What the travails of a reformist governor say about Nigeria
Nasir El-Rufai is cutting the workforce to modernise, but faces a backlash from unions
STANDING AT ABOUT five-foot-four, Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna, says he models himself on Deng Xiaoping, who put China on a path to growth after the misery of rule by Mao Zedong. Mr El-Rufai sees a new path for Kaduna and, some say, for Nigeria itself.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Reform, and its malcontents”
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