In the weeks after April’s elections, Nigeria’s capital Abuja filled with politicians and contractors from all corners of the country seeking government positions and largesse. It is a jamboree – hosted partly in the Hilton hotel lobby – that has become familiar in the eight years since the military handed control of Africa’s leading oil producer back to civilians.

In 2007, however, the stakes are high or higher than they have been in a generation, both for Nigerians and for all those with an interest in Africa’s stability. Five years of economic growth averaging 5 per cent or more have restored confidence and a measure of dynamism to businesses and banks, if not to the impoverished majority.