Student Demonstrations

Sometimes when dealing with anything related to Africa, I feel extremely overwhelmed because of how big Africa is geographically, how many people are involved, and how many conflicts that seem to be impossible to keep straight. So, I tried to narrow down some information on student demonstrations in Nigeria, but I also found a few handy websites: Africa Action is a U.S.-based group that fights for political action, policy change, and international awareness for Africa. I found a few pages about Nigeria from their homepage, including a timeline of Nigerian political history. The "Abacha years" section starting in 1993 seem to be particularly relevant to the events in Waiting for an Angel.

Part of Abacha's regime included banning student and faculty unions, which were legally recognized groups. The military violence against these student groups sounds like it would be something like our College Democrats and Republicans groups being attacked for peaceful demonstrations, like the sidewalk chalk or encouraging voter participation. Even though Nigeria is currently under a civilian government for the longest stretch of time since the beginning of its independence, there are even still instances of student leaders being arrested for false charges.