Word: nigeria
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...student at Harvard, though, leaving Nigeria brought some big changes...
...Okonjo-Iweala was asked to be the first female finance minister of Nigeria. She strove to reduce corruption and decrease the country’s immense debt, while reordering the nation’s finances despite resistance to her economic reforms...
...wrapped up their campaigns ahead of a general election Sunday - but in a sense the most important result is already in. President John Kufuor, 69, is stepping down after two terms, peacefully and voluntarily. That in itself sets Ghana's election apart from recent polls in Zimbabwe, Kenya and Nigeria, which were plagued by corruption, violence, despotism and the steadfast refusal by the ruling party to let go. It is also a reminder that governance in sub-Saharan Africa, a region of 48 nations, cannot be characterized simply by the brutal repression doled out by Robert Mugabe...
...more than 300 miles north of Nigeria's largest city Lagos, is located in the Nigeria's 'middle belt' between the mostly Christian south and Muslim north of Africa's most populous nation, and its diverse population had lived in relative peace until religious riots in 2001 left 1,000 dead and led many to ask if such a situation was tenable. (Muslims make up roughly half of the Nigeria's population; Christians of various denominations account for about 40%.) This latest episode, sparked by protests over local election results, only makes it seem less so. A curfew remained still...
...were involved in the incident or whether the police and soldiers themselves exacerbated the problem. The state commissioner for information, Nuhu Gagara, admitted that local politicians and businessmen had paid youths to stir up violence, even buying weapons, including firearms for them. This tactic, called "godfathering," is familiar in Nigeria around election time. "I think it was instigated by influential people who used these youths and religion to inflict maximum effect and chaos in the streets," Nankin Bagudu, a local human rights activist, said. "They tried to mobilize people to fight and attack along party and religious lines...