Recommended reading by The Republic‘s editors, on Nigeria’s independence and wider political history.
Editors Picks: Independence Day
Lagbaja, Something for You The Legacy of Our Second Democracy Superhero
Lagbaja’s music is a symbolic bridge that connects the old to the new; the dangers, apprehension, and injustices of the military era to a new age of democracy and hope. Read More...
Nollywords Lionheart, Language and the Ghost of Our Colonial Past
Nollywood gives Nigerian creatives room to take a language that we may not have chosen and use it to tell our stories in the way that we choose. Read More...
Poet in the Time of Buhari Nigeria at 59
The country is burning, both in dream and in wakefulness. To which part of the flames must he, the firefighter, turn his hose? Read More...
Phobia or Scapegoatism? The Nigerianization of Crimes in South Africa
The rivalry between South Africa and Nigeria has affected the relationship between citizens of both countries to such an extent that they see themselves as being in a perpetual competition. Read More...
Reading Nigeria’s Political History What to Read on Politics in Post-independence Nigeria
The texts in this reading list, while not exhaustive, expand on how Nigerian politics arrived at what it is today. Read More...
When Nigerians, Zimbabweans, and Rhodesians Talked About Race Revisiting Nigeria – Zimbabwe Relations
While Nigerian support for Zimbabwean and broader southern African liberation was extensive, it was considerably more nuanced and more fractured than often remembered. Read More...
For the People, Without the People The Crisis of Representation in Nigerian Politics
If the Nigerian electorate is mostly young, mostly poor, and with significant representation of women and people living with disabilities, why is it that our elected representatives are so different? Read More...
“We Remember Differently” What Really Happened in Biafra?
50 years since the war and several perspectives later, Nigeria lacks a standard narrative on Biafra. What really happened during the war? Read More...
The Great Unravelling The Disintegration of the Nigerian State
ver since the end of Nigeria’s three-year civil war in 1970—a costly conflict that consumed an estimated three...
Efuru Turns 50 6 Writers Visit Select Pages from Flora Nwapa's Debut Novel
On the fiftieth anniversary of Efuru’s first publication, we asked several writers to reflect on their experiences as...
