nigeria: a nation being ripped off

Shopkeepers hide their savings under mattresses and floorboards. Investors borrow at 40 percent interest and foreign businessmen buy tattered, smelly bundles of low-value local currency in hotel parking lots. In oil-rich Nigeria, one of Africa's most prosperous yet economically dysfunctional nations, the simple task of depositing your salary - or taking it out again - can require hours of patience and a lifetime of negotiating savvy. "Everybody is getting ripped off, and nobody wants to rock the boat. So they either keep quiet or just avoid (banks) altogether," said Tony Ede, spokesman for Nigeria's Central Bank, the country's banking regulatory authority.