Nigeria

The new head of Nigeria's Central Bank announced his presence by calling for a probe into the health of the country's banking system. An Economic and Financial Crimes Commission investigation initiated by the Central Bank governer, Lamido Sanusi, identified five banks with non-performing loans totalling N1.14trn ($7.4bn). A transparency push of this magnitude, unprecedented for Africa, is a sign that that the new governor takes banking reform seriously, and it could lead to comprehensive sector restructuring.

The Nigerian government has reaffirmed its commitment to extending the partial privatisation of the nation's airports, despite lingering doubts over the profitability of Nigeria's 17 remaining state-controlled airports, as it seeks to boost flight frequency and arrival figures.

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.