Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country. With a nearly $401 billion economy in 2017, Nigeria surpasses all African countries and is a substantial metric on how Africa is generally doing economically and politically. This year, Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, will be seeking re-election for a second term, when the country holds elections in February. He will be running against Abubakar Atiku, a former VP, in what many analysts already consider as a bad choice for the Nigeria people. The country faces serious challenges, including a leadership hurdle that could be a problem for the country over the next years.
Given its size and its large population, Nigeria may be a microcosm of all African problems. It has the terror group Boko Haram, a deadly pastoral crisis, a separatist Biafra movement, Shiites in perpetual conflict, militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta, mass banditry, and an economy too dependent on volatile oil prices. Since taking over the country in 2015, Buhari has yet to show what achievements he has made. But his rival Atiku was one of the leaders of the previous government, ruling in a period known for a spike in corruption and bad management.
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