COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOUTH AFICA AND NIGERIA

Africa is the second largest continent with vast resources and inhabits more than 12 percent of the world’s population. Although we know that the continent has plenty of resources, Africa remains the world’s poorest and most undeveloped continent. [1]Poverty is widespread, there is a great threat of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Politically, I would say that the country is unstable as there were civil and liberation wars.
The lack of development in africa is closely linked to the phenomenon of state weakness which underlines the need for improvement governance as prerequisite for development in Africa. And so corruption is widespread and human rights …show more content…

Interestingly, the two countries are also driven by a similar political strategies to manage conflict through national reconciliation and economic development. The dual processes of transition and transformation need nothing less than a vibrant economy in which the basic needs of citizens are taken care of. They also require a state and society with a sense of shared destiny where racial and ethnic identities are harnessed positively as a uniting force rather than divisive factor or an impediment to nation building. In South Africa, the potential for disaster may have been averted by the wisdom of Nelson Mandela.

In South Africa's transition process, Mandela's charisma helped the African national Congress to pursue the path of negotiation, accommodation and confidence building for managing the ethnic diversity problem. However, in Nigeria the ruling Peoples Democratic Party's shortcomings are evident in Nigeria's democratic transition process. The South African people defied the pattern of their past and broke all the rules of social theory to forge a powerful spirit of unity from a shattered nation. But in Nigeria, the politicians are still putting out the growing flames of ethnic conflicts and religious violence. This is partly due to the government's lack of will and partly due to the military, which has been a stumbling block in the transition to democracy for some time. Nigeria's dictators often dressed in ethnic costumes