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**Name:** Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.

**Country:** Umaru Musa Yar'Adua represents the country of Nigeria. Nigeria is the 7th most populous country in the world, with a population of 152,217,341 people, and the most populous in the world in which most of its citizens are African American. Nigeria is also listed as one of the 'Next 11'. This means that Nigeria is one of 11 countries that could become the worlds largest economy sometime in the 21st century. Nigeria's economy is one of the fastest growing in the world, with the International Monetary Fund projecting its growth to be somewhere around 9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009, the year the Ibrahim prize was not awarded.

**Geography**: Being located in west Africa, Nigeria has a geographical area of 923,768 km (356,669 miles). This puts Nigeria at the worlds 32nd largest country. Nigeria shares its border with Benin, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Nigeria also has a vast selection of endangered species, and is believed to have the worlds largest butterfly diversification. Also, the Drill Monkey is only found in parts of Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon. Far south in Nigeria is vastly tropical, with rainfall at around 60-80 inches per year. Traveling farther north, one would begin to see savanna's, with less tree coverage, and only around 20-60 inches of rainfall per year. Some of Nigeria's main economical hazards include oil spills in the Nigeria Delta, waste being dumped into the environment by mega cities such as Lagos and Kano, and biodiversity loss.

**Economy:** Nigeria is classified as a mixed economy, and has already reached middle income status. With its abundant supply of natural resources, developed financial, legal, communications, transport sectors and stock exchange. Nigeria was ranked 37th in the world in terms of GDP in 2007. On top of all of this, Nigeria is the United States largest trading partner in Africa and supplies the US with a fifth of its oil. It has the seventh-largest trade surplus with the U.S. of any country worldwide. Nigeria is currently the 50th-largest export market for U.S. goods and the 14th-largest exporter of goods to the U.S. Perhaps one of the most significant facts about Nigeria is that t he GDP per capita has jumped from $692 per person in 2006 to $1,754 per person in 2007, meaning that Nigerian has reached middle class. Nigeria also has many mineral resources which include natural gas, coal, bauxite, tantalite, gold, tin, iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead and zinc.

**Social:** Socially, Nigeria is in good standing. They have a well developed government. But despite it's high standing in resources, and rapidly growing GNP, Nigeria, like all countries does have some social issues. The top social issues in Nigeria include extrajudicial killings & use of excessive force by security forces, abuse by security forces, and arbitrary arrests. This all means that the security forces, such as the cops or guards in Nigeria are often unlawful and preform acts of unnecessary violence upon citizens. Another issue in Nigeria includes the lack of available doctors, making healthcare in Nigeria more expensive since not as many people are working in the field. Another top issue in Nigeria is organized crime. Nigeria has a high rate of drug trafficking, mainly cocaine and heroin to countries like Asia and Europe and sometimes to the US. On the positive side, Nigeria does offer supported, free government schooling, encouraging Nigerians to complete school, though the rate of Nigerians that do complete school is rather low.

**Rights:** Some other human rights issues include: rape, torture and other cruel, inhuman treatment of prisoners, harsh and life‑threatening prison and detention center conditions, human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution and labor, child abuse and child sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, region and religion, restrictions on things such as press, speech and religion.


 * Character Background: ** Umaru Musa Yar'Adua was born on August 16, 1951. Before being sworn in to presidency, he served as governor of Katsina State in the northern part of Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 28 May 2007, allowing him to have a rich political background. Yar'Adua also attended government college as a boy in Keffi. In the presidential election, held on 21 April 2007, Yar'Adua won with 70% of the vote (24.6 million votes) according to official results. Some of Yar'Adua's past occupations included being a college lecturer, governor, a manager of Sambo Farms Ltd, and a director of many companies including Habib Nigeria Bank, Lodigiani Nigeria, and Madara Ltd.

Some of Yar'Adua's accomplishments politically include:

- In 2009 he met militant leaders and convinced them and thousands of their fighters to give up their weapons during a three-month amnesty in 2009, giving hope of peace at last for the poverty-stricken region.

- He was the first Nigerian president to publicly declared his assets on June 28, 2007.

- He Formed 39-member cabinet on July 26, 2007 including two from the opposition ANPP

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- On Friday, 26 June 2009, President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua declared Amnesty, or an official pardon for those convicted of a political offense, for more than 40 thousand freedom fighters in Niger Delta.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- Retreived a handful of weapons that the freedom fighters had illegally smuggled into Africa.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">- For his Peace Initiative, Nigeria is now transformed into a haven of tourism and investments, causing their economy to spike.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">A quote about Yar'Adua from Barack Obam: "He was committed to creating lasting peace and prosperity within Nigeria's own borders, and continuing the work will be an important part of honouring his legacy".

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**Where Nigeria Ranks:**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Safety & Law: 38/53 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Human Rights: 33/53 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Economy: 33/53 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Development: 32/53


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Supporters of Nigeria: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">1. Benin is a very close, strong supporter of Nigeria. Benin relies on Nigeria for much of its resources, being that Benin is a very poor country. Nigeria often does much trade with Benin for resources not found in Nigeria.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">2. Niger is also very close with Nigeria. Niger again relies on Nigeria for trade of valuable resources, such as gold, tin & natural gas.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">3. Goodluck Jonathan was the strongest supporter of Yar'Adua. At the time of Yar'Adua's presidency, Goodluck was very close with him. He helped Yar'Adua run the country with his thick political knowledge. It was no surprise that Jonathan was sworn in as president when Yar'Adua passed away.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">BIBLIOGRAPHY: **

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">2009, June. "BBC News - Nigeria Country Profile." BBC News - Home. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1064557.stm>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"CIA - The World Factbook." Welcome to the CIA Web Site — Central Intelligence Agency. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Nigeria." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">*** Nigeriaworld -- All About Nigeria. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.nigeriaworld.com/>.