Nigeria

Nigeria is Africa's largest population compressed into a landmass one-third the size of its ethnic diversity suggests it needs—218 million people from 371 ethnic groups speaking 500+ languages, governed through 36 federal states designed to prevent any single group from dominating. The three major coalitions—Hausa-Fulani Muslims in the north (30%), Yoruba in the southwest (15.5%), and Igbo Christians in the southeast (15.2%)—represent the political equivalent of niche partitioning, each controlling distinct regional economies while competing for federal resources. The delicate balance broke catastrophically once: the 1967-1970 Biafran War killed over a million people when the Igbo attempted secession.

Oil shaped modern Nigeria's paradox: petroleum accounts for 92% of exports and over 80% of foreign exchange, yet only 5.5% of GDP. The resource curse manifests as a two-tier economy where oil wealth concentrates in Lagos while the Niger Delta communities hosting extraction remain impoverished. The September 2024 opening of Dangote Refinery—Africa's largest at 650,000 barrels per day—represents an attempt to capture downstream value that previously leaked to fuel importers. Meanwhile, digital services now contribute 20% of GDP, four times oil's share, as Nigeria's young population (median age 18) builds Africa's largest tech ecosystem.

Nigeria functions like an African elephant herd: massive, matriarchal in its regional power structures, and possessing institutional memory that makes sudden changes dangerous. The federal system resembles termite mound architecture—36 states plus FCT creating redundant governance pathways that prevent collapse even when individual components fail. GDP growth reached 4.2% in Q2 2025, and reserves hit record highs at 37 billion barrels of oil. But Nigeria remains Africa's fourth-largest economy, not first as commonly claimed—a reminder that demographic mass alone doesn't determine economic hierarchy.