Nigeria, blessed with awe-inspiring natural beauty, has earned the sobriquet of the 'giant of Africa.' But the nation is also cursed with high corruption.

With a score of 1.4 on the corruption index, Nigeria is the planet's second most-corrupt nation. And in IT-readiness, it ranks 79th with a score of 2.92.

The oil-rich Nigerian economy continues to be hobbled by political instability, corruption, and poor macroeconomic management.

Nigeria's unpopular military rulers have failed to make significant progress in diversifying the economy away from overdependence on the capital intensive oil sector which provides 30% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 80% of budgetary revenues.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo at the third Tokyo International Conference on African Development on September 29, 2003.

Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images