Nigeria

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is the most populous country in Africa. It is geographically situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi), with a population of over 216 million. Nigeria was created by the British Empire during the colonisation of Africa, and gained independence in 1960. It consists of 200 ethnic groups speaking 500 languages, although the most-commonly spoken one is English and the largest groups are the Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. It has the largest economy in Africa and is a member of the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and OPEC. Its current head of state is President Bola Tinubu.

Quotes

A

My father tells a story about his father dying in a refugee camp. His father was a titled man in Igboland, which meant that he was a great man. He had one of the highest titles a man could have. But his hometown fell, so he had to leave and go to a refugee camp, and he died and he was buried in a mass grave. Which is just heartbreaking for a man, particularly a man like him. My father, who's the first son, and who takes his responsibilities very seriously, couldn't go to bury his father because the roads were occupied. He was in a different part of Biafra and so it took a year until ... he could go to the refugee camp. ... And he goes there and he says, 'I want to know where my father was buried.' And somebody waved very vaguely and said, 'Oh we buried the people there.' So it was a mass grave. So many people had died. And my father says he went there and he took a handful of sand, and he said he's kept the sand ever since. For me, that was one of the most moving things I had ever heard."
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie On how warfare in Nigeria affected her family in "'Americanah' Author Explains 'Learning' To Be Black In The U.S." NPR (June 27, 2013)

Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no 'Nigerians' in the same sense as there are 'English,' 'Welsh,' or 'French'. The word 'Nigerian' is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not.
- Obafemi Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947), as quoted by Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of the Continent Since Independence (2011).

B

The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig. There is ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources available to the parties. This conclusively proved to us that the parties have not developed confidence in the presidential system of government on which the nation invested so much material and human resources.
- Muhammadu Buhari, Buhari’s First Speech As Nigeria’s Military Head of State (December 1983)

Nigeria remains deeply concerned over the illicit trade, transfer, and circulation of small arms and light weapons. Their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many regions of the world are having devastating humanitarian and socio-economic consequences, especially on the continent of Africa.
- Muhammadu Buhari, Speech at the 76th UN General Assembly,New York.

D

Nigeria, it's a beautiful country with a great potential and I believe that in that part of the continent, Nigeria, once it sorts out its own problems, have a crucial role to play, like South Africa has in the more southern part of our continent.
- F. W. de Klerk, The Last Trek: A New Beginning, on The Washington Journal of C-SPAN (June 1999)

E

If Nigeria does nothing else it teaches you.....patience.
- Eku Edewor, [1] (August 25, 2020)
Nigeria earns 90 percent of its export revenue from oil sales, but it comes at a high human cost.
- Amy Goodman Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America (2017) p 217

H

As Microsoft philanthropist... Bill Gates has explained: “Population growth in Africa is a challenge.” His lobbying foundation’s 2018 “Goalkeepers” report warned: “According to U.N. data, Africa is expected to account for more than half of the world’s population growth between 2015 and 2050. Its population is projected to double by 2050,” with “more than 40 percent of world’s extremely poor people … in just two countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.” Gates advocates cutting this projected population increase by 30 percent by improving access to birth control and expanding education to “enable more girls and women to stay in school longer, have children later.” But how can that be afforded with this summer’s looming food and oil squeeze on government budgets?
- Michael Hudson, Is US/NATO (with WEF help) pushing for a Global South famine? (6 June 2022)

J

I like to ask people: was it that there was 24-hour electricity and Jonathan came and switched it off and damaged the equipment? The answer is no. Power is an age-old problem in Nigeria and we have to understand that.
- Goodluck Jonathan, EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: You will soon see that APC is grossly overrated, says Jonathan. TheCable, 26 March 2015.

K

This first year of your nationhood has been a highly auspicious one. It has seen Nigeria take its place with distinction among the family of free nations. It has seen the emergence of wise and far-reaching plans for the social and economic betterment of the Nigerian people. In essence, it has been a period in which firm foundations have been laid for the future of a great nation. The people of the United States join me in the hope that the peace and prosperity of this first year will continue and that the succeeding anniversaries of Nigeria's independence will be equally happy and fruitful.
- John F. Kennedy; Message to Governor General Azikiwe on the First Anniversary of the Independence of Nigeria Online, The American Presidency Project; 1 October 1961

O

For Africa to move forward, Nigeria must be one of the anchor countries, if not the leading anchor country. It means that Nigeria must be good at home to be good outside. No doubt, our situation in the last decade or so had shown that we are not good enough at home; hence we are invariably absent at the table that we should be abroad.[[2]]
- Olusegun Obasanjo, THE WAY OUT: A CLARION CALL FOR COALITION FOR NIGERIA MOVEMENT. Open letter to President Buhari.

T

The Corona crisis will shrink the inflow of dollars. Hopefully, this is temporary, no more than a few months. CBN can allow some downward pressure on the naira without energetically intervening to defend the exchange rate. Only if and when the rate seems that it might dip precipitously should the CBN intervene.
- Bola Tinubu, Adresses Federal Government on COVID-19:(April 2020)

Over six decades ago, our founding fathers gave bravely of themselves to place Nigeria on the map as an independent nation.
- Bola Tinubu, Inaugural Speech as President

Y

Is it with respect to the reference point of American elections? Or is it with respect to the 1999 elections or is it in respect to the 1983 elections in Nigeria or to the 2003 elections? So when people make statements, or even organizations, or even the U.S. State Department, they should qualify such statements and we know the reference point from which they are making their statement against. Once you know the reference point, then it will actually make sense.
- Umaru Yar'Adua, Winner of Disputed Nigerian Presidential Election Denies Fraud (April 23 2007)

External links

Encyclopedic article on Nigeria on Wikipedia