please which car or make of cars would you advice a beginner to buy as first car.That will be durable easy/cheap to maintain and has good fuel economy. thank you

You didnt give a hint of the following:*your budget.
* Terrain conditions of your area.
* are u single or married? if married, how large is ur family? (this must be considered to know which vehicular form factor will suit you best -hatchback, mpv, suv, pick-up etc)
* the nature of ur occupation (certain jobs require vehicles with a certain image, ability etc)

thanks platinium, am still single, a health worker based in south east Nigeria, budget is not above 750k

emmaliver: thanks platinium, am still single, a health worker based in south east Nigeria, budget is not above 750k

sorry for the late response! After considering the variables in this case, here are my recommendations..
1. 99 european market honda accord, internally designated as series CF3/4/5 (locally known as the honda 'adidas') or a manual tranny equipped US market 99 honda accord (known as the 'baby boy"..... stay away frm the autos!
2. 2nd generation nissan primera (P11), preferably from 98 upwards...
3. or you could add about a 100-150k more to ur budget and get a 98 toyota camry (XV30) locally known as the 'pencil-light camry', but the issue here is that this vehicle unfortunately, has the title of 'most stolen vehicle' in the east. an industrial strength pedal/steering lock will be needed.
4. 2000-2001 european market mazda 626 with the 2.0L 4cyl+manual transmission. (mazda made the mistake of using a ford designed automatic tranny originally meant for smaller vehicles like the focus and fiesta...autos are best avoided here!)

thank you very much @platiniumricky will consider the mazda, what about AUDI and VOLKSwagen product