1. Nigeria

3. Think… “It’s all about the cleavages”

4. Overview: The Big Picture
System of Government: Presidential System
Distribution of Power: Federal System
Electoral System: Single Member District Plurality
Constitution: Constitution of 1999
Legislature: Bicameral—Senate and House of Rep.
Current Head of State: President Muhammadu Buhari
Head of Government: President Muhammadu Buhari
Current Ruling Party: All Progressives Congress
Major Political Parties: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), Action Congress (AC)

5. Big Ideas to Keep in Your Head !
No Cross Cutting Cleavages
Ethnic, Regional, and Religious Coincide…yikes!
No National Identity!
Nigeria is only 50 years old
Country created because of colonialism
Parliamentary system failed…why?
Presidential system is working…why?

6. Why Study Nigeria? Nigeria is a megastate
Its importance is derived from its large population, oil reserves, and centrality to the study of Africa
Nigeria embodies the much of the variety of African political experience.

7. Why Study Nigeria?
Nigeria embodies of the variety of African political experience.
varied heritage
colonial rule
Achievement of independence
Political parties = ethnic cleavages
Social welfare state/responsibility
Pattern of violence and military dominance

8. Why Study Nigeria?
Provides useful insights into the challenges of developing nations
Major challenges facing Nigeria
Maintaining the balance of civil/military relations
Managing ethnic diversity
Transitioning from autocratic/military rule to democracy
Exploiting natural resources for public good
Determining role of religion in politics

9. Cleavages Ethnicity Region Religion Hausa-Fulani North Muslim Yoruba
Central (West)
Both
Igbo
South (East
Christian

11. Political Culture and Subculture
Ethnic Identity
Hausa-Fulani
Mostly northern half of Nigeria
Predominately Muslim
Legacy of emirates
Indirect colonial rule
Subsistence farming, rural, generally undeveloped villages
Yoruba
Southwestern Nigeria
Lagos—former capital
Oba and lineage chiefs and the British
Fragmenting effect of multiple ethnic identities
Igbo (lbo)
Southeastern part of Nigeria—OIL RICH REGION (tried to secede)
Predominantly Christian.
Responsive to western culture—Western educated
Developed for market agriculture

12. Cleavages
The importance of ethnicity, religion, and region in the political life of Nigerians cannot be underestimated.
Most contentious political issues influence and/or are influenced by these three identities.
Biafran Civil War
Explicit ethnic overtones
Eastern Igbo attempted to secede from the country
NO CROSS-CUTTING CLEAVAGES!

13. Political Culture:
Modern political culture characterized by ethnic diversity and conflict, corruption, and politically active military
Patron-Clientelism (prebendalism)
State control yet rich civil society
Tension between modernity and tradition
Religious conflict
Ethnic diversity
Geographic influences

14. Political Culture and Subculture
Nigerian Nationalism
Three major sources
Freed slaves from N.A. others of African descent from the Caribbean
Nigerians who fought for the British in WWII
Frustration with lack of recognition for service
Nigerians who studied in U.K. and U.S.
Today: comes from military

15. Political Culture and Subculture
Democratic Norms and Values
Alternated between democratic and military rule
Had both parliamentary and presidential system
Maintaining stable democracy is challenge

16. Political Culture and Subculture
Democratic Norms and Values
Cycle of Rule:
Democracy
Military rule with promise to return to democracy
Majority party would pass policies very easily and “funnel” resources of the state to its own ethnic group.
The Presidential system has been somewhat more successful b/c of separation of powers

17. Political Culture and Subculture
Political Role of Women
Position of women varies immensely
Igbo and Yoruba allow women to hold jobs and elected office.
Hausa-Fulani restrict role of women (Islam) and have low rates of literacy and education and jobs
In general Nigerian women vote in similar numbers as men but are underrepresented in government.

18. Public Policy Challenges
Ethnic/Religious Tensions
Civil/Military Relations
Regional Instability
Corruption
Financial transparency
Poverty alleviation
Quality health care
Education
Oil extraction
HIV/AIDS

19. Current Policy Challenges
Key Transition Year of1999:
Nigeria returned to formal civilian rule when Olusegun Obasanjo was elected president.
Test of Current Government:
How can a potentially wealthy country fail to provide basic human needs, education, potable water, reliable transportation and communications, and engage in politics without corruption?
$ 1B a week from oil…. Yet Still ranked as one of the poorest and most corrupt countries in the world

20. Environmental Potential and Limitations
Disease
Malaria is a disease that affects most Nigerians
HIV/AIDS: Pull on economy
Population Growth
45% of Nigeria is under 15 years of age.
Children considered a valuable resource in agricultural societies
Population is growing rapidly = negative impact on econimic growth
Shifting from rural to urban = smaller portion of labor force available for food production = drop in food production per capita

22. Environmental Potential and Limitations
Urbanization
Quickly becoming urban society
Urban infrastructure is strained as a result
Petroleum
The curse of oil!
Nigeria has relied on oil to finance imports and large scale development projects, thus fluctuations in markets control the ability of Nigeria to pay its debts
This has caused high rates of inflation
The location of the oil and the distribution of benefits have had political consequences, most notably in Biafra
Biafra
Igbo population frustrated with central government for not distributing a greater share of oil wealth-thus their attempt to secede
Oil was main cause for Biafran Civil War

23. Environmental Potential and Limitations
Dist. Natural resources: Political Effects
Eastern region of country holds oil reserves
National government view: national resource
Eastern citizens (Igbo) have yet reap full benefits of their treasure
Individuals who own oil in east tend to be non-Igbo minorities
Environmental degradation: east pays price while handing over most of the benefits.
MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta)
The International Environment
Biggest problem: debt it owes Western creditors
Government spends a high percentage of national budget repaying debt—at the expense of social programs.

24. Political Recruitment
Northerners have dominated the leadership of the country under military and civilian rule.
Military power
Educated Igbo's have held leadership positions
Civil service
No recruitment of “strangers”
Federal character of appointments of military personnel
Ethnic politics still dominate

25. Political Structure Constitution of 1999 KEY POINT!
Calls for independently elected president
Dual chamber of national assembly at the federal level
3 Senators from each of 36 states, plus one from Abuja
Representatives determined by population
All legislators elected to four year terms
KEY POINT!
Nigerian pluralism; lack of trust by subcultures
No institutional structure can overcome this roadblock.

26. Political Institutions
Executive branch of government has been the most powerful
Current system is a federal system closely modeled after the U.S. presidential system

27. Executive Branch
Popularly elected to four-year term with maximum of two terms
Head of Government
Commander-in-Chief of armed forces
Head of State
Appoints government ministers (confirmed by Senate)—must come from all 36 states
President and ministers not allowed to serve in National Assembly

28. Legislative Branch National Assembly
Bicameral with Senate and House of Representatives
Popularly Elected
All bills must pass both houses and be signed by President
Senate
109 members: 3 from each state and one from Abuja
House of Representatives
360 members

29. Political Structure Judiciary: Constitution of 1999 Supreme Court
Court of Appeal
State and Federal High Courts
Ten northern states maintain shari’a law courts
Overlapping system of judiciary has caused conflict

30. State Government Governor who is popularly elected
State House of Assembly
Unicameral
Comprised of popularly elected representatives from local government areas

31. The Military
You cannot study Nigerian politics without recognizing the importance of the military in all aspects of political life.
Well disciplined, organized, with the ability to make decisions efficiently and effectively
One of only sources of national unity

32. The Bureaucracy
As with many “developing nations”, the bureaucracy has been the source of employment for large numbers of people not engaged in trade or agriculture.
Major corruption, lack of accountability, and massive cash from oil production.

33. The Parties People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
Hausa-Fulani and North
Obasanjo and Umar Musa Yar’adua
All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) 2003
Formally the All People’s Party APP 1999
Igbo and East/Southeast
Main opposition party
Action Congress (AC)
Yoruba and West/Southwest

34. Parties and Elections (History)
1975 Elections controlled by Federal Elections Commission (FEDECO)
All parties must register with FEDECO
“Federal Character” of parties
Parties had to have at least two-thirds of all states to be able to run candidates
Obasanjo was elected under this system PDP
PDP: People’s Democratic Party
As a northerner and a Hausa, he is a Christian and his candidacy received broad popular support

35. Political Participation
Great range in activity
Voting
Civil war
Violence; thugs
Without census data hard to assess
Mobilization of patron-client networks key to victory

36. Policy Formation and Implementation
Standard of living has not improved in recent years
Oil revenue has had little impact on GDP
Nigeria spends large portion of budget on military
Increased number of children in schools
Poor performance on providing basic health care
Income gap between rich and poor increased
“national cake”: Federal gov. spends between two- thirds three fourths

37. Policy Formation and Implementation
Dealing with Debt
Borrowed heavily from foreign banks in 1970s
High interested caused debt trap
World Bank and IMF restructured much of the debt
Spending to repay debt highest item in annual budget
The problem of how to deal with debt is one of highest items of priority

38. Policy Formation and Implementation
The Census Issue
Major source of political conflict!...that’s right counting people
More People = More Federal Money
This is because each ethnic group fears that the count will inaccurately reflect larger opposing groups and that the state’s resources will be directed accordingly
Also, in a country where federal subsidies make up the lion’s share of budgetary allocations at all levels, the distribution of population directly effects the distribution of resources.

39. Nigeria Videos Oil crisis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5uB9Ml89 G0
Crisis in Nigeria ( oil) J8
Havoc in Nigeria
Riots and Religion 8