Nigeria is failing to fulfill basic tasks of a nation-state, and its partners need to halt “business as usual” to open an honest dialogue about the current failings. For the United States, this means dropping some old practices in the way America engages Nigerians. Nigeria routinely suffers pre-election violence, although most international engagement on elections continues to focus more narrowly on the actual day of voting. Neither the United States nor any partner can truly help Nigeria recover from its decline unless it is as energetic and focused in its engagement with Naija as with the government of Nigeria. Shifting America’s partnership more toward Nigeria’s states is vital to the work of ending Nigeria’s dozens of armed communal conflicts.

Source: Punch November 26, 2021 02:51 UTC