The states of Kanem and Borno, which flourished on the shores of Lake Chad from about AD 10 onwards, were the first imperial states in the region. Their wealth was founded on control of trans-Saharan trade routes. From the 11th to 14th centuries, the Islamic Hausa city-states were also a dominant influence, while in the southwest, the Yoruba cities of Ife, Oyo and Benin became major trading centers. In the 15th century, the Portuguese began trading – first for spices, later for slaves. The Portuguese were then supplanted by other European trading nations. The slave trade disrupted the balance
of power in the region, as did the southward expansion of the Islamic faith and the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 18th century.
At the end of the 19th century, the British conquered the territory of present-day Nigeria. After World War II, the first step towards decolonization was the introduction of a federal system of government. A Muslim northerner, Alhaji Abulbakar Tafawa Balewa, became the first prime minister. After a period of internal self-government, full independence from Britain was achieved in 1960. The first post-independence government was a coalition of members of the Northern People’s Congress and the eastern-based National Council for Nigeria and Cameroon. Since then, the country has endured numerous changes of government, in which the most important factor has almost always been the influence of the military. Concerned that ethnic and religious differences could split the country apart, the army has chosen to intervene on several occasions to thwart a perceived threat to the integrity of the nation.
The greatest crisis came about in the mid-1960s, when the eastern part of the country – styling itself the ‘Republic of Biafra’ – attempted to secede. A three-year (1967-70) civil war followed, at the end of which the secessionists were defeated and the federal government under General Gowon reasserted control, albeit at a heavy price in lives, especially in the former Biafran territories. Gowon was overthrown by fellow army officers, led by General Murtala Mohammed, in 1974. Mohammed himself was assassinated in 1976, replaced by army chief of staff General Olusegun Obasanjo. The new leader fulfilled the military’s oft-repeated promises to restore civilian rule (Obesanjo himself would return as a civilian president a quarter-century later). And so in 1979, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was elected to represent the National Party of Nigeria – a coalition of parties that had existed prior to the 12-year-long ban on political activity.
Shagari was re-elected for a second term in 1983. However, after a few months, the military – citing mismanagement and corruption on the part of the civilian government – launched another coup under army chief Mohammed Buhari. Rivalries in the armed forces proved to be just as potent as before. Buhari lasted less than two years before being overthrown by General Ibrahim Babangida, who himself survived several attempted coups led by rival army officers. This time the military were determined to stay in power, despite heavy domestic and international pressure. When finally forced – mainly by economic factors – to concede civilian elections in 1993, the military did their utmost to ensure victory for their preferred candidate. The plan went awry when the poll was comprehensively won by Moshood Abiola, a former publisher who had been put up as a purely token opposition candidate.
The military annulled the elections and returned the country to military rule. Sani Abacha, a senior aide to the former president, Babangida, emerged as the new military strongman and, over the next five years, presided over an increasingly oppressive regime. Abiola was put under arrest and other opponents of the regime were jailed or exiled. The regime attracted particular criticism for its treatment of the Ogoni people, located in the oil-rich southeast of the country. Their leader, the renowned writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, was executed on trumped-up charges along with eight colleagues. Thereafter, the Abacha government suffered increasing diplomatic isolation, much of it orchestrated by Nelson Mandela, then president of South Africa. Abacha, it later transpired, was also busily defrauding the Nigerian exchequer of huge sums, estimated at around $1 billion.
Then, in June 1998, Abacha suddenly died. Another member of the military junta, General Abdulsalam Abubakar, took over and moved quickly to shed the country’s pariah status by organizing elections. These were contested by several manufactured parties of broadly centrist persuasion claiming allegiance from constituencies based on geography, ethnicity and religion. The victor in the February 1999 presidential election, standing for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), was the former military ruler of the 1970s, Olusegun Obasanjo, who drew his support from the mainly Christian south and east. The PDP also secured an absolute majority in both houses of the newly established parliament.
Shadowed by a military all too keen to intervene on the slightest pretext, the inexperienced civilian government faced a formidable task. Apart from the dire economic situation, compounded by extensive and routine corruption, the Obasanjo government had to deal with growing religious conflict. A particular problem was the decision of several local and regional governments in the mainly Muslim north of the country to introduce a version of Islamic
Shari'a law. This was very unpopular amongst non-Muslim minorities. Hundreds were killed in inter-communal clashes in 2000 and again in 2002. Tensions have been so high that almost any dispute can set off a spate of violence. In November 2002, many deaths followed protests over a plan (admittedly ill-conceived) to hold the ‘Miss World’ pageant in the northern city of Kaduna. There have also been outbreaks over
Shari'a court judgements, such as the execution (by stoning) of a woman found guilty of adultery.
Yet, for all its domestic difficulties, Nigeria remains the major regional power and its troops have intervened in a number of conflicts throughout West Africa during the 1990s. The Nigerian-led ECOMOG force played an important role in the decade-long conflict in Liberia. And in September 2002, it dispatched troops to support the government of Cote d’Ivoire, which was then threatened by rebel forces. Regional stability of the West African region has become a major international issue in recent years since the discovery of new oil and gas deposits in West African waters, and recent events in the Middle East.
Obasanjo and the PDP came up for election again in April 2003. The election was a tense one since, if concluded successfully, this would be the first time since independence that Nigeria had held two consecutive elections without military intervention. Despite allegations of widespread fraud and ballot-rigging, both the PDP and president Obasanjo were returned with comfortable majorities. (Obasanjo’s main opponent was yet another ex-military dictator, Mohammed Buhari.)
GovernmentUnder the provisions of the constitution announced by the government in late 1998, executive power is vested in the president of the republic. Legislative responsibilities are entrusted to the bicameral national assembly, comprising the 360-member House of Representatives and the 109-member Senate. Members of both houses serve a four-year term.
EconomyNigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer; the industry earns 90% of the country’s export income and has underpinned its economy for decades. Nigeria also has commercially viable quantities of tin, coal, iron ore, zinc and some uranium, plus substantial but as yet largely untapped reserves of natural gas and coal.
Agriculture occupies well over half of the population, who produce rice, maize, cassava, sorghum and millet as staples, as well as groundnuts, cocoa, palm oil and rubber as cash crops. Timber and livestock rearing have both developed during the last 20 years. Nonetheless, successive governments have failed to restore Nigeria’s one-time self-sufficiency in food.
Manufacturing was established during the 1960s, principally with oil money, and now includes food processing and the production of vehicles, textiles, pharmaceuticals, paper and cement.
Per capita GDP is around US$690 annually, which is improved but still not desirable. The country is weighed down by a massive foreign debt. Reduction negotiations have been completed with the ‘Paris Club’ of leading creditors. As a condition of the rescheduling, the government has begun to put into effect economic reforms, including the sale of major state-owned industries.
Recent economic performance has been determined mainly by the state of the world oil market. Governmental deregulation of fuel prices and the privatization of Nigeria’s four oil refineries in 2003, coupled with the rise in oil production, meant that recent GDP growth has been good, estimated at around 6.2% in 2005.
Nigeria is the dominant member of the West African economic cooperation organization, ECOWAS, as well as a leading member of the oil producers’ cartel, OPEC.
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