This being April 1st I wondered if the result of the Nigerian election was simply an elaborate April Fool joke but, no, apparently Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, the former president, has handed over the moneybags keys of office to his opponent, ex-General Muhammadu Buhari, following an election which was, by African standards, reasonably fair and square. But the extraordinary thing of it all is that this is the first time in Nigeria's history as an independent country that one regime has handed over power to another following an election. I hesitate to write much - anything, really - about Nigeria given my abysmal ignorance of the country. I await some experienced opinion from my e-pal Tim Newman who spent some time there in the oil industry. (Come on, Newman, stop slacking around all those Parisian restaurants and tell us what you think!)
From the very little I know of Buhari's past record the omens are not good. He has two major crises to face, Boko Haram and endemic corruption. His military background might help with the former but how anyone can deal with the latter is beyond me. It seems to me that when corruption reaches the scale of that in Nigeria where it permeates every facet of life from top to bottom, then it becomes part of the economy and any effort to hack it back will have severe effects on everyone - so good luck with that one, Muhammadu!
By the way, you will notice that at long last I have corrected my gross error by adding 'Africa' to my 'Category' list. Better late than never!
