I believe that when anybody reads about Nigeria they should probably pick up the classic Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
This book is widely held up as an example of Nigerian literature. Written in the 1950s, it is a story about Okonkwo a strong successful man of the village. The novel provides some insight into some of the traditional structures and practices of pre-colonial Nigeria (southern Nigeria) as well as the conflict between indigenous religions and christianity.
Another book that provides some insight into everyday Nigeria was also written by Achebe. The book The Trouble with Nigeria. The frustrations with the government and Nigerian society is harped on in this book, which though written about Nigeria struck a chord with me as it resonated with what I have experienced in other African nations.
A History of Nigeria is a very nice and comprehensive history book that starts around the iron age and works through all the way up to the 2007 election. This is dense reading, but can be digested in parts and chapters can be read a la carte as they stand alone pretty well. This book really put things into context for me and having a nice hold on the history should aide in my understanding of Nigeria's current state (I hope). This book was published in 2008 and was written by Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton. Very informative.
As the Niger Delta is always in the news and plays such an integral role in Nigeria in terms of economics, politics, and civil unrest I wanted to read about this region. I am currently on the last pages of Where Vultures Feast by Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas. This book is an expose of Shell oil and the Nigerian Government and how both have brought (or are bringing) about the ecological destruction of the delta region, enriched themselves, and left many communities disenfranchised. The book is definitely in opposition to the actions of both Shell and the Nigerian government, and seems to lack some balance. I believe it is hard to write from a balanced perspective on this topic, but I need to inform myself some more on this issue which will take some research on other perspectives. This book provides some nice background on the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and Ken Saro-Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa was a non-violent activist for the rights of people in the Niger Delta who was executed by the Nigerian government in 1995 after an extremely flawed trial. Many believe Shell orchestrated much of the Nigerian governments response to MOSOP and other activists.
A picture of Ken Saro-Wiwa with his famous quote:
I have a stack of other books that I hope to get to soon.
Besides books other good sources to read are Nigerian newspapers. I have been following The Guardian (of Nigeria). There are many others in Nigeria. I have been following this one because I found the web content better than others. Other newspaper include Punch, the Nigerian tribune, Vanguard, Champion, the list is long.
On the web I have found that All Africa is about as good as it gets for following African news from around the continent. As Nigeria plays a large role in the region, it is often featured on their front page. It is a great highly searchable site to find news about Africa. I have the RSS feed on the side scroll of this blog-->.
Radio news. I will learn more about this when on the ground, but I have always enjoyed listening to the morning program Network Africa and the evening program Focus on Africa both by the BBC. You can find the links to these programs here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/
Well if your up to keeping up with us and want to find out more about what is going on in our part of the world, I believe these sources will help...Enjoy!
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