Elephant Memories History Podcast

A few excerpts from the next episode (which will be released on 1st November). Nigeria’s potential seemed limitless in the 1970s. In that decade, Nigeria’s earnings from crude oil increased by over 5000%! Nigeria became rich beyond its wildest dreams. A British TV documentary announced that “Beverly Hills had arrived in Nigeria”. This episode examines how Nigeria dealt with extravagant but unplanned wealth, and how oil money transformed Nigeria for better and for worse. It created a national addiction for ostentatious living, increased corruption, politicised its military, and made its politics cut-throat. Nigeria learned that governing a rich country was harder than governing a poor one.

Exactly 40 years ago Nigeria's most famous journalist Dele Giwa was killed by a letter bomb shortly after researching stories about government corruption, and publishing articles about the inner workings of Nigeria's military government. The parcel had a presidential seal on it, and shortly before the bomb blast, the Director-General of Military Intelligence phoned Giwa's house and asked for his address. It is one of the most mysterious murders in Nigerian history.Giwa was the editor of the investigative avant garde news magazine Newswatch. The murder of Giwa made Nigerians afraid of their own government. However, was there more to the assassination? Have accusing fingers been pointed in the wrong direction for over 40 years?In this episode I discuss the murky circumstances of Giwa's murder with Yusuf Mohammed: the son of Yakubu Mohammed - who was Giwa's colleague and a co-founder of Newswatch.

How did a small, eccentric, and puritanical religious sect in north-east Nigeria become one of the world's deadliest insurgent organisations? In this discussion with Dr Atta Barkindo (an expert on Boko Haram who has worked with the Office of the National Security Adviser in Nigeria), we look at how the sect initially began as a non-violent group that preached against the corruption and injustice of Nigerian politicians. Within a decade, the sect radicalised, acquired military grade weapons, and became a national security threat. This interview reveals how the sect is often misunderstood. Some of its members are more educated and intelligent than outsiders realise, and its critiques of corruption and decadence in Nigerian society initially made it popular.

In the early 2000s, twelve states in northern Nigeria adopted Sharia (Islamic) law into their legal codes. Why did they do this?It was bigger than Islam and Muslims. Sharia was part of a desire to purify northern society and return it to a revered bygone era, AND ironically - was part of a religious revival in both Islam and Christianity. Although other countries have Sharia, Nigeria's Sharia is more stringent than most other countries, which has contributed to its controversial status in Nigeria, and the violence between Christians and Muslims regarding it.

Someone once called Nigeria "the most complicated country in the world"! Nigeria has over 500 different languages, and is the only country in the world with a population split 50:50 between Christians and Muslims. In this episode with Dr Brandon Kendhammer, we explore how Nigeria has spent the past 50 years trying to find ways to ensure equal treatment and peaceful co-existence between hundreds of different ethnic groups, and its major religions. Have these measures succeeded? Or have they instead amplified ethnic, regional, and religious differences?