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1、Unit 5 Maintaining a Sharp Eye,New Practical English,New Practical English,Unit 5 Maintaining a Sharp Eye,Related Information,1,Intensive Study,2,Practice,3,New Practical English,Unit 5 Related Information,Introduction to Nigeria Background Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitut
2、ion was adopted in 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. The president faces the daunting task of rebuilding a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered,New Practical English,through corruption and mismanagement, and institutionalizing democracy. In
3、 addition, the OBASANJO administration must defuse longstanding ethnic and religious tensions, if it is to build a sound foundation for economic growth and political stability. Despite some irregularities the April 2003 elections marked the first civilian transfer of power in Nigerias history. Geogr
4、aphy Location: Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon,Unit 5 Related Information,New Practical English,Area: total: 923 768 sq km water: 13 000 sq km land: 910 768 sq km Climate: varies; equatorial in south, tropical in center, arid in north Natural resources: natur
5、al gas, petroleum, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc, arable land People: 133 881 703,Unit 5 Related Information,New Practical English,Government Country name: conventional long form: Federal Republic of Nigeria conventional short form: Nigeria Government type: republic transitio
6、ning from military to civilian rule Capital: Abuja Independence: 1 October 1960 (from UK),Unit 5 Related Information,New Practical English,Economy overview: The oil-rich Nigerian economy, long hobbled by political instability, corruption, and poor macroeconomic management, is undergoing substantial
7、reform under the new civilian administration. Nigerias former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the capital-intensive oil sector, which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues. The largely subsistence agricu
8、ltural sector has failed to keep up with rapid population growth, and Nigeria, once a large net exporter of food, now must import food.,Unit 5 Related Information,New Practical English,Following the signing of an IMF stand-by agreement in August 2000, Nigeria received a debt-restructuring deal from
9、the Paris Club and a $1 billion credit from the IMF, both contingent on economic reforms. The agreement was allowed to expire by the IMF in November 2001, however, and Nigeria apparently received much less multilateral assistance than expected in 2002. Nonetheless, increases in foreign oil investmen
10、t and oil production kept growth at 3% in 2002. The government lacks the strength to implement the market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF,Unit 5 Related Information,New Practical English,such as modernization of the banking system; to curb inflation by blocking excessive wage demands; and to resol
11、ve regional disputes over the distribution of earnings from the oil industry. When the uncertainties in the global economy are added in, estimates of Nigerias prospects for 2003 must have a wide margin of error.,Unit 5 Related Information,New Practical English,Unit 5 Intensive Study,New Practical En
12、glish,Unit 5 Intensive Study,Return to Home Country: A Thirty-Year Perspective from Nigeria 1 In 1968, during my last year in medical school in Lagos, Nigeria, I went to the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York on a one-year pre-doctoral Fellowship. The experience was so f
13、ascinating and rewarding that I decided I must return to the US for residency training. So one year later, I took up a senior post-doctoral Fellowship at the University of Chicago School of Medicine.,New Practical English,Unit 5 Intensive Study,2 During my stay in Chicago, the whole world opened for
14、 me. With my training and qualifications, job offers from all nooks and crannies came to me. The temptation to stay and make a career in the US, as was becoming fashionable at that time, was very great particularly since all my attempts at securing a suitable position at home did not meet with any m
15、easure of success. However, I never had any serious thoughts about not going back home. First, I knew and felt that my country needed me more than the developed countries like the US. I also knew that in my country I would be a first class citizen and be more relevant.,New Practical English,Unit 5 I
16、ntensive Study,3 At the end of 1975, I took the plunge and returned home without any job offers, determined to find work. My gamble paid off because our dynamic military ruler at that time was a keen newspaper reader who saw a satirical article about me in a newspaper describing me as a man over-qua
17、lified to be employed. Employment came a few days later. It is very unlikely that the President of the US would be in a position to invite me, a Nigerian, in such circumstances and offer me a job if I were still in the US. This immediately justified one of the reasons I insisted on coming back home
18、despite the fact that jobs and life were rosier abroad.,New Practical English,Unit 5 Intensive Study,4 The first shock after I returned home was the paucity of the salary and the backwardness of the infrastructure and quality of living. I found I was overqualified for the job I was offered and my sc
19、ientific training was too high-powered for the kind of laboratories or funds available. However, I decided to put into use whatever part of my training was applicable rather than continue my research into the molecular nature of hormones. I set up a small laboratory that made measurement of hormones
20、 available to the whole country for the first time. I have also, based on experience gained from the US, set up a tertiary hospital in the private sector, the only one to be quoted in the Stock Exchange.,New Practical English,Unit 5 Intensive Study,5 The contributions I have been able to make in my
21、native country have earned me many accolades: President of the West African College of Physicians, Pro-Chancellor of a University, Chairman of the Board of a large Federal Hospital, international awards including a direct Fellowship award by the American College of Physicians. To have the kind of li
22、festyle I have in Nigeria, e.g. several cars, chauffeurs, cooks, stewards, nannies and a Mediterranean type home,New Practical English,Unit 5 Intensive Study,I would need to make millions of dollars a year in the US. I dont make anything near this here at home. I know that only a small number of col
23、leagues who stayed back in the US or the UK even come near my achievements at home, whereas a very large number of people who returned home have excelled and become great achievers.,New Practical English,Unit 5 Intensive Study,6 Although one cannot stop human migration (which in fact might be benefi
24、cial to the human race), my advice to those who go abroad for training is that they should return and help develop their country. In so doing they will develop themselves, and with their skills, accumulate fame and perhaps fortune far in excess of what they may achieve abroad. The initial advantage of a settled life abroad will be overtaken by the fact that in the end people tend to achieve greater height at home than abroad.,