Who Will Win? Nigerian Elections Soon

Nigeria in the Library of Congress

I was looking for information on the history of Nigerian cuisine for my new book, Food Cultures of Nigeria: Recipes, Customs, and Issues. What I found is a comprehensive history of Nigeria, written in 1992, in the Library of Congress. After some searching, I found a link to a pdf of the manuscript.

But I can’t find any contribution from a Nigerian in this rich history. Though I’m mostly looking for info about food and agriculture, I’m curious about the writers. I believe there’s a bibliography; I hope I’ll find a few Nigerian authors and experts there when I have time to look!

You can find the manuscript here, from a University of Virginia site.

Meanwhile if you want information about current Nigerian food, the blogs All Nigerian Recipes and All Nigerian Foods have some suggestions and recipes.

If you have a recipe you’d like to send me, please do! If I can include it in the book I’ll give you proper acknowledgement.

February 16 Nigerian Elections

It’s been twenty years since Nigeria gave up military rule and returned to a democratically elected government. In 1999 Obasanjo was elected as the first president of the newly reinstated democracy. 2015 saw the first election in which power changed hands from one party to another, a milestone.

Now in 2019 there are many contenders, but the election is basically between two – the current president Buhari of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.

Max Siollun has compiled a wide array of articles about Nigeria’s elections on February 16. One of the pieces he recommends is from Bloomberg Businessweek.

The writer asks, “What’s a Nigerian citizen to do when there’s a presidential election coming up and the two leading candidates are a former dictator who’s presided over four years of lackluster growth and an alleged kleptocrat of international repute?”

You can read that article here. There’s a chart showing the fall in GDP over the last four years of Buhari’s presidency. With the economy still not fully recovered from the drop in oil prices and a general recession, will that bode well for Atiku, the businessman running?

Women are vastly underrepresented in Nigerian politics. The UN had a recent article on this issue; Siollun included it in his list. UNWomen has been training women in Nigeria to encourage their participation. I’m on the board of the US National Committee for UNWomen, so I can take pride in their work!

His last recommended article is from the BBC. As he says, the BBC’s Africa and Nigeria coverage is “first class.”

The BBC report has nine excellent charts. They include the population make-up of the states, education levels, unemployment, and several others. They also point out the election will be close.

Despite President Buhari’s lead in the number of those who could be his best supporters, there are factors mitigating against his victory.

“The APC [Buhari’s party] is popular in the two states with the largest number of voters – Lagos and Kano – but there is the danger of voter apathy and a low turnout could become a problem,” the writer says. Another is that the main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, is also a northerner.

Other factors that could work against Buhari and the APC according to the BBC: “The APC could suffer in the country’s Middle Belt, Benue and Nasarawa states, as there is dissatisfaction with the failure to deal with communal violence there, the BBC’s Abuja editor Aliyu Tanko says.”

In addition there is unhappiness about Buhari’s inability to deal conclusively with Boko Haram. Although the group has been mostly driven out of the urban areas, they are still able to execute suicide bombings.

Any comments from the Nigerian readers? We’d love to know what you think and how you might vote!

And in Virginia

The Democratic party in Virginia is facing challenges. It was revealed that the governor and other political leaders used blackface years ago, not understanding, they say, that this is offensive behavior to people of color.

And I admit that I did the same. Our high school in Fort Thomas Kentucky put on minstrel shows every year. I don’t recall even questioning why we did this.

Last night I told a black friend that I had done this. I was ashamed that I hadn’t known how offensive it was. We weren’t even pretending to imitate black people, but why did we wear blackface? I don’t know.

An excellent explanation on VOX describes the beginnings of the use of blackface. White people put on blackface to “imitate” the behaviour of blacks. It says, “To be clear, these weren’t flattering representations. At all. Taking place against the backdrop of a society that systematically mistreated and dehumanized black people, they were mocking portrayals that reinforced the idea that African-Americans were inferior in every way.”

The article also reveals the early use of the term “Jim Crow.” Read it to find out how the term came into use.

There’s more to the story in Virginia. The black lieutenant governor has been accused of sexual assault. I have no idea what will happen in the state.

But perhaps the revelations about the governor and others have helped us become more aware. We have so much to learn and especially for us who are white, also to unlearn as we address our assumptions and unconscious prejudice!