March/April: Lead theme: Nigeria: Rousing the Sleeping
About This Edition
ISSN : 1744-2532 (Print)
ISBN : 2516-5305 (Online)
To buy or subscribe, please email: sales@adonis-abbey.com
From theEditor/ Publisher
Nigeria: Rousing the Sleeping Giant
Jideofor Adibe, PhD
In this edition
In the January/February edition of the journal, we posed, and sought answers to a number of fundamental questions on Americas war on terrorism following the events of September 11 2001 in that country and their aftermaths. Some of the questions we sought answers for included: What are the implications of the war for Africa How will the war impact on the current democracy project in the continent And how will it affect Muslim-Christian relations
In this issue, we take on Nigeria, one of the embodiments of Africas paradoxes and hope. A country of some 130 million people, Nigeria is the sixth largest oil producer in the world, and has some of the most resourceful people on the planet. Yet, it has remained a slumbering giant, unable to wake up and fight for its rightful place in the world and consequently poorly ranked in all the indices of human development. This has been a major source of concern, even irritation, disappointment and anger among many Africans who believe that Nigeria carries the hopes and aspirations of black people everywhere, and that unless the country quickly gets its act together and take its rightful place in the world, it will be difficult for black people everywhere to shake off the current stereotype that define them as underachievers, and people incapable of managing complex organisations and systems.
The articles here discuss various aspects of the Nigerian problem and proposed ways of overcoming them. While the contributors may not have provided all the desiderata to Nigerias complex problems, we believe they have certainly raised many fundamental questions, which will be useful additions to the corpus of literature on the country. The discussions of some of the contributions in our unique seminar/workshop format, are bound to enlighten and provoke.
In addition to the lead themes, we have also assembled articles on other topical issues from an assessment of the attempted coup in Togo to some of the fun we may be missing in our junkmail folders.
Second Year Anniversary
Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd turned two on March 18, 2005. How years fly! African Renaissance will also turn 1 in our May/June edition. To thank our readers for their support, we are reducing the price (including the subscription price) of this journal by 50 per cent. The promotion runs until June 30, 2005.