A Legacy of Looting: How West African Politicians Steal from the Poor to Enrich Their Children

From the crumbling schools in Nigeria to the dilapidated hospitals of Freetown and the overcrowded slums of Accra, the people of West Africa continue to ask a painful question:

Where is the nation’s wealth?

The answer lies, at least in part, in the luxurious lives of the children of political elites, beneficiaries of a system that has normalised the looting of public funds to create intergenerational wealth. In what is called the “second wave” of African corruption, politicians are no longer just stealing for personal enrichment;

They are systematically building dynasties, laundering money into offshore accounts, and leaving behind economic empires for their children, while their constituents suffer in silence.

A New Face of Corruption: The Political Family

Corruption in West Africa is not new. But what is unfolding across the region is more sophisticated and insidious. Politicians are creating a pipeline that begins with state coffers and ends in the trust funds of their children. This isn’t just theft, it’s planned economic apartheid.

We used to talk about corrupt leaders enriching themselves. Now we’re seeing the creation of aristocrats, children of the elite living off stolen funds, educated in foreign schools, running businesses they did not build, and preparing to inherit power unearned.

These children are not just passive beneficiaries. Many now own shell companies, control state contracts, sit on corporate boards, and run media empires, funded by theft their parents orchestrated in office.

NIGERIA: Where the Money Talks Loudest

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy, is also one of its most corrupt, losing an estimated $18 billion annually to illicit financial flows. But behind the shocking figures are very real stories of families turning state funds into personal fortunes.

Diezani Alison-Madueke & Son: A Billionaire Lifestyle in London

No figure represents Nigeria’s corruption crisis more vividly than Diezani Alison‑Madueke, former Minister of Petroleum Resources. Under her watch, an estimated $2 billion vanished, and while fuel shortages and economic crashes gripped the country, her family quietly expanded their international estate. Diezani’s son, Ugonna Madueke, was named in U.S. and U.K. court filings as the registered beneficiary of several properties worth over £10 million.

Despite having no known profession or income, he controlled real estate bought with money traced back to suspicious oil transactions. Ugonna, Diezani’s son, has been named in legal filings as a beneficiary of some shell-owned properties, though his family maintains that some acquisitions were made during his childhood. His name appears in U.S. forfeiture notices and UK asset disclosures tied to property purchases worth millions.

President Bola Tinubu & Seyi Tinubu: Empire by Association

Although President Tinubu has never been convicted of corruption, his political legacy has raised concerns. His son, Seyi Tinubu, owns Loatsad Promomedia, a top advertising firm that has secured government-linked contracts.
In 2023, Seyi reportedly acquired luxury real estate in London worth millions of pounds, even as over 133 million Nigerians lived in poverty.

Atiku Abubakar & Family: Offshore Fortunes, U.S. Real Estate

Nigeria’s former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; a 2010 U.S. Senate report revealed that Atiku and his wife, Jennifer Douglas, used offshore entities to transfer over $40 million into the United States. These funds helped purchase a $2.2 million Maryland home and were also linked to businesses involving their children.

Atiku has denied all wrongdoing, but his family’s international assets have drawn concern about conflicts of interest and hidden patronage networks. One of Atiku’s sons, Adamu Abubakar, was appointed a commissioner in Adamawa State during his father’s presidential campaign, a move seen by many as dynastic grooming.

Wike Nyesom: The Violent Looter

Wike, in March 2025, took his son along during his visit to Italy to meet the President of the Lombardy Regional Government. Less than four months later, Wike reportedly allocated over 2,000 hectares of land in Maitama and Asokoro districts, two of Abuja’s most exclusive districts, worth $3.6 billion, to his son, Joaquin. However, Senior Special Assistant to the Minister on Public Communications and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, noted that it is “another falsehood from the vault of those whose main job is to malign the FCT Minister.” 

GHANA: The Golden Boys of State Capture

Despite its reputation as a stable democracy, Ghana has not escaped the tentacles of elite plunder. Under successive governments, politically connected families have leveraged public office as a means to accumulate private wealth.

SENEGAL: Offshore Accounts and Political Princes

Senegal’s democratic credentials suffered a setback in 2015 when Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, was sentenced to six years in prison for corruption. As a minister, Karim oversaw an extensive portfolio, encompassing aviation, infrastructure, and other key areas.
He was convicted of enriching himself by $240 million, held in offshore accounts and through fake companies. Despite the sentence, Karim was pardoned after serving three years in prison. Today, he remains a political force, reportedly planning a return to public office.

LIBERIA & SIERRA LEONE: When the Poor Pay for the Rich

Liberia: George Weah’s Government and the Missing Millions

In 2018, under President George Weah’s “Pro-Poor Agenda,” $25 million went missing during a botched currency mop-up. The scandal triggered outrage, yet no one was held accountable. Simultaneously, Weah’s family, including his children, were seen travelling abroad, attending elite schools, and luxury events.

Sierra Leone: The Family That Eats Together

In Sierra Leone, decades of weak institutions have enabled presidents and their families to treat public funds as private inheritance. A 2016 audit found that millions of dollars were unaccounted for, with contracts linked to family members and ghost firms.

These are only a few of the cases where West African politicians have chosen to ignore the cry of the masses to enrich not just themselves but their children, with the hope that this looting continues long after they are gone.

Children of Looting: How the Cycle Continues

What connects these cases is not just the theft, but the normalisation of inheritance through corruption. The children of the elite are now business owners, diplomats, corporate executives, and in some cases, future politicians.

In countries where public health systems collapse and teachers go unpaid, these privileged few send their children to Eton, Harvard, and Cambridge, paid for by money meant to build classrooms and hospitals back home.

It’s generational theft. They’re robbing not just today’s citizens but tomorrow’s as well.

Systemic Consequences: Deepening Poverty

The result is a dangerous concentration of wealth and power in a handful of families. In Nigeria, 80 per cent of wealth is owned by just 1 per cent of the population. In Ghana and Liberia, government corruption continues to drive brain drain, as young people flee a system they no longer believe in.

Corruption is not just about money; it’s about who gets to dream. In today’s West Africa, if you are not born into the right family, your path is increasingly blocked.

Solutions Exist, But Are Often Ignored

Mandatory Asset Disclosure
All elected officials and their immediate families must be required to declare assets annually.
Public Procurement Transparency
Contracts must be digitised, tracked, and published, with data on ownership and funding.
Offshore Account Repatriation
Governments must work with the OECD and FATF to freeze and repatriate stolen assets.
Independent Media and Whistleblower Protection
Journalists and whistleblowers need legal protection and international support to continue exposing corruption.

The wealth of West Africa is vast, but it is being hoarded by the sons and daughters of the soil, who have learned to loot more effectively than the empires they replaced.

Unless citizens demand justice, unless the law touches not just the thief but the thief’s family, West Africa may never break free from the grip of elite theft. Because when a system feeds only the children of the powerful, it starves the nation.

Read More:

• Niger Counter-Terrorism: Four Suspects Captured in Tanda, Including Alleged Militant Leader
• Missing ₦210tn: Nigerian Senate Rejects NNPCL’s Retreat Excuse, Gives 10-Day Ultimatum to Appear Before Probe Panel

About The Author

West Africa Weekly

author

See author's posts