The largest U.S. trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, petroleum-rich Nigeria exports half its daily oil production to the United States. Like many African nations with natural resources coveted by the world’s superpowers, the country has been shaped by foreign investment and intervention, conflicts among hundreds of ethnic and religious groups, and greed.

Africa -Concept or reality- is an acknowledged continent of extremes and,by the same token,it is hardly surprising that it draws extreme reactions…The increasingly accepted common ground,both for the negativists and optimists,is the admission that the African continent does not exist in isolation,nor has it stood still in a time warp,independent of history. For Many,Africa is more a concept than a bounded space- which means in turn:more concepts than simply one.It is at once part wish-fulfillment and part reality,part projection and part historical distillation,part fiction and part memory.It is of course,generally acknowledged as a warehouse of yet untapped natural resources.Even as Africa exists as a desire for some,so does it constitute a nightmare from which others pray to be awakened…

?I believe in the kindness of others, and that I must love them without fear.??Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis

?All God?s Children Need Traveling Shoes Paperback ? June 4, 1991
In 1962 the poet, musician, and performer Maya Angelou claimed another piece of her identity by moving to Ghana, joining a community of “Revolutionist Returnees” inspired by the promise of pan-Africanism.