Nigeria
At a glance
- Leader
- President Alhaji Shehu Shagari
- Economy
- G.N.P. is: $420 per person per year
- Main exports
- Oil
- People
- 80 million
- Health
- Child mortality (1-4yrs): 2.4% (Sweden 0.1 %) Daily calorie availability: 88% of requirements
- Culture
- Ethnic groups: There are nearly 400 ethnic groups in Nigeria but the top four are the Hausas, Fulanis, Yorubas and Ibos - each numbering several million Previous colonizing power: Britain. Independence 1960
- Religion
- Mostly Islam in the north, Christianity in the south. Some tribes practise animism
- Language
- officially English. Hausa is most widely spoken and is the lingua franca of the north. Other important language groups are Yoruba, Ibo, lbibio and Edo.
- Sources
- All figures from World Development Report, World Bank, 1979.
THE cover of an English language textbook widely used in Nigeria sports the picture of a man in a mortar board sitting proudly at the wheel of a Mercedez Benz automobile. Is this success embodied in its two most popular African forms? Or is it a blatantly materialist lure to learn English? But perhaps the school book cover is saying something different, something especially Nigerian. The dream that a degree and an expensive car are just around the corner of everyone's life is what seems to propel this country into being the most vibrant, chaotic, individualistic and aggressive country in Africa right now. Oil money provides the mechanism but the spirit, the drive and the confidence belong to the people. For world-weary Westerners, especially those afflicted with the stereotype of depressed developing countries, being in Lagos is a tonic - if they can take it.
A driver for a large transportation company explains how, as soon as he can get his hands on 200,000, he'sgoing to start to import cement and make a fortune. A young undergraduate with little more than an unfinished arts degree wheels and deals with foreign textile manufacturers hoping to start a local lace factory. No one it is said lives from subsistence farming in Nigeria. Everyone is a trader.
Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa and ethnically one of the most diverse. Right now it is a boom town. Federal revenues for 1980 are estimated at $32 billion. Of this more that $2 billion will be spent on education. The appalling numbers of Nigerians who can't read or write in any language are the spur for these new budget priorities. Boom-town living does not reach more than a tiny fraction of the people and the vast majority of Nigerians have never heard of oil. In Lagos there are packed and stinking slums where a but made out of plastic bags and packing cases represents an ideal. The poor don't know - yet - about the apartments a few kilometres away that rent for $25,000 a year. In the countryside, where more than 80% of Nigerians live, the problems of small farmers who grow crops like peanuts or sorghum have scarcely been touched and certainly not improved by oil.
Divided by tribe and culture, as well as money and status, Nigerians face a difficult future. What, for instance, will all the newly-educated young do for jobs? The move toward industrialization will have to go into overdrive if it is to keep up; crime and corruption are already endemic.
Giant steps like Operation Feed the Nation and massive support for primary education confront giant problems. They will ameliorate some of them, spawn others, and may help build nationhood. But only the energy and heart of all the varied peoples of Nigeria are enough to decide on and make equitable use of its new wealth.
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Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
