This Fiction Called Nigeria: The Struggle for Democracy

(Paperback)

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In this groundbreaking work the essayist and critic Adewale Maja-Pearce delivers a mordant verdict on Nigerias crisis of democracy. A mosaic of ethnic and religious groups, the most populous country in Africa was fabricated by British colonizers at the turn of the twentieth century. When Nigerians went to the polls to vote in the 2023 elections, they had experienced a quarter century of democracy, after a similar period of almost unbroken military dictatorship. Yet the blessings of self-rule are unclear to many, especially among the more than half of the population living in extreme poverty. Buffeted by unemployment, saddled with debt, rent by bandits and Islamic fundamentalists, Nigeria faces the threat of disintegration. Maja-Pearce shows that recent mobilizations against police brutality, sexism and homophobia reveal a powerful undercurrent of discontent, especially among the countrys youth. If Nigeria has a future, he shows here, it is in the hands of the young, unwilling to go on as before.

Author Bio

Born in London and raised in Lagos, where he lives today, Adewale Maja-Pearce is one of Nigerias leading public intellectuals. He is the author of two memoirs, In My Fathers Country: A Nigerian Journey and The House My Father Built along with numerous other books. His writing regularly appears in the New York Times, the London Review of Books, and the Times Literary Supplement.