Nigeria, the new African giant is waking up

... But seems kind of unready on its feets.

LIKE a heavyweight boxer who has gone too many rounds, Nigeria sometimes seems punch-drunk. One minute it acts like a champion by virtue of the size of its girth and the smile on its face, the next it could be flat on its back, groaning in anguish. On the whole, the country is tottering along, acclaimed as much for its massive potential as for its actual achievements. It is still a sick man all the same.

Tracts of the north of Nigeria are poorer than ever and ravaged by Islamist terrorism. The brutal efforts of the police to suppress it make ordinary northerners all the more sullen. The oil-soaked Delta in the south is anarchic, gutted by the continuing large-scale theft of oil and riddled with corruption at a level that is high even by Nigeria’s lofty standards. The kidnapping of prosperous people across the country, especially in the south and in and around Lagos, the bubbling commercial capital, has become increasingly frequent. The mother of the finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, suffered such an ordeal in December, though she was released after five days.

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