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Podcast Episode

Chayes, Coll, and Suraju on Corruption in the Oil Industry

Sarah Chayes, Steve Coll, and Olarenwaju Suraju discussed how corruption can become an inextricable part of an economy and how civil society and the U.S. government can work to prevent it. (Runtime - 22:21)

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By Deborah Gordon, Sarah Chayes, Steve Coll, Olarenwaju Suraju
Published on Sep 8, 2017

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The oil industry has long been an attractive target for corruption and corrupt actors. State owned oil companies have frequently been accused of being a conduit for syphoning off public funds into private bank accounts, despite repeated civil society efforts to fight these networks of corruption in countries like Brazil and Nigeria. Guest host Deborah Gordon is joined by Carnegie Senior Fellow Sarah Chayes, dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and author Steve Coll, and Nigerian anticorruption activist Olarenwaju Suraju to discuss how corruption can become an inextricable part of an economy and how civil society and the U.S. government can work to prevent it.

Steve Coll is dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism and a staff writer at the New Yorker. He is the author of a bestselling profile of ExxonMobil called Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power.

Olarenwaju Suraju is a Nigerian anticorruption and environmental activist, chair of that country’s Civil Society Network Against Corruption, and of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda.

Sarah Chayes is a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Democracy and Rule of Law Program, and co-author of “The Oil Curse: A Remedial Role for the Oil Industry.”

Hosted by

Deborah Gordon
Former Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and Climate Program
Deborah Gordon
Sarah Chayes
Former Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program
Sarah Chayes
Steve Coll

Steve Coll is dean of the Columbia School of Journalism.

Olarenwaju Suraju

Olarenwaju Suraju is a Nigerian anticorruption and environmental activist, chair of that country’s Civil Society Network Against Corruption, and of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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