Nigeria's Portfolio: Stability Of The Country

NIGERIA’S PORTFOLIO Name Course Instructor Institution City Date NIGERIA’S PORTFOLIO There is a wind of change blowing across Sub-Saharan Africa which is a diverse region comprised of 47 countries that stretch from the Savannas of the Sahara desert to the coastal mountains and valleys of the Cape. In the cities and towns of these countries, prodemocracy activists have taken to the streets to protest against several injustices in the region. Most countries have experienced major reforms aiming at improving the relationships between the governments and citizens being championed by opposition parties to the ruling regime. However, besides these changes, majority of the Sub-Saharan Africa people lack basic civil liberties and human rights. Most critics and scholars have argued that Africa’s problems were partially contributed to the forces of colonialism. During the 19th century, the colonialists drew political boundaries that cut across indigenous cultural and territorial divisions something that increased social tensions in the region. Large tracts of land became the property of colonial administrators forcing the natives off their native land and became migrant workers. When the colonial era came to an end in the 1950s and 60s, the Sub-Saharan African countries remained with little infrastructures. There were exploitive policies that exploited resources in the region. Its economies were aimed at producing goods and services in the region as well. This paper evaluates various aspects ranging from the stability of the country to its relations with the international community. The ideal country for this paper is Nigeria. Conditions at which it was left Nigeria has a diverse population and endured a divide-and-rule strategy which was executed by the British whose aim was to worsen the existing differences. However, it experienced a peaceful transfer from the colonialists to its independence. The colonialists left overlapping cleavages that consisted of a population whose differences overlapped each other and coincided with the regional boundaries which have proved to be a potential threat to the country’s stability. This is affirmed by Okechukwu Iheduru who asserts that “Nigeria’s 250 ethnic groups, with their distinct (and mostly unintelligible) languages and cultural characteristics, are geographically separated.” Conversely, the lack of a common national history, inequality in resource distribution and the promotion of regionalism over national identity through certain political and economic policies (both before and after independence) have contributed to the development of a Nigeria whose stability is still at balance due to the regional completion and violence in the country. The fact that Nigeria was under a direct rule by its colonizers should not be underestimated. However, this rule was only applied to the southern parts while the northern region experienced an indirect rule and was left to the native rulers. The direct rule contributed much to the reinforcement and politicking the rifts in the country (COHN, 2013). The European powers drew the country’s boundaries without considering the existing tribes or geographic area which has been cause of the conflicts in Nigeria today. Therefore, the country had tw...