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This thread may or may not be hailstorm in the making, depending on the responses. But feel free to ask any question that you may have concerning Nigeria, culture, people, places, etc (as long as there is no sarcasm involved, of course).
I will open the floor with some positive/neutral trivia on the country:
1. Second-Highest GDP (Nominal) in Africa
2. Home country to Africa's richest man AND richest Black man, Aliko Dangote
3. First Nobel Prize winner from Africa is Nigerian (Wole Soyinka, Literature)
4. Most translated African Author of all time is Nigerian (Chinua Achebe). I believe his first novel, Things Fall Apart, is also the best selling African book of all time.
5. Largest population on the continent
6. Highest birth rate of twins in the world (there are also individual names reserved for twins only, such as Taiwo and Kehinde).
7. Large cultural and geographical diversity (250 ethnic groups, 3 ethnic groups of which are the majority).
8. High cultural diversity as a cause for a relatively large number of cities and urban areas (some ancient), including: Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Enugu, Onitsha, Benin, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Calabar, Port Harcourt.
9. Large Afro-cultural influence in several New World countries as a result of the slave trade (Ifa/Yoruba religion)
10. Most educated/progressive immigrant group (so I've heard) in the US
11. Home to some of the most detailed and sophisticated ancient iron/bronze cast artworks in Africa (Benin, Ife, Igbo-Ukwu etc).
12. Large entertainment powerhouse in the African scene, from music to movies. An interesting site you can check out is Bellanaija.com
13. First Black African Miss World is Nigerian
14. Noted personalities from Nigeria include but are not limited to, Fela Kuti, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala (who received a nomination for presidency of World Bank), etc.
15. Large market for business and investors in the Continent: 100 million mobile cell lines, largest number of internet users (hehe), large luxury brand market, etc.
That's interesting that it leads the world in the number of twins. There was a cult of twins, traditionally, wasn't there, in at least one of the local cultures/spiritual traditions?
Q.: Would the 2nd highest GDP in Africa rating, by any chance, have to do with oil? How much of that money actually filters down to people, and helps raise the standard of living?
Q.: What took you all so long to finally try to do something about the mess in the Niger Delta? Was there political repression, or something, some obstacle, that prevented at least the local people who have to live with all that, from rising up?
That's interesting that it leads the world in the number of twins. There was a cult of twins, traditionally, wasn't there, in at least one of the local cultures/spiritual traditions?
Among the Yoruba twins were highly revered and I believe it was old tradition to create figurines (Ibeji statues) to celebrate their importance.
Quote:
Q.: Would the 2nd highest GDP in Africa rating, by any chance, have to do with oil? How much of that money actually filters down to people, and helps raise the standard of living?
Oil makes over 80% of Nigeria's foreign earnings, yes, but it actually does not comprise the majority of our GDP. The 4 largest economic sectors of Nigeria (in order) are Agriculture, Wholesale, Retail/Services, and then oil.
You may want to look at this article which expounds more on the challenges we are facing with Mono-Exports though. I agree that we could stand to diversify the products that we trade with:
In my own experience (as I technically live in Nigeria but shuttle back and forth for school), I think that the informal economy should be better factored in order to measure the true extent of how poor Nigerians are. The cost of living in many urban areas in Nigeria is way too high for people to survive on $1 dollar a day, and many if not most Nigerians live in urban areas. However I will agree that poverty is still a critical issue - most Nigerians ARE poor by World standards in any case.
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Q.: What took you all so long to finally try to do something about the mess in the Niger Delta? Was there political repression, or something, some obstacle, that prevented at least the local people who have to live with all that, from rising up?
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The main problems with the Niger-Delta region have not yet been resolved actually - i.e. environmental degradation and limited means for livelihood as a result of oil spills (a lot of Niger-Deltans subsist on fishing and farming). You are probably referring to how the government has been able to put a stop to militants as far as kidnapping expatriates.
As for how to mitigate the long-lasting effects of the Niger-Delta mess - sadly oil accounts for the majority of foreign earnings, a cash cow for many Nigerian Government officials (salary wise and other) who do not have much leverage or pull to influence oil companies to provide compensation to the masses, as opposed to the US in handling the BP fiasco, for instance. Nor do they care to unfortunately.
Nigeria's economy and the people who keep it going are not that impacted by oil, as you have said. Despite our hardships I think it speaks to our ability to keep our head above water.
Dangote's wealth is self-generated. His relative was head of the Dantata Dynasty but Dangote's line of business is not in tandem with the Dantatas.
People have complained though about his company's monopoly on commodities such as cement and flour - Dangote has been accused of colluding with the government officials in getting rid of competition. A notable example was the controversy surrounding rival company, Ibeto Cement.
Is Nigeria very unsafe to travel to? I heard it is quite unsafe.
There are pockets of "hot-spots" that I would avoid: Parts the North-Central Region, such as Jos, and much of the Niger-Delta. The "Core" North used to be very peaceful, but with Boko Haram it's now on my watchlist.
I would generally stick to the South-West Region, like Lagos, Ogun, etc, some parts of the South-East (Enugu, Owerri), and if looking to the Niger-Delta region, the far eastern parts closer to Cameroon such as Calabar and Uyo. Abuja (North Central) is a nice city, the Boko-Haram scare was a big issue but Security there is now very tight seeing as it is capital city and home to Aso Rock and the presidential residence.
Crime is an issue even in many of the safer regions, depending on where you are coming from.
Overall, I have a very soft spot for Calabar. Very tourist friendly, peaceful, with a low-crime rate and hospitable, though not as economically vibrant or as famous/infamous as say, Lagos.
It's helpful to have trustworthy friend who is familiar with the place if you want to visit though.
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