Nigeria: Major Issues

         Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa faces many major problems today. Although Nigeria brings in large revenue each year from its mining of petroleum it is faced with a number of issues primarily because of the inefficiency of its government. The most important issues that Nigeria faces today are human rights, health issues, education, and crime. Human rights in Nigeria are a serious problem. Elected officials at local, state, and national levels are a major cause of these injustices. Some of the most common human rights violations in Nigeria are judicial corruption and executive influence on the judiciary, discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, region, and religion, restrictions on freedom of assembly, movement, press, speech and religion and the abridgement of the right of citizens to change the government. Education is another major problem facing Nigeria today. Although Nigeria has a public education system supported by the government, attendance at any level is not mandatory thus leading to lower attendances numbers than should be expected. In 2004, the attendance rate at secondary schools was a dismal 32 percent for males and an even worse 27 percent for females. In recent years the Nigerian educational system has been described as dysfunctional by the Nigerian government. Since 1987 Nigeria has been re-organizing its healthcare system. Under its new health care program accessibility to treatment was greater and costs were lower but a shortage of knowledgeable doctors has been a major problem. Many of the most highly skilled doctors born in Nigeria leave to practice in Europe and the United States. In 2005, over 21,000 Nigerian doctors were practicing in the United States. One final major problem that exists in Nigeria is crime. There is a very large network of organized crime in Nigeria, which is heavily involved in drug trafficking. Many criminal groups in Nigeria ship heroin from Asian countries to Europe and North America and cocaine from South America to Europe and Asia. Organized crime in Nigeria is also known for many types of fraud, such as the advance fee fraud. Although Nigeria has a relatively strong economy it is still plagued by many issues causing it to be a very undesirable place to live.