Nigeria

Citing mismanagement and underinvestment, the Nigerian government recently revoked the sale of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (Nitel) and its mobile subsidiary, M-Tel. Despite this setback, the country's telecommunications sector is booming and is primed to overtake South Africa as the continent's fastest-growing market. Given the rising potential, it's likely that the former telecoms monopoly will be re-privatised soon.

For the past two years, Nigerian banks and real estate developers have invested heavily in the high-end real estate sector, encouraged by high levels of liquidity following a number of consolidations and skyrocketing prices. This year's drop in oil prices, however, and the collapse of the stock exchange, has led to a renewed interest in the solid, if less lucrative, affordable housing segment.

Nigeria's economy is riding out the international financial crisis fairly well, registering solid growth and managing to avoid some of the international toxic debt market. Nevertheless, domestic problems are slowing the government's programme for diversification away from hydrocarbons.

As Nigeria strives for more of the pharmaceutical products it consumes to be manufactured domestically, the critical issue of counterfeit drugs has taken centre stage. Although aggregate statistics for pharmaceutical demand in Nigeria remain unreliable, the underground economy still dominates sales.

In a bid to improve the federal republic's education sector, Nigeria's National Council on Education (NCE) recently adopted a new plan to make school reform a top priority. "The Roadmap on the Nigeria Education Sector" targets four major areas: access and equity; standards and quality assurance; technical and vocational education; training funding, and resource mobilisation and utilisation. By approving the plan in May, the NCE has signalled its commitment to transforming the nation's underperforming schools.

Nigeria's mobile telecommunications market has grown rapidly in recent years, filling a gap left by the small number of landlines. The government has announced it expects to see reductions in tariffs in the near future, prompting companies to consider cost-saving strategies.