My Nigeria: Five Decades of Independence

His nineteenth-century cousin paddled ashore by slaves twisted the arms of tribal chiefs to sign away their territorial rights in the oil-rich Niger Delta. Sixty years later his grandfather helped craft Nigerias constitution and negotiate its independence the first of its kind in Africa. Four decades later Peter Cunliffe-Jones arrived as a journalist in the capital Lagos just as military rule ended to face the country his family had a hand in shaping.. Part family memoir part history My Nigeria is a piercing look at the colonial legacy of an emerging power in Africa. Marshalling his deep knowledge of the nations economic political and historic forces Cunliffe-Jones surveys its colonial past and explains why British rule led to collapse at independence. He also takes an unflinching look at the complicated country today from email hoaxes and political corruption to the vast natural resources that make it one of the most powerful African nations; from life in Lagoss virtually unknown and exclusive neighborhoods to the violent conflicts between the numerous tribes that make up this populous African nation. As Nigeria celebrates five decades of independence this is a timely and personal look at a captivating country that has yet to achieve its great potential.