This House Has Fallen: Midnight in Nigeria

Rating:
Summary: the standard popular introduction to contemporary Nigeria
Review: An accessible account of contemporary Nigeria. Maier is a good storyteller (gets the hook of Gen. Sani Abacha overdosing on viagra into the first chapter) but the book is more than mere sensationalism. It is good on the multitudinous conflicts in Ogoniland which culminated in the execution of playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa; and is quite good on the constitutional maneuverings that have led to the introduction of Islamic sharia law in several northern states. Should be the standard popular introduction to contemporary Nigeria.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of Problems
Review: I do think that the author had good intentions when he embarked on this endeavor, and there are some interesting anecdotes. I like the way he attempts to look at different aspects of Nigeria in every chapter: faith, ethnicity, etc. However he did not sufficiently contextualize the problems Nigeria faces in terms of Nigerian history or put them in their global economic contemporary context, either.
Someone might argue that he could only include some things and not others but as someone who teaches African history I can only emphasize how crucial it is to fully explain Nigeria's colonial past, the way it was governed etc. if you want to understand why there is such deeply rooted regionalism there and so many awful divisions. Maier only makes brief reference to "divide and rule" tactics of the British but even the one example he gives shows how devastating and bizarre and destructive colonial tactics were. Of course, that gets all of one paragraph, unlike the tireless accounts of seemingly senseless violence. Same with his mentioning that Shell oil funded all kinds of conflicts. He'll mention these things and then put all the blame on Nigerians.
Unfortunately there are so many untrue prejudices about Africa, that any book like this just feeds the fire of "Afro-pessimism" as it has been called: namely, Africans "can't govern themselves". The book contains a lot of stories of disorder and strife rather than emphasizing the resilience of the human spirit or how many democratic activist movements there really have been.
Any time you have something like this it's "reporting", not analysis. And this is a good series of articles but NOT a good introduction to the topic. Nigerians aren't scary, but the position that impoverished nations are in today is terrifying, and if we just cloud the real issues at stake by marveling at how "savage" the "dark continent" is we'll lose sight of the fact that Nigerians are people just like us-but without the infrastructure or funds to check massive corruption at the highest levels of government. And that's what colonialism did, create a parasitic elite. So if we really want to solve Nigeria's problems, why don't we stop blaming Nigerians and marveling at their dilemmas and instead help come up with solutions?

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Summary: Quo Vadis Nigeria...
Review: I grew up in Nigeria, my mother being an Ibo woman from Bendel (now Delta) state. Karl Maier has captured the essence of the country without waste or want: this beautiful country is in deep trouble. It doesn't take much genius to see this but Maier has gone one step further (a step the country's leaders have been unable or unwilling to take all these years) and suggested a solution to the problems (read the book to find out) and that's really where this book shines. It is a thought-provoking treatise but more than this, it is a call to action and action is what Nigeria and Nigerians need; action in the right direction!

Rating:
Summary: Lots of Problems
Review: I was impressed... here is an outsider who has managed to secure and lay down the "facts" around the demise of the geographical area known as Nigeria. It paints a picture of dismay, butreads very well. Can't blame the author.

Rating:
Summary: Nigeria Diclassified
Review: Incredible piece of work that kept me asking, how did he (Karl Maier) get so close to ask somuch. We never had a National leader. We had and still have villans. Karl Maier exposes the deception in the Sharia question, and the lies of a monolithic North. He exposes the entire history of Nigeria as a fraud, it is very embarassing and makes me very certain that some one will someday ask for accoutability. Every Nigerian should read this book. Embrace it for the credibility it has. Using Fr. Mathew Kukah, Dr. Mahadi, Bala Usman, to mension a few as sources only makes me feel that every Nigerian must read this.

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Summary: A post colonial prejudice by a western journalist
Review: It took me some time to get a copy of this book from a friend to read. But after reading it, I was glad not to have a copy myself. It is not that the contents of the book do not correspond with the nigerian situation, but the total lack of objectivity in the book. Maier clearly shows that he is among those we hear are paid to promote and justify the exercise of colonialism in Africa: that africans can not rule themselves. If Nigeria as a house has fallen, then it is due to the wrong foundation upon which the house was built which was the British mess and exploitation. Where Maier tried to remember that there was no nation like Nigeria before colonialism, he avoided telling the truth of the emergence of Nigeria as a consequence of British selfishness. For example, he mentioned that Nigeria had a great agricultural potentials in products such a palm oil and so many things, but quickly added these were exported to England and "inturn Nigeria got millions of tones of cosmetics and gins". Or where he slightly mentioned the activities of oil firms like the royal dutsch/shell in Nigeria, the environmental harzards are not taken note of. For God's sake why could he not tell us the truth that the aim of colonialsm was primarily for the need of his sponsors. Or when he metioned the amalgmation of north and south of Nigeria and termed it "for the purpose reducing deficit of the north", was the aim not to enhance more agricultural opportunities for the great Britian. It was on this bad foundation that ethnic kingdoms like the Igala, Yoruba, Benin and many others who had a very effective leadership and administrative autonomy were forced and forged into the nationhood of Nigeria which even became a problem before the exit of the foolish masters-maier's ancestors. Thank God, people like Alan Burns, a one time Birtish governor in Nigeria still live to write the truth: "Those Europeans who were interested in one protectorate knew little of the other, and wasted no sympathy on their neighbours, while among the inhabitants of the country the lack of uniform system of government had already accentuated the already existing difference of race, religion and culture" (Alan Burns: History of Nigeria,London, 1969. Pg. 11). I would wish that Maeir make out time to reason why he needs to blame his motherland for the many attrocities committed in Nigeria and africa as a whole of which the present situations are hangovers. I could have better not read this monographs of journalistic nonsense called a book on Nigeria, and would never recommend it to any objective mind.

Rating:
Summary: An informative book that could have been better
Review: Karl Maier has spent a lot of time in Nigeria over the past decade or so (for this alone he deserves some kind of award). "This House has Fallen" is his journalistic account of the slow disitegartion of sub Saharan Africa's most populous country. Maier document's the country's struggle to shrug off military dictatorship, its economic collapse, its environmental catastrophes, its ethnic and religous violence and its hopeless corruption. Particularly surprising was the fact that a country that is the world's sixth largest oil producer has to import gasloine because of damage to its refineries and has experienced massive gasoline shortages. Maier also throws in a lot of historical material to provide perspective. The problem with the book is that he spends most of his time interviewing various political and religous leaders (almost at random, it seems, which makes the book confusing). What I wanted more of was descriptions of day to day living conditions in the country and interviews with more average citizens. As political travel writer and humorist P.J. O'Rourke once said, you'll never find out what's really going on in a country by interviewing its politicians. Overall, this is an informative book, but it is not as compelling a read as it should be given its subject matter.

Rating:
Summary: A first-class effort
Review: This is an excellent work that presents Nigeria in a more complete and authentic way than any Nigerian author could have done. For one thing, Karl Maier's access to notable players in the wired Nigerian saga seems so broad and complete that even the best of African historians must feel somewhat humbled. The book is candid, factual and umbiased and tells the country's story in a style that easily catches the interest of a world that has grown apathetic to the plight of a very well-endowed nation with an unbelievable capacity for economic and political rambling .

Rating:
Summary: astute, well-researched and educational
Review: usually when i read a book about africa written by a 'european' jornalist i expect to read slipshod, lazy, jaundiced writing. This is anything but. Each conclusion reached or observation made is not only very defensible but also well-considered. i also liked the time taken to place each scene in its historical context - though i did not have the knowledge to validate all of the history what i was able to validate was accurate. i felt educated by this book both in the sense of being brought up to date about the current political situation and even in the sense that it taught me stuff i did not previously know about Nigeria (i spent 23 of my earliest years there). but then i have been a long time away. in any case its attempt to sketch a panoramic view of the political landscape was successful, including as it did solid analyses of minority conflicts. i often think that there is a wasted opportunity to capture the currently fluid, passing history of Africa and i often think video would be an amazing format. but Karl Maier has done an admirable job in this book.