Nigeria: February 18, 2002

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With ethnic and religious violence leaving over 10,000 dead in the last three years, and 66 percent of the population destitute (versus 32 percent 15 years ago), the democratic government is trying to cope. It's been pointed out that ethnic and religious violence had killed fewer than a thousand people during 15 years of military rule. But it was the corrupt generals that plundered the economy and created so much poverty. Corruption and rising crime rates are being met with a tripling of the size of the corrupt national police force.