Andrew

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For decades, people in northern Nigeria have been suffering the violence of jihadist groups in the region.

More recently, following the lobbying of some questionable interest groups and figures in the United States, President Donald Trump has dropped American bombs on Nigerian soil.

What exactly is happening in Nigeria?

Hello and welcome to It Could Happen Here.

I'm Andrew Sage, Andrew is on YouTube, and I'm joined again by James.

I'm glad we're doing this one.

Yes, to talk about what's been happening in Nigeria since it has captured Trump's attention and thus Western media interest as of late.

So first of all, what or where is Nigeria?

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Nigeria is a West African country with a diverse geography and an even more diverse population.

Hundreds of languages, hundreds of ethnic groups, several religions in the most populous country in Africa and one of the most populous countries in the world.

Over 239 million people call Nigeria home, and the Nigerian diaspora is well over 10 million strong.

Like much of Africa, Nigeria is rich in natural resources, particularly petroleum and natural gas, but heavily exploited by international and local capital.

Thus, much of its population, by some estimates over half of its population, is considered multidimensionally poor.

Modern Nigeria was stitched together from the British protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria and had gained its political independence only recently in 1960 and became a republic in 1963.

That North-South divide is particularly relevant because it continues to define Nigerian politics today.

Nigeria is split almost evenly between its Christian population which dominates the South and its Muslim population which dominates the North.

alongside ethnic, linguistic, and other political divisions, corruption, and all the other baggage of a typical Leo colony, has made Nigerian politics quite the powder keg of some time.

There have been tragic and deadly episodes of political and religious violence throughout Nigeria's history, going in both directions, including the 1987 crisis in Kaduna State, and the early 2000s had several notorious riots and massacres as well, including the Yelwa Massacre and the Joss Riots.

Link in the show notes for the details on those.