The popular pidgin phrase ‘Naija no dey carry last’, which roughly translates as ‘Nigerians strive to finish first’, encapsulates the entrepreneurship of Africa’s largest economy. It has exported highly successful figures to other countries, particularly in the fields of literature, art, music and science. More than half of Nigerian immigrants in the US in one survey held management positions. Nigerians also form the largest group of African migrants in the UK labour market, with more than 5,000 working as doctors.
In politics, however, Nigeria is less high-achieving. For 50 of the 60 years since the country won independence from British rule in 1960, it has been led by someone linked to the military. Its first president, Nnamdi Azikiwe, strove with prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to unify a country with over 250 ethnic groups. They failed, and northern-born Balewa was assassinated in what was seen as a coup led by Igbo soldiers. It would be the first of many military coups.
