60 years of Nigerian independence: a giant in the breach
Abuja, October 1, 2010. Nigeria's 50th anniversary of independence ceremony.
AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI
By: Liza Fabbian
1 min
On October 1, 1960, the British colony of Nigeria gained independence.
Oil has just been discovered.
The hopes are immense.
But from the outset, a balance is difficult to find for the federation, made up of three largely autonomous regions.
Publicity
For decades, the country's unity - quickly threatened by civil war - was forcibly maintained by a succession of military dictatorships.
Sixty years later, the country's deep ethnic divisions hamper its good governance.
The corruption of the elites, the extreme poverty which affects more than half of the approximately 200 million inhabitants and the insecurity have locked Nigeria in a history which seems to repeat itself to the point of hindering the potential of the first economy of Africa.
60 years of independence of Nigeria: a giant in the breach, a Grand report by Liza Fabbian.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Nigeria
Anniversary of African Independence
On the same subject
Cost of energy in Nigeria: the call for a strike suspended the time of negotiations
Nigeria: the director of the anti-corruption agency in the crosshairs of justice
Nigeria: Amnesty points to disastrous consequences of insecurity on young people