Blog Post #5: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Nigeria

Nigeria is located in the part of West Africa known as Sub-Saharan Africa. It's in that little crevice between the part that sticks out to the west and that part that sticks out to the south. It borders Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and the Atlantic Ocean. The Niger River runs through Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa.

Nigeria's location in Africa (x)

Nigeria's GDP per capita is 1,555 (US) dollars, compared to the US GDP per capita of 49,965 dollars. The oil industry dominates Nigeria's economy, making Nigeria Africa's largest oil producer. While the economy is mostly oil-related, the majority of Nigeria's population engages in agriculture. Nigeria's economy is ranked "mostly unfree," due to its low labor freedom according to the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom. Nigeria's rule of law is also very weak; there is little enforcement of property rights and copyrights, and corruption and crime detract from what could be a successful economy. (x)

Religion is split evenly among Christians and Muslims. (x)

Most of Nigeria's population is either Muslim or Christian, resulting in religious conflict in Nigeria between both religious groups. Recently, there has even been violence between Nigeria's Muslims and Christians. Residents have accused the politicians of deepening the divide between groups to further their own agendas. Nigeria's religious divide began back during British colonization. The British opened tin mines in historically Christian areas and invited outside tribal groups to work there. Many of the new settlers included Fulani, a Muslim tribe, Yoruba, a religiously mixed tribe, and Igbo, a Christian tribe. According to Nigerian law, the new settlers had fewer rights than the indigenous people. Since then, the fairly even split among religions in Nigeria, predominantly Christian in the south and Muslim in the north, has caused violence. (x)

Francis Collomp was taken hostage in 2012. (x)

In recent news, there has been violence by al-Qaeda and Boko Haram, an Islamic militant organization in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. A Nigerian Islamist group, Ansaru, has taken hostage of a French national. Ansaru likely has ties to Boko Haram and al-Qaeda. Islamist violence has been prevalent in northeast Nigeria since earlier this year. Hundreds of people have been killed and the area is in a state of emergency as the Nigerian military attempts to crush the Islamist insurgency. (x) (x)