Africa Up Close

Many thousands remain displaced by Boko Haram. Photo by EU/ECHO/Isabel Coello, via Flickr. Creative Commons.

Between 2002 and 2011, the BBC and the Guardian consistently rated Nigerians as the world’s happiest people. In sharp contrast, by 2013 a Forbes Magazine survey ranked Nigeria as the 20^th saddest place to live on earth and the country ranked 123^rd on the Legatum Prosperity index. This paper does not attempt to make an analysis of where it all went wrong, as such an endeavour would constitute a voluminous series. However one major factor responsible for this negative attitude transformation is the rise in militancy in the south and terrorism in the north of the country, the havoc wreaked in terms of lives and property, and the growing insecurity. The most notable among these groups is Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group that has plagued the north-east of the country and captured international media attention. This article contends that Boko Haram’s stature as Nigeria’s chief security menace was sustained by certain members of Nigeria’s elite, since it had become a cash cow for them.

Supporters of Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP rally during the 2015 election. Photo by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, via Flickr. Creative Commons.

A year later, Jude Cocodia looks back at Nigeria’s historic election, why it was so important, and what lessons other African leaders could take from it.

The 2015 Nigerian elections saw the defeat of an incumbent president for the first time in Nigerian history, and the peaceful handover of power that followed. This event runs contrary to the trend in Africa, where rulers manipulate state machinery to perpetuate themselves in office, irrespective of being popular or despised by the people.