Happy 50th Birthday Nigeria but why are you celebrating?

This is a re-post of Chocolate City's article from last year, the 50th birthday celebration of Nigeria. Sadly enough, nothing has changed since Nigeria's 50th birthday of last year!

Instead of bringing out the champagne, this 50th birthday should be one of somber reflections for the leaders and citizens of Nigeria to start re-shifting their paradigm from a corrupt to a more responsible governance.

As the Federal Republic of Nigeria turns 50 year-old on October 1, 2010, one can not help but be reminded how it has grown chronologically; but yet remains stagnant and bankrupt when it comes to being fiscally responsible.

Word association definition is a method of assessing somebody's mental state or personality by asking the person to respond with the first word or words that comes to mind when a given word is heard. The “word association definition,” for Nigeria as it comes to mind is bribery, corruption, cronyism, graft, impropriety, malpractice, stagnant, barbaric religious fights, barbaric tribal fights, uneven distribution of oil wealth, Niger Delta, human rights, environmental degradation, nepotism, sleaze, abuse of power, willfully disconnected, arrogant bureaucrats and collocates.

Located in West Africa with its capital in Abuja, Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising of thirty-six states. It shares borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. Nigeria's three largest and most influential ethnic groups in are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. In terms of religion the country is roughly split half and half between Muslims and Christians.

The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country and was coined by Flora Shaw, the future wife of Baron Lugard, a British colonial administrator, in the late 19th century. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the eighth most populous country in the world, and the most populous country in the world in which the majority of the population is black. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The economy of Nigeria is one of the fastest growing in the world, with the International Monetary Fund projecting a growth of 10% in 2011. Nigeria is the third largest economy in Africa. It is largest exporter of oil in Africa. Accurate population counts for Nigeria are difficult to obtain; however, the World Bank, World Development 2008 indicators is projecting the country to be 151 million people.