Nigeria's Lekki Deep Sea Port

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial center, has a storage problem. At the West African trade hub’s shipping terminals, projected demand for container space far outstrips capacity. To narrow the gap, the state has embarked on one of the region’s most ambitious infrastructure projects, Lekki Deep Sea Port.

Construction of the $1.5 billion port, located east of Lagos city, was recently completed, designed to handle the equivalent of 2.7 million 20-foot-long container units a year.

With a 1.2 kilometer quay, the 90-hectare site becomes the largest port in Nigeria, significantly expanding the country’s ability to process imports and exports.

The port arrives at an important time for Nigeria’s economic outlook. According to the African Development Bank Group, the country’s economy is projected to grow at a decelerated rate of 3.2% in 2022-2024, while the oil sector has contracted amid low production and inflation is close to 17%.

Lekki Port is expected to create nearly 170,000 jobs, according to its developers, and generate $360 billion over the next 45 years, per the Ministry of Transportation.

It is located close to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, which is currently under construction, and when completed will be capable of processing 650,000 barrels of oil per day. Both the port and refinery sit inside Lekki Free Zone, a 16,500-hectare free trade area, the masterplan for which also contains a proposed airport, a start-up community, and commercial and residential areas.

The port, the refinery and the trade zone are among the biggest infrastructure projects in the continent. Look through the gallery above to see more of Africa’s most ambitious infrastructure projects.

The Situation in Nigeria

As Africa’s most populous country, largest economy and most notable democracy, Nigeria is a bellwether for the continent. A weakening economy, rising insecurity and violent conflicts threaten progress made in its democratic development. Amid deepening distrust in government and institutions, Nigeria has significant work to do in improving national, state and local security and governance ahead of national and state elections in 2023.

Nigeria’s federal system gives governors great responsibilities in addressing the issues driving the country’s multiple conflicts, including farmer-herder violence, deepening regional divides, armed banditry and the Boko Haram insurgency. USIP brings together state governors, national policymakers and civic leaders to design and implement inclusive policies that mitigate violence and strengthen community-oriented security. 

The Institute engages a variety of influential figures, empowers citizens and uses its expertise and convening power to inform Nigeria policy in the United States, the region and around the world. 

Recent work includes:
Nigeria Working Group on Peacebuilding and Governance

Since 2016, this working group has fostered relationships between citizens, policymakers and national and international figures to ensure that a diverse array of voices impact decision-making processes. These relationships allow the working group to turn expert analysis into tangible, actionable policy advice. For instance, recommendations for addressing the country’s current security and political challenges — informed by a 2021 convening with religious and civic leaders from the National Peace Committee and the Inter-Faith Initiative for Peace — were published in leading Nigerian newspapers. 

In 2021, amid deepening public mistrust, the working group harnessed its collective experience and relationships to advance high-level dialogue between major civic groups working for peace across the country and the Nigerian government. The working group is regularly invited by state and national policymakers to provide recommendations on a range of issues, from inclusive governance and electoral violence to communal conflicts between pastoralists and farming communities.

Network of Nigerian Facilitators (NNF)
The NNF is a group of professional peace mediators trained by USIP to resolve local conflicts through nonviolent means across several states throughout the country. NNF dialogues focus on strengthening community-security sector relationships and mitigating intercommunal, pastoralist-farmer and election-related violence. Since 2019, the NNF has collaborated with state peacebuilding institutions to address conflicts and support local peace processes. In 2021, the NNF helped conduct USIP research to better understand the drivers and dynamics of communal conflicts across Nigeria.

Working with State Governments and Peacebuilding Institutions
USIP helps governors and state peacebuilding institutions to establish inclusive, cooperative strategies that prevent and resolve violent conflicts; ensure that policies focus on citizens’ needs; stem the potential for all forms of violence; and allow communities to play meaningful roles in the transition process.

Strengthening Local Security
Through USIP’s ongoing Justice and Security Dialogue project, citizens at the local level collectively identify security challenges and organize dialogues that bring together internally displaced communities and police in Northeast Nigeria to develop practical and concrete solutions to address security concerns, build trust and foster accountability.  READ MORE...

What is Nigeria Best Know For?

(CNN) — From email scams to oil spills and charlatan Pentecostal preachers, it's clear that Nigeria has something of an image problem.
While the outside world's perception of Africa's most populous country hasn't always been overwhelmingly positive, there's plenty more to this nation than its unsavory associations.

With its vibrant culture, sense of humor and adaptability, Nigeria has become the "Giant of Africa" in more ways than just population size.

In honor of Nigeria's Independence Day on October 1, here are 10 of the many reasons why the destination one in five Africans call home stands out from the rest. You may be inspired to add Nigeria to your travel list:

Traditional weddings
In Nigeria, if you've reached your 30th birthday and are still unhitched, the elders will harass you down the aisle, which is why barely a week goes by without someone staging a traditional wedding ceremony somewhere.

Weddings are a sacred part of cultural life, but also an excuse to show off cuisine, fabulous clothing, music and dance moves in one life-affirming, chromatic bonanza.

With 250-odd ethnic groups, the ceremonies come in a variety of styles, depending on your region.

In the southwest, the groom and his friends might prostrate themselves at the start.

However, in the southeast you'll see them dancing their way into the ceremony, wearing bowler hats and clutching walking canes.

In other regions, the bride and groom's families send each other letters of proposal and acceptance before getting down to dowry negotiations.
Once the serious stuff is done, it's back to music and dancing and, best of all, the tossing of banknotes in the air to make money literally rain down on the newlyweds.

If you haven't experienced a traditional Nigerian wedding, you haven't experienced Nigeria.

Jollof rice
This mouth-watering tomato-based rice dish is a party staple.
There are many ways to cook it, involving endless permutations of meat, spices, chilli, onions and vegetables.

While it's widely accepted that Senegal invented this dish, the concept spread to West African countries.

The most notable are Ghana and Nigeria -- two nations that have vied with one another for supremacy in a never-ending battle known as the jollof wars.

Nigerians are the indisputable champions, of course, serving up "advanced level" jollof that our Ghanaian rivals can only watch and admire.  READ MORE...

What to See in Nigeria

From everyday activities such as eating at a local buka, to specially constructed recreational experiences such as going camping at Idanre Hills, there’s an incredible variety of things to see, do and unravel all around Nigeria. Here are 10 of the best.

Visit Ikogosi Warm Springs
Ikogosi Warm Springs in Ekiti State is one of the most astounding creations of nature in the world. The warm spring flows down a hill, right next to a cold spring, after which they meet at a confluence and continue their journey into a river. Visitors are enchanted with stories about the healing powers that can be accessed by bathing in water from the spring. The fact that both springs’ temperatures flow from the same source remains a cause of wonderment to geologists and tourists alike. Ikogosi Warm Springs are surrounded by dense, beautiful greenery, and there’s also a resort.

Collect Artsy Decor and Souvenirs

Go to Calabar Carnival

Climb the Magical Idanre Hills

Check out Bukas, Snack Stands and Joints

Revel in Art

Enjoy the Resorts

Visit the Museums

Shop at the Traditional Markets

Witness the Creative Arts

READ MORE

All About Nigeria

Nigeria, country located on the western coast of Africa. Nigeria has a diverse geography, with climates ranging from arid to humid equatorial. However, Nigeria’s most diverse feature is its people. Hundreds of languages are spoken in the country, including Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, Hausa, Edo, Ibibio, Tiv, and English. The country has abundant natural resources, notably large deposits of petroleum and natural gas.

The national capital is Abuja, in the Federal Capital Territory, which was created by decree in 1976. Lagos, the former capital, retains its standing as the country’s leading commercial and industrial city.

Modern Nigeria dates from 1914, when the British Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were joined. The country became independent on October 1, 1960, and in 1963 adopted a republican constitution but elected to stay a member of the Commonwealth.

Nigeria is bordered to the north by Niger, to the east by Chad and Cameroon, to the south by the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by Benin. Nigeria is not only large in area—larger than the U.S. state of Texas—but also Africa’s most populous country.
Relief

In general, the topography of Nigeria consists of plains in the north and south interrupted by plateaus and hills in the centre of the country. The Sokoto Plains lie in the northwestern corner of the country, while the Borno Plains in the northeastern corner extend as far as the Lake Chad basin. The Lake Chad basin and the coastal areas, including the Niger River delta and the western parts of the Sokoto region in the far northwest, are underlain by soft, geologically young sedimentary rocks. Gently undulating plains, which become waterlogged during the rainy season, are found in these areas. 

The characteristic landforms of the plateaus are high plains with broad, shallow valleys dotted with numerous hills or isolated mountains, called inselbergs; the underlying rocks are crystalline, although sandstones appear in river areas. The Jos Plateau rises almost in the centre of the country; it consists of extensive lava surfaces dotted with numerous extinct volcanoes. Other eroded surfaces, such as the Udi-Nsukka escarpment (see Udi-Nsukka Plateau), rise abruptly above the plains at elevations of at least 1,000 feet (300 metres). 

The most mountainous area is along the southeastern border with Cameroon, where the Cameroon Highlands rise to the highest points in the country, Chappal Waddi (7,936 feet [2,419 metres]) in the Gotel Mountains and Mount Dimlang (6,699 feet [2,042 metres]) in the Shebshi Mountains.  SOURCE:  Britannicai

THANK YOU

The following countries have visited this blog more than once and are continuing to visit.  That support and loyalty is greatly appreciated.  

These countries are listed below:

1. USA
2. Germany
3. Phillippines
4. Italy
5. India
6. Canada
7. Ireland
8. United Kingdom
9. Russia
10. Australia
11. France
12. Nigeria
13. Venezuela
14. South Africa

I will devote a day, posting several articles about your country as way of drawing attention to where you live.  This is my way of showing appreciation for your support.  I will continue to focus on all of your countries throughout the year.  It will be my pleasure to help us draw attention to who we are and what we are all about.

ITS JUST ABOUT PEOPLE... like you and I...

Nigerian Scifi

Nigerian Teenagers Are Making Slick Scifi Films With Their Smartphones

Someone should really snap up the rights for a movie about The Critics, a collective of self-taught teenage filmmakers from northwestern Nigeria.

The boys’ dedication, ambition, and no-budget inventiveness calls to mind other filmmaking fanatics, from the sequestered, homeschooled brothers of The Wolfpack to the fictional Sweding specialists of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Be Kind, Rewind.

While smartphones and free editing apps have definitely made it easier for aspiring filmmakers to bring their fantasies to fruition, it’s worth noting that The Critics saved for a month to buy the green fabric for their chroma key effects.

Their productions are also plagued with the internet and power outages that are a frequent occurrence in their home base of Kaduna, slowing everything from the rendering process to the Youtube visual effects tutorials that have advanced their craft.

To date they’ve filmed 20 shorts on a smart phone with a smashed screen, mounted to a broken microphone stand that’s found new life as a homemade tripod.

Their simple set up will be coming in for an upgrade, however, now that Nollywood director Kemi Adetiba has brought their efforts to the attention of a much wider audience, who donated $5,800 in a fundraising campaign.  READ MORE...