Some Pareto on Nigeria

A lot of my posts on Nigeria have been focused on the horrible experiences I had with the country, and of course they've been getting bad press from the attempted airline bombing... so, as I am currently working on our Nigeria assessment, I thought I'd share some facts that will provide some perspective. 

Like many stereotypes, a few bad apples give the whole country a bad name.  In reality, Nigeria is a huge country population-wise.  There are about 160 million Nigerians, representing nearly 20% of the entire African population.  The vast majority of Nigerians are not involved in international crime organizations, corruption, terrorist groups, etc.  It is an incredibly poor country with serious issues that cannot be effectively addressed because of the chaos and lawlessness fostered by the inept government and corrupt ruling elite.  The following paints a more accurate portrait of the average Nigerian.

• About 80% of the people live in rural areas
• The average annual income is $330 per year
• Over 50% of the population is under the age of 15.  Life expectancy is 47
• Almost 50% of the population has no education whatsoever, formal or informal
• Over 40% of people are farmers
• Only 20% of households have water piped in
• Nearly 90% of the population uses a pit latrine or the bush for a toilet... only 5% use a "water system"
• Almost 60% of the population experiences severe food insecurity... another 20% experiences it mildly.  Food insecurity is "living in hunger or fear of starvation"
• Over 40% of children are stunted
• Seventy percent of children under the age of five have malaria, which kills 300,000 of them a year
• Only 15% of households own a refrigerator
• By age 19, 40% of women have had at least one child or are pregnant
• About one-third of marriages are polygamous
• About 17% of children die before age five
• A rather stark statistic highlighting the importance and broad impact of education - the under-five child mortality rate for mothers with no education is about 22%, versus under 9% for mothers possessing post-secondary education

But I cannot complete this without referencing what one of the Nigerian government officials said in response to the TSA adding Nigeria to the list of "enhanced" security procedures.  The Nigerian Information Minister said the move was "discriminatory" and unfairly punished all Nigerians for the actions of a few. 

A guy with a bomb in his underwear got on a plane in Nigeria.  He also got on a plane in Amsterdam.  Um, yes, it was discriminatory to put Nigeria on the list, just like it was discriminatory to require stepped-up inspections in Amsterdam. 

When you're solving a problem, you discriminate against the source of it.  Otherwise you're not solving it.  You're just doing nothing.  That's kind of the way it works.  Maybe that's why the Nigerian government is doing nothing substanative to solve the myriad of problems they have.