Let's Talk Afro-Geopolitics II: The Future of the Nigerian State

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

I don't see it personally.

Speak on it

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Speak on it

If you mean "middle class" by Western definition then again I don't see it. Plus I have heard that outside of the capital much of Ghana is not developed. Ghana hasn't even attempted to industrialize(iirc they have not) unlike with countries like Ethiopia, South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, etc. And iirc you need industrialization to sustain a middle class economy. Also I heard 48% of the youth are unemployed.

 

[BigMan]

If you mean "middle class" by Western definition then again I don't see it. Plus I have heard that outside of the capital much of Ghana is not developed. Ghana hasn't even attempted to industrialize(iirc they have not) unlike with countries like Ethiopia, South Africa, Angola, Tanzania, etc. And iirc you need industrialization to sustain a middle class economy. Also I heard 48% of the youth are unemployed.

Ghana is way ahead of Tanzania and Angola

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Ghana is way ahead of Tanzania and Angola

I still don't see them. They aren't even touching Botswana yet.

 

[Red Shield]

I still don't see them. They aren't even touching Botswana yet.

Are the blacks down in Botswana even doing that well considering the economy is white dominated

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

Are the blacks down in Botswana even doing that well considering the economy is white dominated

I'm not sure that it's *that* white dominated. Botswana doesn't have a significant white population like South Africa (9%) or Namibia (6.5%)

 

[Red Shield]

I'm not sure that it's *that* white dominated. Botswana doesn't have a significant white population like South Africa (9%) or Namibia (6.5%)

It doesn't need a significant white population for them to dominate the economy

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

It doesn't need a significant white population for them to dominate the economy

That is true. But what I was trying to say is that Botswana isn't that white dominated compared to Namibia and South Africa.

 

[Red Shield]

That is true. But what I was trying to say is that Botswana isn't that white dominated compared to Namibia and South Africa.

If you mean it doesn't have as many whites as those other two countries.. then yeah I agree

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

If you mean it doesn't have as many whites as those other two countries.. then yeah I agree

I was referring to economic dominance. Do you care to share information about European-descendant domination in Botswana's economy (aside from De Beers)?

EDIT: Perhaps do it in another thread, so that this thread stays centered on Nigeria matters.

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Are the blacks down in Botswana even doing that well considering the economy is white dominated

Botswana has among the best quality of life in Africa even if its economy was "dominated by whites" which its not. Whites who are only 3% of Botswana. Not only that but Botswana was among the poorest countries in Africa but it came to its statues NOT because of it being 'dominated by white.'

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]

A Yankee attempt to analyze Nigeria's many issues. Characterizing the problems with Nnamdi Azikiwe airport in Abuja as a crisis is a stretch, however.
Also, America doesn't buy oil from Nigeria anymore...
Nigeria on edge: The African power has troubles on multiple fronts

Nigeria is in a mess; it is fair to say that the country that is Africa’s largest economy, with a population, Africa’s largest, of an estimated 190 million, is always in trouble, but the problems this time are considerably greater than normal in recent years.

The chaos caused in the northeast by the Islamist Boko Haram movement, it of the Chibok girls fame, is more under control than it has sometimes been in the past. At the same time, this state of affairs has been brought about by sometimes brutal Nigerian military action, including the burning of villages. The disruption caused by Boko Haram and the Nigerian military together has led to widespread famine in the region through unplanted crops. That’s No. 1.

The second problem is continued unrest in Nigeria’s oil-producing region in the southeast, in the Niger River delta, making the country’s overall economic situation acute given its dependence on oil for legal and illegal revenue. This is not a new problem. Oil production has consistently created environmental problems for that region’s fishermen and farmers, who resent the pollution and the fact that they continue to receive what they consider to be a disproportionately small portion of the oil money.

No. 3 is local, in a sense, but also national. Nigeria built a new capital in the 1980s at Abuja in the center of the country, succeeding Lagos, a port, whose population has exploded to an estimated 21 million. It built an airport at Abuja but severely neglected maintenance at it to the point that its runways are now unusable. The nearest, small airport is at Kaduna, a hundred miles away, and Abuja airport is expected to be closed for years of repairs.

The fourth problem is the health of President Muhammadu Buhari. He has just returned from two months of treatment in London, where he was basically incommunicado. He still looks frail. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is Christian, from the south, and if Mr. Buhari, a Muslim from the north, were to step down or pass away, it would risk confounding Nigeria’s rough rotation of the presidency between its Christians and Muslims, south and north. In the meantime, it appears that Mr. Buhari will not be in much of a position to lead the country in addressing its other problems.

Why should Americans care? Nigeria’s size, the importance of its role in Africa — including as a sometime peacekeeper in West African scraps — and its relatively important trading relationship with the United States make it a useful American partner in a frequently troubled Africa. The United States sells Nigeria 9.3 percent of its imports and buys oil from it. Nigeria shouldn’t need American aid, but the United States should stay close to it as it makes its way through its problems.

 

[The Odum of Ala Igbo]