Nigeria has withdrawn as much as $2 billion in 2011 from its crude oil savings for various projects as well as devalues the naira to help support growth.
 In its end of year update on Nigeria, published on November 30, 2011, The Fund for Peace indicated that  “exacerbated north-south religious and ethnic tensions, leaving the state vulnerable to further internal conflict. Inadequate healthcare, uneven distribution of wealth and corruption also continue to undermine state capacity.”
The Washington D.C based Fund for Peace is  an independent, nonpartisan,  non-profit research and educational organization that works to prevent violent conflict and promote sustainable security.
The organization produces the Failed States Index, an annual ranking of 177 countries across 12 indicators.
According to it,” President Goodluck Jonathan has promulgated his anti-corruption commitment, but the pervasiveness of corruption in Nigeria will make this a difficult task; since most inter-communal conflicts are rooted in struggles for food, jobs, and land, economic reforms will be needed to mitigate these sources of instability.”
Listing what it calls recent  improvements and declines, the Fund narrated that demographic pressures score improved slightly due to several decades of declining fertility, however the country  remains the most populous state in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Uneven Economic Development score it pointed out improved, reflecting President Jonathan’s pledged economic reforms, even as  the disparity of GDP per capital between the north and the south continues to grow.
Inflation, the fund pointed out increased by 11.5 per cent in 2011 due to sharp or severe economic decline. The Fund traces the country’s social challenges to inter-faith tensions that according to it are  exacerbated by poverty, unemployment, and competition for land. Communities displaced after recent flooding have also increased many of these tensions.
It added that many diseases, such as cholera has killed more than 1,500 people this year,  tracing it  to the lack of a coordinated program on public sanitation.
The Refugees and IDPs score worsened, reflecting the 8,600 refugees, mainly from Liberia, that Nigeria hosts. Flooding in Bayelsa also contributed to this score as the floods displaced several communities.
 The Group Grievance score increased as inter-faith tensions spiked after several states imposed Islamic law. The Human Flight score decreased, which could be the result of increased opportunities due to Nigeria’s economic growth and infrastructure projects.
The Fund regretted that “as a  prominent oil producer, Nigeria has benefited from the recent spike in oil prices. yet Nigeria still grapples with inflation and unequal distribution of wealth and more than half of the population continues to live in poverty.”
Commenting on the April 2011 general elections, the Fund stated that significant efforts to prevent fraud in the 2011 election nevertheless failed to prevent the eruption of post-election violence, which also plagued the 2003 and 2007 elections. Moreover, the 2011 elections exacerbated north-south religious and ethnic tensions, leaving the state vulnerable to further internal conflict.