"Hello, I am Qin Shi Huang, now I need to unfreeze the deposit, please call me, I will appoint you as a general."
This is a joke circulating on the Internet in previous years, imitating the clumsy fraud methods that were popular at the time.
This kind of scammer disguises himself as a descendant of nobles or the boss of some mysterious institution, and urgently needs some money to unfreeze his "frozen assets", and there will be a thousandfold return after the fact.
Many netizens think this is very funny, but the scam really deceived many people, and the largest amount involved exceeded 5 million.
Domestic netizens may not know that this trick was not actually born in China, but originated in the distant West African region, and was pioneered by Nigerians.
As early as the end of the 20th century, the fraud of "Nigerian prince requesting a transfer" swept the West, defrauding a large number of assets in Europe and the United States, attracting global attention.
Nigeria is not a country of rural sophistication, with good agricultural conditions, a certain industrial base, minerals and, crucially, a lot of oil along the coast.
Nigeria has the largest oil reserves in Africa and the eighth in the world, and basically you can make money by lying down and selling oil.
So, what kind of country is Nigeria? Why is the region so difficult to develop? What kind of future does such a country have?
First, the British Empire "rubbed" the country
The Gulf of Guinea region of West Africa is located on the "four coasts" of the civilized world:
Sierra Leone and Liberia are known as the "Pepper Coast", Côte d'Ivoire is known as the "Ivory Coast", Ghana, Togo, Benin and other countries are called the "Gold Coast", and Nigeria and Cameroon are called the "Slave Coast".
The four coasts are the paradise of Europeans in the Age of Exploration, providing raw materials and labor for the European market, and colonial countries such as Britain, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have suffered here for many years.
Among the four major coasts, Nigeria is a special existence, it has developed agriculture and a prosperous population, so it has become a "source" of black slave trade, and most of the African black slaves in the triangular trade are from the "slave coast".
To this day, Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa.
Nigeria, not the largest country in Africa, covers an area of only 920,000 square kilometers but is home to 200 million people, most of whom are concentrated along the country's southern coast, such as the Niger River Delta, which is one of the most densely populated regions in the world.
Today's territory of Nigeria was only gradually established after the arrival of European colonists in the 15th century.
Beginning in the 15th century, the Portuguese came to West Africa and established colonies in Nigeria, which became part of the "triangular trade" for hundreds of years.
Ironically, in order to earn the reserve price of slaves, the local black countries fought for years, captured each other, and then sold them to Europeans, who then sold black slaves to the Americas as labor.
The slave trade lasted for three or four hundred years, and tens of millions of blacks were sent to the Americas, which in one way also reflected the prosperity of local black civilization - only a huge population base could support such a long outflow; And only developed agriculture can feed so many people.
After the 18th century, the slave trade gradually died down, and British colonists began to strongly rule the slave coast and the adjacent Gold Coast area, where religion was spread, grassroots governments were established, and raw material exports were controlled.
In the 19th century, the British Empire entered its heyday, and the British and French powers carved up the world under the blessing of the Industrial Revolution. The British went north along the Niger River, conquered the mountains and deserts along the coast with black mercenaries, and conquered the area known as "Northern Nigeria".
The ethnicity and religion here are very different from those in the south, but the local minerals are rich, and the British forcibly included it in their sphere of influence, but could not rule directly, but only supported the nobility as puppets.
It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the North and South of Nigeria merged under British leadership to form the "Nigerian Protectorate" and became part of the British Empire.
Second, holding a golden bowl and asking for rice, but living as a "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
In the 20th century, Nigeria exported a large amount of industrial and agricultural products to the British, supporting British consumption in the two world wars, and as a result, Nigerians were fighting for independence like India.
At the end of World War II, due to the global situation, Britain, as the suzerainty, finally allowed Nigeria to obtain autonomy, but only formal autonomy, not complete independence.
In the mid-20th century, the Asian and African colonies saw a wave of independence, and Nigeria became completely independent in 1960, but remained a member of the British Commonwealth.
At this time, Nigeria was also different from the past - in the 50s, oil was discovered in southern Nigeria, making it a paradise for European capitalists.
Although the British are gone, European and American multinational companies still exist, and the Europeans control the channels for the development and sale of oil resources and continue to amass wealth.
In the 70s, the Nigerian government established the National Oil Company to participate in the opening of foreign companies to its own resources, eat resource profits in the form of holding, and supplement Nigeria's finances.
But until now, 80% of Nigeria's oil profits have been taken away by foreign countries, and locals have only divided 20%.
Nigeria is rich in oil resources and good oil quality, and it can live a good life by selling oil like those Middle Eastern countries.
However, Nigeria has long been in poverty and chaos, and although it is a little better than many black African countries, Nigeria is really sorry for the rich resources and fertile land in this mix.
Nigeria is home to 200 million people, more than 250 nationalities, large and small, and more than 400 languages. And here are Christianity, Islam, and black traditional religions coexisting, and these three religions hate each other and cannot be united.
Nigeria has three major ethnic groups, and the "Hausa-Fulani" population in the north accounts for 30% of Nigeria's population and is Muslim. The Yoruba and Igbo ethnic groups in the south are less than 20% of the population, Christians and Voodoos, of which the Igbo are the smallest, but the most westernized and the most economically developed.
Nigeria's Christian and Muslim population is also basically 55 apart, and the two sides face off between the north and the south, and there has been basically no contact since ancient times.
During the colonial era, the Hausa-Fulani Islamic nation in northern Nigeria had its own regime, which even the British could not conquer, so they had to control it indirectly by co-opting.
In 1960, Nigeria became de jure independent, and the British divided the country into three major areas: north, southeast and southwest, which happened to be the land of the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo tribes, and then the country began the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
The "Hausa-Fulani" in the north has the largest number of people and the largest territory, so it takes advantage during the election, and the position of the country's president is dominated by the "Hausa-Fulani".
Southerners are dissatisfied with this, especially the Igbo, who have advocated independence for decades and are the heroes of national independence, while other ethnic groups are just lying on the merits of the Igbo people.
The Igbo people, with developed economies and high literacy levels, occupied the bureaucracy of the Nigerian government and began to exclude foreigners and want to dominate the Nigerian government.
The move drew opposition from other ethnic groups, and Nigeria's President Balewa openly cracked down on the Igbo, culminating in a 1966 mutiny by Igbo soldiers.
Between 1966 and 1970, a civil war began in Nigeria, and the Igbo wanted independence from Nigeria because the southeastern part of the country where they lived was rich in oil and the Igbo could use the resource to grow rapidly.
The Igbo people, unwilling to share resources with foreign tribes, and because of their small number of people, it was difficult to seize power, finally declared the independence of the Biafra region and established the Republic of Biafra.
The Nigerian government refused to recognize the Republic of Biafra and sent government forces to fight the Igbo for several years.
Europeans and Americans bet separately on the war to make the war inextricable, resulting in the death of 2 million people, mostly civilians, from famine and disease during the war.
This "Biafra War" was one of the most tragic civil wars since World War II, but because the United States was fighting the Vietnam War at that time, the news of the Vietnam War overwhelmed the civil war, leaving the world with little discussion about this war.
After the end of the civil war, Nigeria completely lost the opportunity for "soft unification", the seeds of hatred between ethnic groups have been sown, and Nigeria has become a de facto divided country.
Christians and Muslims in the country are at odds, but they both want to dominate the regime, and the result is to tear each other down, Christians come to power, Muslims make trouble; When Muslims come to power, Christians make trouble.
3. A turbulent country, a "promised land" for oil thieves
After more than half a century of independence, Nigeria has now changed from a "First Republic" to a "Fourth Republic", and its shortest republic in China is less than three months, which shows its turmoil.
In this case, the Nigerian government is basically a showman.
The Government's control over the grassroots is weak, and much of the civil sector is anarchic, with violent local conflicts often erupting.
In the border between Christianity and Islam in central China, there are often "religious wars" in the cities, where tens of thousands of people beat, smash, and set fire to each other, and the military and police are powerless.
The Islamic areas in the north are not monolithic, mixed with many followers of other religions, but some northern regions promote extreme "Sharia law", which makes infidels very uncomfortable, and the two sides will also break out in vendetta.
In the long vendetta, a terrorist group called Boko Haram was born in the north, engaged in guerrilla warfare in Nigeria, and often kidnapped civilians for ransom, targeting Christians.
Under such national conditions, the country's infrastructure, economic construction, and educational development have been blank for a long time, but because of the rich products in the region, the population here has doubled.
The Nigerian population rose to 100 million in the 90s, from 40 million at independence, to more than 150 million at the beginning of the 21st century, and the population is still soaring.
With a population of over 200 million today, it is the most populous country in Africa. But instead of bringing Nigeria any dividends, the increase in population has brought a serious burden.
The country is very fertile, with 70% of the population engaged in agriculture, or 140 million people, but the lack of improved seeds and fertilizers has led to low yields and not enough food to feed themselves.
The country currently has 100 million people in exhaustion, that is, running for food, and tens of millions more are "abject poor" and need to be fed by the international community every year or starve to death.
The industry here is even more lackluster, with only some light industry and small workshop-style roughing factories, and a lack of modern precision industrial system.
With such a large population and no ageing problems, the country can go into labor-intensive industries, and there are many success stories in Asia, but Nigeria has not invested in it.
There are many reasons for this, first of all, the quality of the country's population is difficult to compliment, and the majority of the country's population is illiterate, has no basic education, and is difficult to be competent in modernization.
Secondly, the country's infrastructure is too poor, there are phased power outages in cities, many remote areas have no electricity at all, no running water, let alone roads, and it is difficult to develop agriculture, let alone industry.
Since then, Nigeria has mainly sold oil for a living, and the oil industry accounts for more than 80% of Nigeria's national revenue and half of GDP.
Southerners hated this behavior of the government so much that they began to "steal oil" in order to survive.
Some of these people are oil workers, but most of them are unemployed and landless people, who ambush near oil pipelines, dig holes in them to steal oil, and then sell it themselves. Or develop their own small oil fields and steal oil on a large scale at sea or on land.
At present, billions of barrels of "black oil" flow into the international market in this way every year, which has caused the Nigerian government to "bleed" and disrupted international oil prices.
OPEC has warned the Nigerian government to remove it from the organization if it continues to lie flat and ignore oil piracy.
Fourth, the fate of "rubbing the country with your hands": separatism
Nigeria is still the first economy in Africa, which is entirely supported by resources and population, and if it is placed in Asia or the Americas and Europe, Nigeria must be at the bottom.
The country's most famous "prince fraud" deceived European countries at the end of the last century, and for the first time European countries paid attention to telecommunications fraud.
As for the counterfeiting industry, Nigeria is best known for counterfeit medicines, more than half of the drugs manufactured in the country are fakes, which not only poison the country, but also sell them all over Africa.
Foreign counterfeit medicine materials are harmless starch or other food-grade materials, but Nigerian counterfeit drugs are directly used industrial raw materials, syrup is wastewater and sugar, capsules are plastic coated with paint, and tablets are chalk pressed.
The incompetence of the Nigerian government leaves all aspects of society unregulated, and ordinary people survive in society by luck.
After the 21st century, the United Nations has vigorously supported Nigeria, and many countries, including China, have provided Nigeria with a lot of help.
Europeans and Americans are independent in this regard, only give money and make money from the local area, and do not mix anything else, even medical activities are carried out by international non-governmental organizations.
China has exported the hybrid rice "Galway R1" to Nigeria, which has increased rice production in parts of Nigeria by one-third and saved many hungry children.
In addition, China has built roads and railways in the north and south of Nigeria, and built power plants and high-voltage lines for large cities, so that Nigeria's transportation is smooth, many cities no longer have power outages, and industrial and agricultural production is more convenient.
The Nigerian government is grateful for China's help, and they have also opened the country to Chinese capital, which invests in minerals and oil and jointly develops resources with the Nigerian government.
Nigeria's rapid economic development and infrastructure has kept pace in recent years, but none of this has addressed Nigeria's entrenched problems of political corruption and religious conflict.
The status quo in Nigeria is difficult to change, and this forcibly pinched country lacks a "coagulant".
The colonial countries left by Britain often have ethnic divisions, such as India splitting from Pakistan, northern Myanmar being independent of the country for half a century, and for Nigeria, it may be that division is its final end.
Literature / Commerce
Resources:
1. "On Ethnic Issues and State Construction in Nigeria", Jiang Jun
2, "The End of Heroes - A Silhouette of Nigerian Modernization", Tian Tong