From the archive
Nigeria Needs to Heal Itself, but the United States Can Help
Tom McDonough, who has spent considerable time in Nigeria, contends that the country's problems go beyond the headlines regarding the persecution of Christians. Rather than American bombs, Nigeria needs American guidance on political reform.
The man before me, with dilated, bloodshot eyes and barely comprehensible speech, could have been mistaken for a homeless person from any big city in the United States. Frighteningly, though, he wore the uniform of the Nigerian Army and poked his AK-47 through our car window, while his comrades laughed. My friends and I had been stopped at a routine checkpoint in southeast Nigeria. While Americans are typically accustomed to greater professionalism from police officers or government representatives, experiences like these are distressingly common in Nigeria, a country marked by significant corruption and a deeply dysfunctional government.
While surprising to many, Nigeria has been and continues to be a critical African ally of the United States. The country boasts the largest population of any African country, and its population is young, with a median age of eighteen. Furthermore, the nation has been blessed with significant crude oil reserves and mineral deposits, and is a cultural hub of Africa with prominent film, music, and fashion industries. As such, it should come as no surprise that China is making substantial investments in the country.
It is in the interest of our own nation, therefore, to help Nigeria navigate the internal divisions this piece will discuss. And I say that as someone who generally prefers the United States focus on its own domestic issues.
This past fall, President Donald Trump declared Nigeria a "Country of Particular Concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 amid continued reporting about the persecution of Christians.1 Before turning to that, I should add—having traveled to Nigeria ten times for business—that it is also an extraordinarily interesting country. It is rich in resources and in human vitality, being often described in terms of four broad regions: the North, the Middle Belt, the Southwest, and the Southeast. It has a population not much smaller than that of the United States scrunched into a land area about the size of Texas. There are at least 250 tribes and easily as many languages.
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