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International Business - Nigeria

Country Focus: Nigeria

Facts and Figures

Official Name: Federal Republic of Nigeria
Capital City: Abuja
Languages: English (official), local dialects
Official Currency: Naira
Religions: Muslim, Christian, traditional beliefs
Population: 149,229,090 (71% living on >$1/day)
Land Area: 351,648 sq miles (2 times the size of California, USA)

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Background & Economy

British imperialism over what would become Nigeria and Africa's most populous country grew through the 19th century. Independence came in 1960 after a series of constitutions that granted Nigeria greater autonomy from England. Nigeria survived centuries on an agrarian economy. By the late 1960s, oil replaced cocoa, peanuts, and palm products as the country's largest foreign exchange earner.
Before the discovery of oil, there had been very few industries. Part of the effects of the oil boom was that there was a significant rural-to-urban migration caused in part by the lure of high wages and consumer-oriented lifestyles of the city. This took a lot of the labor force away from the more rural farms, leaving the very young, the old, and the infirm to cultivate the land.
In 1971, Nigeria became a member of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). By then, it was the world's 7th largest petroleum producer. With all the wealth that it “should” have from the great oil reserves, Nigeria is still considered a third-world country, where the real standard of living for 70% of the country is below one dollar per day. Reasons for over 100 million people existing in these appalling conditions are attributed to decades of political instability, mismanagement and corruption, plus multiple civil and religious wars.
There are also environmental demonstrations against the oil industry behavior that culminated in the 1990s and Sani Abacha, the ruler at the time, responded to this by executing the environmentalists that...