this time, the money won’t just end up lining the pockets of some general.