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8 NIGERIA AT THE CROSSROADS

LETTERS 4 Your news and views

APRIL 2010 ISSUE 494 WWW.AFRICASIA.COMSeepage69for subscription offer details

COVER STORIES 8 Nigeria at the crossroads 11 Imagine another Nigeria 12 Nigeria must not fail 16 Death and destruction in Jos 18 Inside Nollywood 20 Nollywood goes to America 22 Africa: Dying for Britain and France for nothing

REFLECTIONS 30 A continent of beggars

Nigeria, a bewildering country in normal times, is going through a difficult period. Even the most outrageous scenarios dreamt up by fanciful novelists pale before the actual reality on the ground.Memberof TheAuditBureau of Circulations.

FEATURES 32 Zimbabwe: 30 years of independence 34 DRCongo: The curse of coltan 36 African Union: Making meaning of cultural products 38 Sierra Leone/Liberia: No joy for Taylor’s prosecutors

FOCUS ON NIGERIA 59 Yar’Adua’s last riddle? 62 Banking revolution continues 66 Oil industry, limping along fine

LEST WE FORGET 70 Confronting homophobia: A response

NEW AFRICAN MARKET 72 Ghana: What future for GIA? 76 Kenya: Mobile banking revolution 78 Africa dares science to reap fortunes 82 Comesa: Leading an economic boom

NEEM TREE 84 Climate change and religious hysteria

SPORT 86 Dennis Brutus, anti-apartheid hero remembered

BOOKS 92 The gentlemen of BaCongo

AFRICAN FOOTBALL 45 Editor’s note 46 A coronation without a king 50 Star interview: Côte d’Ivoire’s Kolo Touré

DIASPORA 94 USA: My ancestors were slave traders 96 Ireland: The black man’s burden

54 South Africa, a comedy of errors 56 Blunt but fair: Changing coaches