Customer Reviews

This House Has Fallen: Nigeria In Crisis

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The title suggests the disturbing and eloquent rendering of midnight in Nigeria that this book provides. Maier's writing has continued to develop since his two earlier books to create one of the few magnificent accounts of contemporary African politics. Stories from Nigeria's colonial and post-colonial past are seamlessly linked to Maier's own travels. This book is just as important as Philip Gourevitch's account of Rwandan politics, and should be read by everyone.
For an interesting and thoughtful review of this book you should also see the The Economist's website.

Living in Nigeria leaves one drained, confused and fascinated. Nigeria is like watching a car crash every day; you cannot help but to watch despite the blood and carnage. Mr. Maier's lively account of daily scences in Nigeria is a accessible read for anyone, even those who never set foot in Nigeria or could care less about Africa's problems. A case in point is Maier's visit to former military President Babangida. The President sat in his chalet a few hours drive from Nigeria's capital Abuja, charming, sly, friendly and happy with the billions of dollars he stold from the Nigerian people. In fact, Babangida is set to make another run for President in 2007. Maier allows the former President to talk and expose the underbelly of most Nigerian leaders, avarice, self-righteousness and the ability to buy people off with the money taken from government coffers. In fact, be it Obasanjo, Abacha, Buhari or any other military leader or newly minted democratic leaders, they are all the same people, in the same big seats, stealing the same people and country blind. Sad, but Nigeria. Maier allows the reader in to see Nigeria from Abuja to Minna to Lagos; it is a great read and essential for anyone coming to Nigeria.

You are Welcome!! Nigeria, what a country and what a mess.

A nice book that touches on key aspects of Nigerian society. For a foreigner, Mr. Maier does a nice job in writing about the diverse ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. However, I have chosen to rate this book with three stars for the following reasons:

At some point in time, I got the feeling I was reading a newspaper. Being well versed and current with affairs in Nigeria, I found most of the stories recounted by Mr. Maier to be very familiar. What Mr. Maier failed to do was provide significant in-depth analysis into the problems besetting modern day Nigeria, or better still, present likely solutions to some of these problems from his point of view.

There are quite a few typographical errors in the book. I also disagree with a historical event stated. This has to do with the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. Mr. Maier says it was done because Northern Nigeria was running a deficit, while the South was economically sustainable. This is definitely not true. The Northern and Southern protectorates were merged to form Nigeria in 1914 to serve the interests of the British Empire. Mineral resources obtained in the North were shipped to ports in the South to be sent to Britain. It made economic sense to Britain and had nothing to do with deficits or the economic state of the Northern and Southern colonies.

Generally, it is a very good book and one that touches on several aspects of modern Nigerian society in its 300 or so pages. It is definitely worth the read if you are interested in understanding the complexity and diversity of Nigerian society as well as its history, economic state and recent return to a democratic system of government.

First of all, I should say that this book is marred by a horrible title: "This House Has Fallen: Midnight in Nigeria" (previous edition). Quite a poor choice for the title of a book that isn't as half as dark as you'd expect from its name. In this case, you literally shouldn't judge this book by its cover.

The title of this review, however, refers to an apt quote that comes in the last chapter of the book. The quote would have been more appropriately presented in the introduction, because the entire book is seemingly built on its theme. The theme is that Nigeria is essentially a collection of very proud, insulated societies and cultures that desire independence but are held together by a government based on strictly colonial boundaries. With my knowledge of Nigeria and Nigerian history, I really agree with that. There is no such thing as Nigerian nationalism except in Nigerian communities outside of Nigeria. Even then, a Yoruba is always a Yoruba and a Hausa always a Hausa. Doing ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana, a group of migrant Hausas warned me against traveling to Nigeria: "Nigerians are wicked, wicked people!"

This book explains crises in Nigeria in several different areas. First, the book spends a few chapters quite appropriately on the Niger Delta crisis and the Ijaws. It articulates the argument quite well that the responsibility for this crisis falls right in the lap of oil companies and the Nigerian government. The book then deals with northern Nigeria and the rise of fundamentalist Islam. It rightly portrays the friction as between ethnic groups, and NOT between Muslims and Christians per sae. The end of the book is a patchwork of chapters on the Yoruba, the Igbo, and the Middle Belt minorities.

A great read. This book is a good alternative to "A History of Nigeria" (Cambridge University Press) because it is highly readable and focuses on pressing issues. It is essentially a piece of good journalism, but not as egocentric and cynical as a lot of the "poverty and danger tourism" writing typical of "Untapped: The Search for Africa's Oil." It doesn't exoticize Nigerians nor portray them as dangerous the way a lot of literature on Africa does. It balances political economy, indigenous liberation movements, and environmental issues all in one breath. It's amazing what Maier managed to pack into less than 300 pages. Read it.

Because there aren't very many books on Nigeria, this one suffices. It isn't perfect because it mainly relies on secondary sources or straight, subjective reportage. However, it succeeds somewhat because it is by far better than anything else out there.

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.

I bought This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis (Maier, 2003) after reading This house has fallen: Midnight in Nigeria (Maier, 2000). To my surprise, the texts were identical, save for the title and cover picture. Was it the intention of the publishers and the author to reproduce the 2000 publication word for word under a different title? I hope not, but I look forward to hearing from them on this medium since I have not been able to reach them otherwise.

A pretty poor book.

Like many journalists wanting to publish a book, Maier has strung together what appears to be a series of previously published articles. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work, as there is no real theme or structure to the book, and it doesn't really seem to have a purpose beyond rehashing old articles. (It might have been more interesting if the articles were published as they were originally, although perhaps that would have been too revealing).

Even more annoyingly, no-one at the publishing house seems to have bothered reading it before sending it to the printers: it's full of stupid mistakes which should have been picked up by the editors (it's "Royal Dutch/Shell", not "Royal/Dutch Shell" - a bit embarrassing when you write a whole chapter about them) and pointless repetition which betrays the fact that this is just a cut 'n' paste of old work (how many times do we need to be told the Mobile Police's nickname is "Kill & Go"? How many times do we need to be told Fela Kuti is an 'Afrobeat superstar'?).

Laughably, the man uses the word "literally" without ever really understanding what it means. There is one section where he writes about a multi-ethnic, bustling city in which "churches and mosques literally elbow each other for room"! (sorry - can't remember the exact phrase - I don't have my copy with me).

It's unfortunate that this book has come out so badly - the author obviously knows lots about Nigeria - but it just seems rushed and aimless. Perhaps if it was thoroughly rewritten or properly edited it would be more worthwhile.