Slightly edited
Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
I've made this point severally - a wrong diagnosis leads to wrong prescriptions.

Africa's most populous nation is tottering, reeling from the effects of a Niger Delta insurgency and now an Islamist insurgency - its future is uncertain.

A question to be asked is "what can the US/West possibly do?"....

.....You start answering the question when you realise that these problems are political..... and I think it is high time we recognise the inevitable: either we split or we renegotiate the basis for continued unity.

This is where Western diplomatic effort should be concentrated. It is counterproductive to work towards maintaining the status quo, when the status quo is extremely unstable.
KingJaja,

For a host of reasons neither the USA or the West can make such a diplomatic effort to alter the status quo. They simply cannot take such a political stance, even if quiet diplomacy was possible and I would argue they are not the best parties to help. Too many vested interests are involved, including oil, the African stance on re-drawing borders would mean such diplomacy would cause anger even amongst friends.

There are a few smaller Western nations that could help quietly, including non-state parties. For example IIRC the Italian missionaries in Mozambique and the Norwegians in Palestine. A better example, much higher profile too were the various efforts made to end apartheid in South Africa.

First though I must ask do Nigerians themselves recognise that:
either we split or we renegotiate the basis for continued unity
If Nigerians do not then no amount of diplomacy will help.