美国有线新闻 CNN 尼日利亚大选将至 国家面临重重问题（在线收听）

Crossing the Atlantic, we're taking you to Nigeria, a west African country that is gearing up for a major presidential election this Saturday. We say major because the country has both great importance to Africa and great struggles to overcome. Nigeria is official a federal presidential republic. It's the largest democracy and economy on the African continent. But according to the Brookings Institution, the U.S. based research group, Nigeria also has the world's highest number of people living in extreme poverty.

It passed India in that ranking just last year. Nigeria's also struggled with violence, terrorism and corruption and there are concerns about potential violence damaging this election, though its votes have smoothed out since 2007. The world will be watching when Nigerians go to the polls on the 16th.

STEPHANIE BUSARI: Nigeria is often described as the "giant of Africa". It’s the largest economy, the largest oil producer and the most populous country in the continent. All this should mean that life is good for Nigerians, right? Well, not quite. The constant complaint from citizens is that the country's wealth just does not trickle down to the average men and women, who are struggling to make ends meet. To make matters worse, Nigeria is now the country with the most extremely poor people in the world.

According to the World Poverty Clock, there are now 87 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty, which means they are surviving on less than $2 a day. How did it all go wrong? The simple answer is that Nigeria's oil wealth has been squandered, stolen and grossly mismanaged through corruption and sheer incompetence. There's also been an overdependence of oil revenues, which once traded at $100 a barrel and crashed to $40 at its lowest price. Nigeria failed to make hay while the sun was shining. And as oil prices fell, revenues dwindled.

Successive government has promised to diversify the economy into other areas. But those indices have not really materialized And revenue is still largely dependent on oil. Nigeria may be the biggest economy on the continent, but it's in crisis, with high levels of debt and massive overspending that analysts say is not just sustainable. With an estimated 190 million inhabitants, Nigeria is also facing a population explosion and has been projected to overtake the U.S. to become the world's third most populous country by 2050.

This population boom brings with it a ticking time bomb of unemployment and poverty, especially among those who are under 25. They make up more than 60 percent of society, one of the largest youth populations in the world. The lack of infrastructure, poor living conditions, inequality and lack of jobs has led to many frustrations among this demographic. And they are clambering for real change. When President Buhari, a former military ruler, was elected in 2015, it was the first peaceful transition of power in the country. He promised to be a new broom, offering a clean sweep of the old routine. But many have been left disillusioned and angry at the rising levels of inequality, lack of opportunities and extreme poverty.