Nigeria: the Path of the Largest African Economy towards Globalization

  31   2. Nigeria Nigeria is today a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory: Abuja. To understand the complexity of a country like Nigeria it is important to clarify some historical, political and social aspects. The discourse on the state in Africa, particularly by African scholars, has taken two major extremes. On the one hand there are those affirming that African states mimic the notion of a democratic state and that perhaps it would be appropriate to find another term to qualify what really exists in Africa. These states are recognized by the international society but are actually lacking of all the features of a state as defined in the modern world. 89 On the other hand are those who acknowledge the existence of the state in Africa but in its deformity. Many adjectives have been used to describe the African prototype of nation: among them weak and failed are the most famous and abused. Indeed, three main points are worthy of note about this issue. First is that state does exist in Africa in spite of imperfections and challenges. Second, state formation and consolidation processes are normally very long and difficult in any society. Third, the very nature of African states cannot be detached by its historiography. That is why, in order to understand Nigeria’s contemporary politics and society, it is necessary to keep in mind, in a chronological order, three main issues that influenced the part of Sub-Saharan Africa where Nigeria lies: the earlier is the spread of Islam, that started a millennium ago and it helps to understand the dichotomy between the rich and educated south versus the poorer and much populated north. The second is the slave trade across both the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara Desert, which left a profound scar on all parts of Nigeria and Africa. The most recent, and probably most important, is the colonial experience that, even if relatively brief, unleashed such rapid change that the full impact is still felt nowadays.                                                                                                                 89 D. Williams, “Aid and Sovereignity: Quasi-state and the International Financial Institutions”, Review of International Studies, No. 26: 557- 573, 2000.