Nigeria:
A Country with a Question -- Outline
1)INDEPENDENCE (INTRODUCTION)
a)In the post-Renaissance era, Great Britain colonized many nations➔ WWI rocked Great Britain’s economy and the nation could no longer afford its many territories➔Several colonies asked for freedom➔Nigeria is freed as a nation in 1960.
b)Nigeria didn’t succeed much in a democracy:
i)Nigeria attempted at a parliament modeled after their previous colonizers, Great Britain.
ii)The parliament failed and became a military dictatorship.
iii)A Presidential Democracy was eventually put into place in 1979, but after just four years, the president is assassinated➔Many dictators were assassinated by a hopeful for the spot of top dog, resulting in 20 years of military Coup D’états.
c)Nigeria rather abruptly became a Presidential Democracy when General Abdul-samiAbubakar stepped down peacefully and set in place a democracy in 1999.
2)CLEAVAGES AND CENTRIPETAL FORCES IN NIGERIA
a)The Nigerian government is one moment away from collapse at every moment.
i)Although Nigeria is one state, the the largest nations (Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo) might as well be their own countries.
(1)The Hausa-Fulani are the largely Muslim population to the North.
(2)The Igbo are primarily Christian in the Southeast.
(3)The Yoruba are 40% Muslim, 40% Christian, and 20% local faiths; located in the Southwest.
ii)The court systems vary between the nations quite a bit.
(1)The Northern Hausa-Fulani primarily, if not solely, follows Sharia Law.
(a)Sharia Law is a justice system based on the writings in the Qur’an, the Islamic Holy Book.
(2)The Southern regions maintained the law system from Great Britain had➔ Igbo and Yoruba us Common Law.
(a)Common Law is a law system where judiciaries have the power to interpret the rules.
b)The three nations don’t even speak the same language, resulting in occasional botched conversing between peoples.
i)Many of the tribes after the colonization by Britain continued to speak their own languages that their tribes set up, instead of agreeing on a common language between them.
(1)This language difficulty doesn’t exist as a massive problem to the men (and some women) in politics due to the fact that they have translators; but things get difficult as a common citizen when you can’t even use a translation dictionary because one in two people are illiterate.
(a)This causes a high difficulty just trying to communicate with the members of your own country just a few miles in any direction because you likely aren’t speaking the same language.
c)The tribes weren’t left as just a group of people while the British government was in charge; the British put into place a Patron-Clientelismsystem. Essentially, a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ kind of system but with a bit of a corrupt turn… Actually a huge corrupt turn.
3)NEARLY FINAL STRAWS THAT COULD’VE TORN NIGERIA APART
a)Patron-Clientelism tore what little sense of unity the major tribes had left apart; the riches of the British were too tempting to too many and sabotages became common so that one supporter of the British could seem stronger than the others.
i)With support for the British, you and your people were gifted with riches➔ if your tribe mattered to you more than the other tribe in the area, why wouldn’t you sabotage them?
ii)The Patron-Clientelism didn’t leave with the British, however; the system crawled its way into the military dictatorships that Nigeria soon fell into after gaining independence; the system is even in place now in 2016.
b)When President Yar’Adua died while in office, the position for President fell to his Christian Vice-president, Goodluck Jonathan; When Jonathan ran again the next year, it upset a lot in his party, the People’s Democratic Party, which would usually alternate candidates with conflicting religious interests so as to not allow one religion to rule a country in which there are many.
i)Jonathan won the election in which he ran, which didn’t really help to cool tensions➔ a Muslim leader (and a former military dictator) was elected into Presidency just last year.
c)In mid-1967, the Igbo of Nigeria actually declared that it was forming a separate state from Nigeria which would be known as Biafra.
i)The war lasted only for two and a half years and the territory that was to become Biafra rejoined the Nigerian borders.
(1)This war costed Nigeria anywhere from 45,000 to 75,000 deaths on both sides of the war.
(2)This was quite a big deal in world politics at the time; both the United States and the Soviet Union stating where they stand on the issue➔ the Soviet Union supplied the central government of Nigeria and provided arms and the United States announced neutrality (but leaning towards the central government retaking control).
4)RICHES IN OIL: NIGERIA’S PETROLEUM
a)Nigeria’s economy is based quite a bit on oil:
i)Nigeria’s petroleum economy is the largest in Africa.
ii)The petroleum market in Nigeria accounts for 15% of its GDP.
iii)Nigeria is the 8th largest exporter of petroleum in the world.
(1)Nigeria even joined OPEC in 1971.
b)Lots of oil usually leads to lots of money these days➔ the military dictator, General Abacha pocketed several hundreds of millions of dollars and this even led to a sort of mini recession for Nigeria.
i)This was likely able to happen because at that time, and even now, the petroleum market is under governmental control, therefore making it difficult to check where money is going because the information is impossible to get.
ii)This also wasn’t a lonely instance either; things like this happen a little too often for the country to really get on its feet; granted not too many people can match the amount of money that Abacha stole.
c)Oil is also likely the reason that Nigeria cared so much about losing Igbo territory when they declared independence; the Nile Delta lies in Igbo lands and there’s a lot of oil in that land.
d)With all this corruption in the government, money was completely going missing and this combined with the genuine hatred that a group felt for the Southern Igbo and Yoruba nations led to something that Western Africa was not ready for.
5)BOKO HARAM: AFRICA’S NEW COMMON ENEMY
a)In 2002, the terror group Boko Haram stampeded their way far past a trouble maker status. This Islamic extremist group that wants to destroy non-religious law of Nigeria and set up Sharia Law countrywide.
i)According to Goodluck Jonathan, at least 12,000 people have been slain by Boko Haram, with not all the casualties belonging to Nigeria.
b)In ISIS’s rise, Boko Haram actually pledged its support to the organization.
c)Boko Haram, like its newfound friend, may have made too many enemies to fast.
i)Although the group isn’t really being pushed back a huge amount, continuing their marches of death may become difficult due to the fact that Nigeria, Benin, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger all created a joint effort to destroy the military threat.
6)With things like communication problems, differing religious beliefs, huge gaps in income, differing law systems, and a terrorist group coming for its throat, the question: “Will Nigeria remain as one country?” remains the National Question.