According to neovideogames, Nigeria occupies a prominent place among African states thanks to the vastness of its territory, the multiple agricultural and mineral resources (starting with oil) and the considerable demographic weight (it is by far the most populated country on the continent, a true and its “giant” of Africa). After independence, the Nigerian economy recorded continuous and sensitive developments; however, the undeniable progress did not fill the pre-existing territorial, economic, social and religious imbalances, which in broad terms contrast a Muslim North and globally poorer and more backward, with a generally richer, more dynamic and modern Christian South. The boom economic contribution brought by oil (whose production continues to be the cornerstone of the economy) accentuated these fractures: the economic policy pursued by the government favored foreign investments, contributing to an industrialization very often completely extraneous to the authentic needs of the country; likewise the growing imports often went to feed the easy consumerism of the emerging categories, entrepreneurial and mercantile, as well as of the state high bourgeoisie. Thus an increasingly marked gap was formed between the wealthy classes linked to oil and new industrial activities and the populations of the villages.
Within twenty years, an eminently agricultural country became deficient even for certain basic foodstuffs. L’ the enormous foreign exchange inflow brought by oil not only caused a dramatic crisis in the agricultural sector, which certainly could not grant such high earnings, but also caused a dizzying increase in the cost of living and a massive rural exodus; the cities grew beyond measure, marked by the presence of large masses of unemployed and underemployed, carriers of growing social tensions. Starting from the second half of the 1980s, the collapse recorded in crude oil prices on international markets considerably worsened living conditions and increased social tensions, in a climate of constant anxiety and inefficiency also due to widespread corruption in the public administration. The expectations placed on the government plans of the 1970s remained so distant. About 20% of the currency revenue from exports of goods and services was used to make up the heavy external debt, so, in the 1995 fiscal year, the government introduced a series of economic reforms including the abolition of control. exchange rates and the reduction of tariff barriers. In addition, in hopes of attracting new foreign investors, it repealed a 1979 decree requiring Nigerian-based businesses to have a minimum 40% stake in local capital. From the end of the nineties the country’s economy turned towards the privatization of some public enterprises and started plans to reduce poverty. The inflation rate was cut from 70% in 1994 to 10.5% in 2006. The country thus sees, in the first decade of the 2000s, on the one hand a per capita (US $ 1,451) and a large part of the population still live below the poverty line.
Foreign trade: Foreign trade is largely determined by the development of the oil market (2017: import value: US $ 31.3 billion; export value: US $ 44.5 billion). In addition to crude oil and crude oil products as well as natural gas and natural gas products (together 96% of total exports), mainly agricultural goods (including coffee, tea, cocoa, spices, oil fruits) and fertilizers are exported. The most important trading partners are the USA, China, India and the Benelux countries.
Islamist terror
Fierce fighting between the Islamist sect Boko Haram and the army and security forces, especially in the city of Maiduguri, claimed over 800 lives in July 2009. An offer of amnesty to the MEND rebels in the same year was intended to calm the situation in the Niger Delta. A ceasefire was reached, but it was canceled the following year.
As of November 2009, President Umaru Yar’Adua could no longer exercise his office for health reasons. On February 9, 2010, the Nigerian Parliament therefore transferred the official duties to the previous Vice President G. Jonathan (PDP). After Yar’Adua’s death, Jonathan was sworn in as President on May 6, 2010. In the presidential elections on April 16, 2011, the population confirmed him in the first ballot with around 59% of the votes in office. The parliamentary elections on April 9, 2011 were won by the PDP with a clear majority. The dispute with Boko Haram intensified. In June 2012, President Jonathan fired the defense minister and the head of the national security council because the army was unable to do enough against Boko Haram. After further serious attacks, the president imposed May 14, 2013 in the three northern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa declared a state of emergency and ordered a comprehensive military operation against the Islamists. At the beginning of June 2013, the Boko Haram was officially banned. In the period that followed, Boko Haram intensified terrorist activities, especially in the north of the country. On April 14, 2014, Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from a boarding school in an attack on Chibok in Borno. The kidnapping sparked outrage around the world. In the course of 2014, the organization brought large parts of Borno under its control and also advanced into neighboring countries. By the beginning of 2015, well over 10,000 people had lost their lives as a result of the terrorist acts. Hundreds of thousands fled the violence. In January 2015, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Benin and Nigeria agreed as part of an African Union emergency force joint military activities against Boko Haram.
