CAPITALISM'S ACHILLES HEEL Dirty Money and How to

PART IV
RUN IT RIGHT:
TRUST THE SYSTEM
Norms, ideas and practices migrate from the private sector to the
public sector. 1
—Alan Schick, 2003
Where ends are agreed, the only questions left are those of means, and
these are . . . technical . . . 2
—Isaiah Berlin, 1958
THE BANK OF AMERICA manager in Nigeria, Bill Riley, telephoned and
asked that I come see him. It was 1965, and I was young and needed
to get my teeth into something really challenging. He told me that the
Speaker of the House of Parliament, Alhaji Jalo Ibrahim Mohammed
Waziri, a Muslim northerner, had a trucking company, J.I.M. Transport,
Ltd., that was in default on its loans and going out of business. He asked if
my company would be interested in taking it on under a management
contract.
I called on the Speaker at his parliament offices. He was a large man,
warmly personable, and rather desperate to solve his financial problems so
they would not damage his political career. I also went to J.I.M.’s offices, a
hole in the wall in Yaba, a section of Lagos, and met the managers and
some of the drivers, all Muslims. The company was down to seven decrepit
trucks. Some 18 other vehicles being acquired on “hire purchase” arrangements
with dealers had already been repossessed for nonpayment of
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