12/23/2020 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – Nigeria, Africa’s largest country by population may be nearing a failed state status according to the Financial Times in the UK. A failed state, as defined by the Britannica, is a “state that is unable to perform the two fundamental functions of the sovereign nation-state in the modern world system: it cannot project authority over its territory and peoples, and it cannot protect its national boundaries.” For many others though, the definition is simply when a government has lost the ability to control its own country.
By either definition, it is pretty clear that Nigeria is bordering on being a failed state. Attacks throughout the country by extremist groups and criminal gangs have caused the deaths of thousands and the displacement of millions more. These attacks have destroyed the economies of many local areas, especially destroying much of the agricultural sectors of the middle belt and the northeast. Devastated communities are forced to survive on the kindness of friends and family, placing an increased stress on further communities.
Not only has the government failed to stop these attacks and the devastation it has caused to their people, but the Buhari Administration has continued to deny much of the struggles that the country is undergoing. When talking about the recent kidnapping of more than 330 students, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, started trying to say that the struggles in Nigeria are no worse than the issues in the United States, New Zealand, France or any other country that has had terrorist attacks. What they continue to try and say is that the Buhari administration has effectively dealt with terrorist threats, despite the continued attacks by Boko Haram and others throughout the country. As they continue to deny the struggles that the country is going through, the further it will continue to fall.
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