A former ambassador says the US needs to reimagine its engagement with a modern Nigeria

These are excerpts from “Nigeria and the Nation-State: Rethinking diplomacy with the postcolonial world“, by John Campbell, former US ambassador to Nigeria (2004-2007).

A purpose of this book is to warn Americans and their partners against making the same conceptual mistakes in Africa that they did during wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam. Africa is complex and its politics are highly local. It does not lend itself to the good-versus-evil analysis that distorted policy in those three wars.

A close study of Nigeria reveals profound tensions between the Nigerian state and its people—the “nation”—as well as tensions among its people. Nigeria’s experience is not necessarily predictive of other states, but its example can provide important lessons for understanding how other postcolonial, multiethnic, developing countries function, and how outsiders—corporations, NGOs, and other governments—can interact with them.

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