Many African countries are conducting anti-corruption campaigns

The outgoing leader of the African Union, the Nigerian president Olesegun Obasanjo, has said that corruption costs Africa an estimated twenty-five percent of its collective national income. He blamed what he called 'unpatriotic citizens', who he said were looting the continent's resources. Catherine Davis reports.

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He also accused the West of collaboration, by allowing the proceeds from corruption to be held in banks outside Africa. The president promised to tackle the problem in Nigeria by making the country's oil industry more transparent.

He urged local government as well as the media and other sections of society to join the fight, too. The war - as he put it - had to be both horizontal and vertical.

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corruption
dishonest or illegal behaviour

monumental
very big

preventable
could be stopped

extractive industries
businesses which remove products (e.g. oil or gas) from the ground

collaboration
working with those guilty of corruption

proceeds
money made

to tackle
to fight

more transparent
less secretive

urged
strongly encouraged