🇳🇬 Nigeria

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country (224 million people) and its largest economy ($470 billion GDP), though it lost the top GDP spot briefly to South Africa after a currency crisis. The country is Africa's largest oil producer at about 1.5 million barrels per day, but oil theft and pipeline vandalism cost billions annually. Lagos, with 15+ million people, is Africa's commercial capital and one of the fastest-growing cities on earth. Nigeria's entertainment industry — Nollywood (the world's second-largest film industry by volume) and Afrobeats music — has gone global. The country has over 250 ethnic groups and 500+ languages, making it one of the most diverse nations on earth. The north-south divide (Muslim north, Christian south) is a persistent source of tension.

Oil accounts for about 90% of export revenue but only 6% of GDP — the economy is more diversified than the export numbers suggest, with agriculture, telecoms, and services growing. The naira was devalued by about 40% in 2023 after the removal of fuel subsidies and currency controls. Inflation has been running above 25%. Nigeria's tech sector is booming — Lagos has produced several unicorns (Flutterwave, Interswitch, Opay). The country imports refined petroleum despite being a major crude producer — a decades-long refinery failure. The Dangote Refinery, Africa's largest, is finally operational and could change this.

Nigeria's Nollywood produces about 2,500 films per year — more than Hollywood, though on far smaller budgets ($15,000-$25,000 per film on average). The country's Benin Bronzes, looted by the British in 1897, are among the most contested cultural artifacts in the world — repatriation efforts are ongoing. Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa but also the most people living in extreme poverty — about 90 million.

Nigeria is Africa's indispensable country — too big, too young, and too dynamic to ignore. The reforms (fuel subsidy removal, currency float) are painful but necessary. If the Dangote Refinery works and the tech sector keeps scaling, the upside is enormous. If not, the demographic pressure becomes a crisis.