TIME: Almanac 1995

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ TIME: Almanac 1995 / TIME Almanac 1995.iso / time / world / n / nigeria.2a < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-04-15 | 11.3 KB | 225 lines

<text id=93CT1808> <link 90TT2992> <title> Nigeria--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Northern Africa Nigeria </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> Before the colonial period, the area which comprises modern Nigeria already had a long, eventful history. More than 2,000 years ago, the Nok culture in the present Plateau state worked iron and produced sophisticated terra cotta sculpture. In the northern cities of Kano and Katsina, recorded history dates back to approximately 1000 A.D. In the centuries that followed, these Hausa kingdoms and the Bornu Empire near Lake Chad prospered as important terminals of trans-Saharan caravan routes. In the southwest, the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo was founded about 1400, and at its height--from the 17th to 19th centuries--attained a high level of political organization. It encompassed a domain extending as far as modern Togo. In the south-central part of present-day Nigeria, as early as the 15th and 16th centuries, the kingdom of Benin had developed an efficient army, an elaborate ceremonial court, and artisans whose works in ivory, wood, bronze, and brass are prized throughout the world today. From the 17th through 19th centuries, the region was drawn into the web of the rapidly growing slave trade and other forms of trade with the European world. In the early 19th century, the Fulani leader Usman dan Fodio launched an Islamic crusade that brought most of the Hausa states and other areas in the north under the loose control of an empire centered in Sokoto. Following the Napoleonic wars, the British expanded their trade with the Nigerian interior. In 1885, British claims to a sphere of influence in that area received international recognition, and in the following year the Royal Niger Company was chartered. In 1900, the company's territory came under the control of the British Government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area, which now constitutes Nigeria. In 1914, the area was formally united as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Administratively, Nigeria remained divided into the Northern and Southern Provinces and Lagos Colony. Western education and the development of a modern economy proceeded more rapidly in the south than in the north, with consequences that have been felt in Nigeria's political life ever since. Following World War II, in response to the growth of Nigerian nationalism and demands for independence, successive constitutions legislated by the British Government moved Nigeria toward self-government on a representative, increasingly federal basis. Nigeria was granted full independence on October 1, 1960, as a federation of three regions (Northern, Western, and Eastern) under a constitution that provided for a parliamentary form of government. Under the constitution, each of the three regions retained a substantial measure of self-government. The federal government was given exclusive powers in defense and security, foreign relations, and commercial and fiscal policy. On October 1, 1963, Nigeria altered its relationship with the United Kingdom by proclaiming itself a federal republic and promulgating a new constitution. A fourth region (the Midwest) was established that year. From the outset, Nigeria experienced ethnic, regional, and religious tensions, magnified by the significant disparities in economic and educational development between the south and the north. On January 15, 1966, a small group of army officers, mostly Ibos, overthrew the government and assassinated the federal prime minister and the premiers of the northern and western regions. A Federal Military Government assumed power under the leadership of Gen. J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi. However, it was unable to quiet ethnic tensions or to produce a new constitution acceptable to all sections of the country. In fact, its efforts to abolish the federal structure greatly raised tensions and led to another coup in July 1966, with Gen. Yakubu Gowon named new head of the Federal Military Government. The massacre of thousands of Ibos in the north prompted hundreds of thousands of Ibos to return to their homeland in the southeast, where the military governor of the Eastern Region, Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu, emerged as the leader of an increasingly strong Ibo secessionist sentiment. In a move that gave greater autonomy to minority ethnic groups, the military replaced the four regions with 12 states. Ojukwu rejected attempts to provide constitutional revisions to quiet Ibo fears and insisted on full autonomy for the east. Finally, in May 1967 he declared the independence of the Eastern Region as the "Republic of Biafra." The civil war which ensued was bitter and bloody, ending in the defeat of Biafra in 1970. Following the civil war, reconciliation was rapid and effective. The country turned to the task of economic development. Foreign exchange earnings and government revenues increased spectacularly with the oil price rises of 1973-74. On July 29, 1975, Gen. Gowon was overthrown in a bloodless coup by a group of military officers who accused him of delaying the promised return to civilian rule and allowing his government to become corrupt and ineffective. The new head of state, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, replaced thousands of civil servants and announced a timetable for the resumption of civilian rule by October 1, 1979. Muhammed also announced the government's intention to create new states and to construct a new federal capital in the center of the country. Gen. Muhammed was assassinated on February 13, 1976, in an abortive coup. His chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, became head of state. Obasanjo adhered meticulously to the schedule for return to civilian rule, moving to modernize and streamline the armed forces, and seeking to use oil revenues to diversify and develop the country's economy. Seven new states were created in 1976, bringing the total to the current 19. A Constituent Assembly was elected in 1977 to draft a new constitution, which was published on September 21, 1978, when the ban on political activity, in effect since the advent of military rule, was lifted. Political parties were formed, and candidates were nominated for president and vice president, the two houses of the National Assembly, governorships, and state houses of assembly. Five political parties competed in a series of five elections, held July 7-August 11, 1979, in which a northerner, Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), was elected president. All five parties won representation in the National Assembly. In August 1983, Shagari and the NPN were returned to power in a landslide victory, characterized by a higher voter turnout than in 1979 and a change in the composition of the National Assembly from an NPN plurality to an NPN majority. The NPN also won control of 12 state governments, while three other political parties shared the remaining seven states. The elections were marred by violence, and allegations of widespread vote-rigging and electoral malfeasance, led to legal battles over the results. On December 31, 1983, the military overthrew the Second Republic. Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the leader of the Supreme Military Council (SMC), the country's new ruling body. He charged the civilian government with economic mismanagement, widespread corruption, election fraud, and a general lack of concern for the problems of Nigerians. He also pledged to restore prosperity to Nigeria and to return the government to civilian rule when conditions permitted. However, the government of Maj.-Gen. Buhari and his Chief of Staff, Maj.-Gen. Idiagbon, became increasingly authoritarian and proved unable to deal with Nigeria's severe economic problems. In a peaceful coup on August 27, 1985, the Buhari government was replaced by the SMC's third ranking member, Army Chief of Staff, Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Babangida cited the misuse of power, violations of human rights by key officers of the SMC, and the government's failure to deal with the country's deepening economic crisis as justifications for the takeover. During his first few days in office, President Babangida moved swiftly to restore freedom of the press and to release political detainees being held without charge. As part of a 15-month economic emergency, he announced stringent paycuts for the military, police, and civil servants and proceeded to enact similar cuts for the private sector. Imports of rice and maize were banned. Later imports of wheat were also banned. President Babangida demonstrated his intent to encourage public participation in government decisionmaking by opening a national debate on proposed economic reform and recovery measures. The public response convinced Babangida of intense opposition to an economic recovery package dependent on an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, and an apparent preference for self-imposed austerity. The president has promised to return the country to civilian rule by 1990, and on January 1, 1986, inaugurated a year-long public debate on a viable future political system for the country. Current Political Conditions A series of decrees enacted by the Buhari regime in 1984 restricted political freedom. Soon after the August 1985 takeover, President Babangida abrogated the decree restricting freedom of the press but retained a decree granting the government blanket powers of detention on grounds of state security. In May 1986, the AFRC formally amended this decree to grant either the Chief of General Staff or the Inspector-General of Police the power to detain anyone for an initial 6-month period. The detention can be indefinitely extended upon review at the end of each 6-month period. In January 1986, President Babangida empowered several judicial panels to investigate the cases of former politicians, including the former civilian president and vice president, who had been detained by the Buhari administration. Most of the politicians had been detained on suspicion of illegal use of public funds or enrichment while in office. The panels submitted their findings to the president in May 1986. As of August 1986, the AFRC had acted upon all the panel's recommendations and released several detainees, including former President Shehu Shagari, Vice President Alex Ekwueme, and some of the state governors. Since January 1986, the country has been engaged in a public discussion of its political future, organized by a committee established by the government to solicit the views of all Nigerians who choose to participate. The debate is a prelude to the proposed return to civilian rule in 1990, and is designed to involve all sectors of the country in the creation of a stable political system. However, all politicians associated with the Second Republic, 1979-83, have been banned from running for office for 10 years, beginning from 1990. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, August 1987. </body> </article> </text>