"President Bush needs to see corruption while he's here," said a man who identified himself only as Dele, interviewed before the president's visit. "He needs to be asked to pay to get something. Corruption is everywhere here, and I fear he's going to leave without facing our biggest problem."
Dele faced it as he waited in the gas line. Frustrated by the slow pace of things, he reached into his wallet and pulled out a 200 naira bill -- the equivalent of about $1.50 and a day's wage for many Nigerians -- and handed it to a man with a handful of bills who then allowed Dele into a faster-moving gas line.
"Yes, this is part of the problem," Dele acknowledged. "This is what our life has become. Do you pay or do you not pay? You don't feel good when you reach into your wallet. Bush needs to know the feeling."
Bush already knows it, Dele! He's "the man with a handful of bills" you handed your $1.50 day's wage to!