On 25 February, Nigerians go to the ballot box to vote for their next president. For the first time in a long time, the Incumbent president will not be contesting the elections – having already served the maximum allowed two terms.

Since 2016, the country has spiralled down as inflation has hit over 20% and unemployment rides at around 30% overall, and 60% for the young. Banditry and kidnappings have become lucrative methods of making a living in the country and a pervading sense that this could be now or never for Nigerians hangs ominously.

Three candidates have emerged as the front runners for the elections. The stalwarts Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress, or APC, and Atiku Abubakar, of the People’s Democratic Party, or DPD, are familiar faces from familiar parties. Power has been shared between the two parties since 1999.

Peter Obi is the outsider who has taken a dramatic lead over recent weeks in the polls. He represents the Labour Party who have never held power and is offering to run the country in a different manner to what the country has been used to thus far.

Foreshadowing the entire event is the expectation that Nigeria is expected to reach a population of around 400 million by 2050, making it the fourth largest country in terms of population by this date. That is an increase of around 60-80% of the current population estimates. Ensuring the infrastructure is in place for such a boom in population will be pivotal to Nigeria’s ability to both maximise the potential for its citizens whilst gaining the most from them.

Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Christopher Blake Researcher: John Cossee Editor: Tara McDermott

(Photo: Supporter of Nigerian opposition the Labour Party waves a green and white flag in a street procession in Ikeja district, Lagos, Nigeria. Credit: Kintunde Akinley/EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock)

The Ghanaian music genre was huge in the 90s, and its legacy lives on in Afrobeats.

When Zahra Nordien was forced out of District Six in Cape Town in 1977, she vowed to one day return.

She was one of the 60,000 people who were forcibly removed from the neighbourhood because of the racist South African apartheid government.

What seemed like a pipe dream became a reality when Zahra set up the District Six Working Committee campaigning to get former residents into newly rebuilt homes.

In 2013 her elderly mother moved back into District Six with Zahra, more than three decades after they were expelled.

Zahra tells Reena Stanton-Sharma about her ongoing fight for restitution.

(Photo: Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s. Credit: Gallo Images / Juhan Kuus)

In 1975, President Juvénal Habyarimana introduced Umuganda in Rwanda, where citizens had to help with community projects like planting trees and building schools, every Saturday morning.

Rachel Naylor speaks to former minister Jean Marie Ndagijimana, who loved taking part.

(Photo: Residents of the village of Mbyo, in Rwanda's Eastern Province, taking part in Umuganda in 2014. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1991, a law was introduced in Sudan which was used to control how women acted and dressed in public. It resulted in arrests, beatings and even deaths during the 30 years it was in place.

Amiera Osman Hamed was arrested and fined for wearing trousers in 2002. She’s been speaking to Laura Jones.

(Photo: Amiera Osman Hamed. Credit: Amiera Osman Hamed)

In the 1970s, Sharad Rao was Kenya’s assistant director of public prosecutions, working closely with Kenyan leader Jomo Kenyatta who was seen as ruthless and unpredictable.

Rao took the unusual step of defying Kenyatta’s orders by refusing to jail students after they rioted about chapatis in 1972.

Rao also tells Alex Collins how he witnessed Kenyatta chasing a British diplomat with a stick.

(Photo: Jomo Kenyatta. Credit: BBC)

In the 1960s, popes rarely left the Vatican City. So it was a major event when Pope Paul VI accepted an invitation to visit Uganda in 1969.

Hugh Costello talks to Mobina Jaffer, whose Ismaili Muslim family played an enthusiastic role in welcoming the Pope to the family’s hotel.

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Pope Paul VI meets President of Uganda Apollo Milton Obote. Credit: Getty Images)

On 16 August 2012, police shot dead 34 striking miners at a platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa.

It was one of the bloodiest police operations since apartheid.

Rachel Naylor speaks to one of the survivors, Mzoxolo Magidiwana, who was shot nine times.

(Photo: Miners on strike in Marikana, demanding a pay rise, on 16 August 2012. Credit: AFP/GettyImages)

When President Yoweri Museveni came to power in 1986, he encouraged exiled Asians to return to Uganda and reclaim their homes and businesses to help rebuild the country. The economy had collapsed under the dictator Idi Amin after he expelled the Asian population in 1972. Dr Mumtaz Kassam went back to Uganda years after arriving in the UK as a refugee. She talks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about returning to her birthplace. Caption: Dr. Mumtaz Kassam receiving a Golden Jubilee Presidential medal at the 56th independence celebrations. Credit: Dr Mumtaz Kassam The following programme has been updated since its original broadcast.

Thousands of Asians who were expelled from Uganda in 1972, settled in the UK and many made Leicester their home. Their arrival in the East Midlands helped to shape its identity and now Leicester plays host to the largest Diwali celebrations outside of India. Nisha Popat was nine-years-old when she arrived in the city with her family who later opened up a restaurant in the area that became known as the Golden Mile. Reena Stanton-Sharma spoke to her about moving there in the 70s as a child. This programme contains descriptions of racial discrimination. Caption: Nisha Popat at the Bobby's deli counter Credit: Nisha Popat

In 1972, the dictator Idi Amin announced that all Asians had just 90 days to leave Uganda. Teacher Nurdin Dawood, who had a young family, didn't at first believe that Amin was serious. But soon he was desperately searching for a new country to call home. Farhana Dawood spoke to her father Nurdin Dawood in 2011. This programme contains descriptions of racial discrimination.

Caption: President of Uganda Idi Amin. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images

Many South Asians migrated to Kenya in the early 20th century. They lived in a society divided by race and experienced discrimination from the white rulers, and after Independence, from black Kenyans too. Saleem Sheikh’s parents fled South Asia for Kenya to escape the violence of partition. His family joined a thriving Asian community there. But, they were forced to leave in 1967 after a rise in violence against the Asian population. This programme contains descriptions of racial discrimination. (Photograph of Saleem Sheikh (bottom right) with his brothers and sisters in Nairobi, Kenya in the 1960s)

In the early 20th century, South Asians migrated to Uganda in search of a better life. Jamie Govani’s grandparents married in Gujarat, India, in the 1920s. They were excited by the economic prospects in Uganda so they moved there with their young family. Jamie told Ben Henderson how it was a wonderful place to grow up, but racial segregation lingered in the background, and things began to change after Ugandan independence in 1962. (Picture of Jamie Govani's family in Uganda in the 1950s) The following programme has been updated since its original broadcast.

In 1971, young communist Bob Newland left the UK and headed to South Africa to take part in a secret mission to support the African National Congress. Known as one of the London Recruits, he took gunpowder from the UK to make bombs that would scatter leaflets on the streets containing information that a post Apartheid South Africa was possible. Bob has been speaking to Alex Collins.

In 1996, sitcom Papa Ajasco first hit Nigerian TV screens. Following the ups and downs of the Ajasco family – it quickly became one of the most successful TV shows in Nigerian history. Alex Collins speaks to its creator Wale Adenuga ( photo - The cast of Papa Ajasco - credit Wale Adenuga.)

The UK’s first official Afrobeats chart has been launched by BBC Radio 1Xtra. For many it’s recognition that’s been a long time coming. But there are some who think a new British chart could dilute the authenticity of the genre.

The Next Episode follows the journey of Afrobeats from Africa to the UK and looks at how the music has contributed to the rise of Black African Pride.

Hosted by Linda Adey.

Soundtracked by BBC Music Introducing, Lola Rae, Ezi Emela, Mista Silva and a whole host of Afrobeats artists.

When Mr Hammond asks Andy to open the new brilliant bugs exhibit at the park, Andy couldn’t be more delighted. But when Mr Hammond asks Andy a question about how the darkling beetle of the Namib desert drinks water, Andy is flummoxed. If the grand opening is to be a success, Andy needs to know the answer! Jetting off in his safari mobile, Andy heads to the Namib desert in Africa, in search of a darkling beetle that will hopefully show him how it drinks. Along the way, he shrinks down and meets a Namaqua chameleon, but gets quite a shock when he realises it’s trying to eat not only the darkling beetles, but Andy himself! Making his escape, Andy follows the beetles up a giant sand dune where he’s surprised to find it’s particularly foggy. Here, he witnesses first hand just how the beetles drink. But will Andy make it back to the park in time with the answer and before the exhibition opens?

When Andy accidentally records himself instead of the courtship dance of the male Jackson’s widowbird, he takes to the skies and jets off to Africa in his safari-mobile in search of another widowbird he can film instead. Along the way, he shrinks down and goes flying on the back of a bee-eater before landing on the back of a grumpy ostrich who soon shows Andy who’s boss! Will Andy find another male widowbird, and will he manage to have the camera the right way round this time?

When Andy accidentally breaks a plaster cast of a ring-tailed lemur’s footprint that Mr Hammond made, it’s up to Andy to put things right. Jetting off in his Safari-mobile, Andy heads to Madagascar in search of a family of ring-tailed lemurs that just might be able to help him. On his epic adventure, Andy sunbathes with the lemurs before escaping from a hungry Madagascan buzzard. Will he succeed in his mission before Mr Hammond notices anything is wrong?

When the photos Mr Hammond took of a family of Ethiopian wolves are mysteriously found to be blank, it’s up to Andy to save the day. Jetting off in his safari-mobile, Andy heads to Ethiopia in Africa in search of the wolf pack in order to take some new photos. Along the way, he meets some bearded vultures squabbling over some old bones and comes face to face with a family of hamadryas baboons. But will Andy succeed in his mission and get back to Safari World before Mr Hammond realises his pictures are all blank?