Transcript saldanha.pbworks.com

The Federal
Republic of Nigeria
Quick Facts
• Capital: Abuja
• Size: more than 2x size of
California
• Population: 177.2 million
• Pop. Growth rate: 2.47%
• Languages: English (official),
Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani
• System Type: Presidential Republic
Quick Facts
• Constitution: May 1999
• Head of Government & State:
Goodluck Jonathan until May 29th,
then becomes Muhamadu Buhari
• GDP: $478.5 billion (with PPP)
• Religions: 50% Muslim; 40%
Christian; 10% traditional or
indigenous
Quick Facts
• Young country struggling in face of
ethnic & religious divisions
• Has had both civilian & military
gov’ts – authoritarian to progressive
• Of particular interest to US – many
trace roots to what is now Nigeria,
supplies OIL, and 40% of heroin
Quick Facts
• Most populous African country
• Current growth rate expected to
double population within 25 yrs.
• Little more than half are rural
though urban pop. growing b/c of
jobs
• Large black market, very poor
Quick Facts
• Biggest problem is its dependence
on oil, which accounts for 99% of
exports
• Entire economy driven by
international market price of oil as
are gov’t revenues
• Most oil wealth has been
squandered & stolen
Quick Facts
• Arguments over how balance
should be spent have caused
bitterness
• Outspent itself during oil boom yrs.
of 1970s & now has Africa’s largest
debt - $32 billion
• 4 critical social divisions
Quick Facts
• 1. ETHNICITY – Between 250 and
400 ethnic groups in country
• Hausa-Fulani is biggest in north
(28-30% of pop.)
• Yoruba is in southwest (21%) and
Igbo on southeast (18%)
• None of these groups think of
themselves as “Nigerian”
Quick Facts
• 2. RELIGION – Muslim north and
non-Muslim south
• Northern states support sharia –
Islamic law
• Widespread admiration for Bin
Laden
• Tensions have often turned violent
Quick Facts
• 3. REGION – north is dry and poor
while south is better endowed in
resources and basic services
• Lagos alone has 9x elementary schools
than north combined
• Best agricultural lands is in heavily
populated south while north is savanna
or semi-desert
• Oil mostly in southeast or off coast
http://www.bbc.c
o.uk/news/world
-africa-12893448
Quick Facts
• 4. CLASS – Gov’t & business
dominated by small educated elite
• Wealthiest include new business
class, landlords, traders, & selfemployed professionals
• Social advancement tied to jobs in
gov’t & bureaucracy
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Lack of settled & predictable
patterns
• Since 1960 independence, 3 civilian
gov’t, 5 successful & several
attempted military coups, civil war,
& nearly 30 yrs. of military gov’t
• Communal violence from 19992003 resulted in deaths of 10,000
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
PRECOLONIAL ERA (900 BCE-1851
CE)
• Series of emerging and declining states
and kingdoms
• Muslims arrived in 700 CE
• 14th cent – dominated by kingdoms of
Mali and Ghana
• 16th cent – dominated by Songhai &
Benin
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
st
• Portuguese 1 Eur. to explore area
• W/cooperation from Benin, set up
slave trade to Americas
th
• Fr., Brits, & Dutch arrived in 17
cent. – Brits biggest slave traders
• When slave trade ended in 1807,
interior opened up & Christian
missionaries arrived
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
COLONIAL ERA (1861-1960)
• Britain annexed Nigeria, driven by
concerns of French expansion
• 1900 – Britain declared separate
protectorates over Northern &
Southern Nigeria & then combined
them in 1914 into colony &
protectorate of Nigeria
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Still ruled Nigeria as 2 colonies
w/different administrative systems
• Indirect rule in north through
traditional Muslim emirates and
direct rule in south through advisory
Legislative Council
• Divisions deepened in 1939 when
Brit. split Nigeria into 3 provinces
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Provinces based on cash crops –
peanuts in North, cocoa in West,
and palm oil in East
• Provinces roughly coincided with 3
major ethnic groups so encouraged
to think regionally rather than
nationally
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Opposition to Brit rule as educated
Nigerians railed against colonialism
• 1920 – National Congress of British
West Africa founded & Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe most active nationalist
• He helped set up 1st political party –
National Council of Nigeria & the
Cameroons (NCNC)
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• After WWII, 3 experimental
rd
constitutions – 3 one created
Nigerian Federation w/federal
parliament (1/2 seats to North)
• Regional elections contested w/
many regionally based parties
• 1959 national elections produced 1st
fully elected national government
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Oct 1, 1960 – 1st PM was Muslim
Hausa-Fulani named Alhaji Sir
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
• INDEPENDENCE & FIRST
REPUBLIC (1960-1966)
• Brit monarch was still head of state but
in 1963, Nigeria cut remaining ties and
created non-executive post of president
filled by Dr. Azikiwe
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Almost immediately, ethnic &
religious divisions affected gov’t
• Census an issue since allocation of
seats in federal parliament based on
# of people in each region
• Political parties broken down along
regional lines so each state
dominated by single party
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Squabbling among parties, workers’
strikes, charges of pol. corruption
• 1964 Nat’l elections held amid
charges of fraud and 1965 regional
elections in west marred by civil
unrest & riots
• Military watched all this w/dismay
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
MILITARY GOV’T I (1966-1979)
• Jan 15, 1966 – 1st military coup, staged
by group of Igbo officers led by Major
Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi
• Senior nat’l & regional leaders were
murdered and federal system abolished
• Northerners feared Igbos establishing
hegemony & killed in unrest
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Northern army officers staged 2nd
coup, killed Ironsi & replaced him
with Lieutenant Colonel Yakubu
Gowon, a Christian from Nigeria’s
central region (Middle Belt region)
• Gowon restored federal structure &
promised return to civilian rule but
massacre of Igbos on north continue
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Retaliation against northerners
living in south
• Tensions boiled over in July 1967
when Igbo-dominated eastern
region declared independence as
new state of BIAFRA; civil war
broke out, pitting Nigerian fed. gov
against Biafrans led by Ojukwu
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• War dragged on for 27 months,
Biafra rec’d financial support from
sympathizers outside of Nigeria but
recognized as sovereign state by
only 4 other African government
• Starved into submission by naval
blockade –1-2 million deaths of
Biafrans
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• War ended Jan 1970, Ojukwu went
into exile, Nigeria reunited
• Gowon able to patch up some
wounds but slow to return to
civilian government & did too little
to curb inflation, economic
mismanagement, & squandering of
profit from oil boom of 1970s
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Gowon broke 4-region federation
into 12 states to dilute power of
“big three” ethic groups (increased
to 19 by his successor)
• Increased army from 10,000 to
250,000 – corruption widespread
• Postponed return to civilian rule
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• July 1975 – reform minded senior
officers seized power in bloodless
coup, replacing Gowon with
Murtala Muhammad, Hausa-Fulani
• Won praise by purging army,
announcing 4-yr timetable for return
to civilian rule, & dismissing
10,000 gov officials & 150 officers
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Angered those who benefited from
Gowon’s rule and was assassinated
7 months after taking over during
an attempted coup by Gowon
followers in 1976
• Coup failed and Olusegun Obasanjo
succeeded Muhammad – 1st Yoruba
head of state- promised civilian rule
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
SECOND REPUBLIC (1979-1983)
• Nigeria abandoned Westminster
model and opted for US model
w/directly elected executive,
bicameral National Assembly, &
separate Supreme Court
• 1979 elections swept by Shehu
Shagari & Nat’l Party of Nigeria
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• He pardoned Ojukwu & Gowon &
announced plans to move capital from
Lagos to Abuja to promote national
unity (exact center of country)
• Unable to control corruption & econ
weakened by fall of oil prices
• Regional & ethnic polarization
continued; factional infighting,
declining public services
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Won 2nd term in 1983 but parties again
broke down regional & ethnic lines &
elections marred by ballot-rigging
charges
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
MILITARY GOV’T II (1983-1999)
• 3 months after elections, he was ousted
in 4th coup led by Muhammadu Buhari,
a Muslim northerner (new president)
• Welcomed at 1st but became
authoritarian & ousted in 1985 in
another coup
• Replaced by Ibrahim Babangida,
Muslim from Middle Belt
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Political parties legalized in 1989,
state gov’t & new Nat’l Assembly
elected in 1990-1992, & final step
in transition to new Third Republic
was to have been presidential
election of June 1993
• Won by Moshood Abiola of new
Social Democratic Party
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Babangida claimed election rigged &
refused to reveal results
• Outcry that followed persuaded him to
step down in Aug & hand over power
to transitional civilian government
• 3 months later Sani Abacha ousted
Abiola, who still claimed presidency
• Abacha had Abiola jailed & wife killed
(though claimed common criminals did
it)
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Abacha hated human rights
• Sentenced Obasanjo to life
imprisonment in 1995, charged for
helping coup
• Executed Ken Saro-Wiwa & 8
activists from Ogoni tribe of
southeastern Nigeria (live in oil
fields of Niger delta)
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Ogonis wanted some oil $$ invested
back in their land, which suffered
environmental problems
• 4 pro-gov’t Ogoni chiefs murdered at
rally & Saro-Wiwa (novelist) was
blamed, tried, & executed
• Nigeria suspended from
Commonwealth but Abacha won
approval from Western gov’t for
controlling public spending
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Became clear Abacha manipulated
return to civilian gov’t to ensure he
would be elected president
• But before he could carry out plan, died
of heart attack in June 1998 (possibly
from sex), Abiola took over but also
suffered heart attack
• Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar took over
& quickly returned to civilian gov’t
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
FOURTH REPUBLIC (1999 to now)
• Series of elections 1998 & 1999 &
military stepped down
• Obasanjo called out of retirement to
head government w/People’s
Democratic party
• Purged several military officers who
had held office 1984-1999
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Renegotiated Nigeria’s debt
repayment schedule & repair
relations w/trading partners (risk)
• World Bank & IMF placed austere
measures (cutback on gov spending)
that might have undermined
Obasanjo’s government when it
needed public support
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• At local level, community violence
again w/ethnic groups
• Within months of his inauguration,
hundreds killed/wounded, mainly in
south & con’t throughout 1st term
• Needed to build strong political
institutions, break power of elites, deal
w/corruption & w/questions of nature
of relationship b/t nat’l & local gov’t
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
NIGERIA TODAY
• 2nd set of elections held in April 2003 &
surrounded by usual charges of fraud &
violence
• Obasanjo won 2nd term against Buhari,
former military leader
• Nigeria has ongoing econ problems,
corruption still pervades, religious &
ethnic violence as well, crime, sharia
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• Political leader running for reelection in liberal democracy with
Obasanjo’s record would almost
certainly lose – says something of
quality of desperation in Nigerian
politics (best option)
• Was military leader (’76-’79) who
proved to be least corrupt
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
• 2011 Presidential Elections – won
by Goodluck Jonathan
• Supporters of Muhammad Buhari
accused him of rigging elections
• Followed by violence, esp. in
northern Nigeria
• Religion being used as tool by
politicians