River spirit going to North Country (7)
I believe the answer is:
nigeria
'country' is the definition.
(Nigeria is an example)
'river spirit going to north' is the wordplay.
'river' becomes 'niger' (Niger River is an example).
'spirit going' becomes 'ai' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to north' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters go up or 'northward').
'ai' back-to-front is 'ia'.
'niger'+'ia'='NIGERIA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for nigeria that I've seen before include "West African nation" , "Possible home for African" , "former colony" , "part of Africa" , "West African state" .)