This organization is a joint contribution of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford, MacArthur, Rockefeller, William and Flora hewlett and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundations to improve higher education in Africa.  "Since the partnership's launch in 2000, the four founding partners (Carnegie, Ford, Rockefeller, and MacArthur) have contributed more than $150 million to build core capacity and support special initiatives at universities in seven African countries."  These countries inclue: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.  Before there inclusion in this partnership, each of the founding organzations had been providing aid, specifically through grantmaking programs, to African countries.  "On September 16, 2005, the partnership announced an expanded commitment of $200 million in additional support over the next five years."  By providing financial aid to these universities, this partnership is helping to provide the necessary tools for the economic and social development of Africa.  The economic benefits stem from the African peoples' greater understanding of succesful business practices, which in turn leads to more efficiently run companies.  This parallels Aneel Karnani's belief that businesses or governmental organizations worldwide can more efficinetly aid peoples at the "bottom of the pyramid" by improving business operations in these countries and including these peoples in the role of producer, thus allowing them to afford the goods and services that they need to subsist.  Additionally, African universities "have become a primary locus of innovation and are providing essential training for the continent's future leaders in public and private sectors.  In addition, universities are offering African women unprecedented access to opportunity."  As a result, women, too, can contribute to economic improvements in their respective countries.  Also, this improved education can present ways to decrease the spread of disease, particularly HIV/Aids, as well as water-borne illnesses that occur due to a lack of clean water supplies.  As result of the efforts of this partnership, greater opportunities are being offered to the poor peoples of Africa to work their way out of poverty and improve their daily lives.

 

 

SOURCE: http://carnegie.org/sub/program/foundation-partnership-overview.html

 

 

 

 

 

Nigeria is a federal republic. It is currently enjoying its longest period of civilian rule since independence in 1960. The government’s main focus concerns its restructuring of the country’s petroleum-based economy, which has long seen the revenues from oil production and distribution wasted by corruption and mismanagement.

 

Nigeria consists of 31 states and 1 territory, as well as numerous political parties and leaders influencing government actions. Its legal system is a combination of English common law, Islamic law, and traditional law. The 1999 constitution provides for an executive branch headed by a chief of state, a bicameral legislative branch, and a judicial branch consisting of a Supreme Court and a Federal Court of Appeals.

 

 

Historic lack of diversification from oil-dependent economy – oil industry provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and 80% of budgetary revenues. The agriculture sector has moved strictly to subsistence farming, as the population continues to rise (Nigeria has largely population of any African country). In the past year, the government has taken steps “to modernize the banking system, to curb inflation by blocking excessive wage demands, and to resolve regional disputes over the distribution of earnings from the oil industry”. In addition, in 2003, “the government began deregulating fuel prices, announced the privatization of the country's four oil refineries, and instituted the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy, a domestically designed and run program modeled on the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility for fiscal and monetary management”.  GDP rose significantly in 2007 due to increased petroleum exports, as well as higher global crude prices. Focus has moved towards improving infrastructure in hopes of further improving economic conditions in Nigeria.

 

 

Important Statistics:

            GDP – Real Growth Rate (2007 est.) = 6.1%

            Labor Force (by occupation) (1999 est.):

                        Agriculture = 17.6%

                        Industry = 53.1%

                        Services = 29.3%       

            Unemployment Rate (2006 est.) = 5.8%

            Population Below Poverty Line (2000 est.) = 60%

            Inflation Rate (2007 est.) = 6.5%

            Budget (2007 est.):

                        Revenues = $20.5 billion

                        Expenditures = $21.82

            Industrial Production Growth Rate (2007 est.) = 3.1%

            Oil Production (2005 est.) = 2.63 million bbl/day

            Oil Exports (2004) = 2.203 million bbl/day

Natural Gas Production (2005 est.) = 21.48 billion cu m/day

Exports commodities:

            Petroleum and petroleum products (95%), cocoa, rubber

Exports partners:

            US (48.9%), Spain (8%), Brazil (7.3%), France (4.2%)

Imports commodities:

Machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, and live animals

            Imports partners:

China (10.7%), US (8.3%), Netherlands (6.2%), UK (5.8%), France (5.6%), Brazil (5.1%), Germany (4.6%)

            Exchange Rate: 127.46 nairas (2007) = 1 US dollar

 

SOURCE: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html