Nigeria
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Jamhuriyar Tarayyar Najeriya(Hausa)
Njíkötá Óchíchìiwù Naíjíríà(Igbo)
Àpapọ̀ Olómìnira ilẹ̀ Nàìjíríà(Yoruba)
Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: "Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress"
Anthem: "Arise, O Compatriots"
Capital
Abuja
9°4′N 7°29′E / 9.067°N 7.483°E
Lagos
Largest city
English
Official language(s)
Recognised national languages Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba
Edo, Efik, Fulani, Idoma,
Recognised regional languages
Ijaw Kanuri[1]
Nigerian
Demonym
Presidential Federal republic
Government
President
Goodluck Jonathan
-
Vice President
Namadi Sambo
from the United Kingdom
Independence
Unification of Southern
1914
and Northern Nigeria
Declared and recognized 1 October 1960
Republic declared
1 October 1963
Area
923,768 km2 (32nd)
Total
356,667 sq mi
Water (%)
1.4
Population
2010 estimate
155,215,573[2] (8th)
164.8/km2 (71st)
Density
426.8/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2010 estimate
Total
$377.949 billion[3]
Per capita
$2,422[3]
GDP (nominal)
2010 estimate
Total
$216.803 billion[3]
Per capita
$1,389[3]
Gini (2003)
43.7 (medium)
HDI (2010)
0.423[4] (low) (142nd)
Currency
-
Time zone
Summer (DST)
Drives on the
ISO 3166 code
Internet TLD
Calling code
Naira (₦) (NGN)
WAT (UTC+1)
not observed (UTC+1)
right
NG
.ng
+234
1The
GDP estimate is as of 2009; the total and per capita ranks are also based on 2009
number. 2English language is the official language of Nigeria, but is the second most
spoken language in all states of the federation after regional and local indigenous
languages [5]
Nigeria ( i /naɪˈdʒɪəriə/), officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional
republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in
West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon
in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic
Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and
Yoruba. In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims and
Christians with a very small minority who practice traditional religion.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human
habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE.[6] The area around the Benue and Cross
River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of
central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BCE and the 2nd millennium.
The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was
coined by Flora Shaw, the future wife of Baron Lugard, a British colonial administrator, in the
late 19th century.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the seventh most populous country in the world,
and the most populous country in the world in which the majority of the population is black. It is
listed among the "Next Eleven" economies, and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The economy of Nigeria is one of the fastest growing in the world, with the International
Monetary Fund projecting a growth of 9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009.[7][8][9]The IMF further
projects a 8% growth in the Nigerian economy in 2011.[10]
Contents
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1 History
o 1.1 Early history
o 1.2 Colonial era
o 1.3 Post-independence
o 1.4 Nigerian-Biafran War
o 1.5 Military era
o 1.6 Recent history
2 Government and politics
o 2.1 Law
o 2.2 Foreign relations
o 2.3 Military
3 Geography
o 3.1 Environmental issues
4 Subdivisions
o 4.1 Population of major cities
5 Economy
o 5.1 Key sectors
6 Science and technology
o 6.1 Nigeriasat-2
 6.1.1 Specifications
7 Demographics
o 7.1 Ethno-linguistic groups
o 7.2 Language
8 Culture
o 8.1 Literature
o 8.2 Music and film
o 8.3 Religion
o 8.4 Cuisine
o 8.5 Sport
9 Societal issues
o
o
o
o
o
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9.1 Human rights
9.2 Strife and sectarian violence
9.3 Health issues
9.4 Education
9.5 Crime
10 Media representation
o 10.1 Documentary
11 See also
12 References
13 External links
History
Main article: History of Nigeria
Early history
The Nok people of central Nigeria produced the earliest terracotta sculptures found in the
country.[11] A Nok sculpture resident at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts portrays a sitting
dignitary wearing a "Shepherds Crook" on the right arm and a "hinged flail" on the left. These
are symbols of authority associated with ancient Egyptian pharaohs and the god Osiris and
suggests that an ancient Egyptian style of social structure, and perhaps religion, existed in the
area of modern Nigeria during the late Pharonic period.[12]
In the northern part of the country, Kano and Katsina has recorded history dating back to around
999. Hausa kingdoms and the Kanem-Bornu Empire prospered as trade posts between North and
West Africa. At the beginning of the 19th century under Usman dan Fodio the Fulani led the
centralized Fulani Empire which continued until 1903 when the Fulani population and land were
divided into various European colonies. Between 1750 and 1900, between one to two-thirds of
the population of the Fulani jihad states consisted of slaves.[13]
The royal Bini mask, one of Nigeria's most recognized products
The Yoruba kingdoms of Ifẹ and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the
12th[14][15] and 14th[16] century respectively. However, Yoruba mythology states that Ile-Ife is the
source of the human race and that it pre-dates any other civilization, although the oldest signs of
human settlement dates back to the ninth century.[14] Ifẹ produced terracotta and bronze figures,
and Ọyọ once extended from western Nigeria to Togo. The Kingdom of Benin is located in
southwestern Nigeria. Benin's power lasted between the 15th and 19th century. Their dominance
reached as far as the city of Eko (an Edo name later changed to Lagos by the Portuguese) and
further.[17]
The Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people started in the 10th century until it lost its sovereignty to
the British in 1911. It is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria.[18][19] Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and
the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture. Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo
creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan who trace their lineages back to
the patriarchal king-figure Eri.[20] The oldest pieces of bronzes made out of the lost-wax process
in West Africa were from Igbo Ukwu, a city under Nri influence.[18]
Colonial era
Main article: Colonial Nigeria
Benin city in the 17th century with the Oba of Benin in procession. This image was pictured in a
European book, Description of Africa, in 1668.[21]
Spaniard and Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to begin trade in Nigeria in the port
they named Lagos and in Calabar. The Europeans traded with the ethnicities of the coast and also
negotiated a trade in slaves, to the detriment and profit of many Nigerian ethnicities.
Consequently many of the citizens of the former slave nations of the British Empire are
descended from a Nigerian ethnic group. Britain abolished its slave trade in 1807 and, following
the Napoleonic Wars, established the West Africa Squadron in an attempt to halt the
international traffic in slaves.[22]
In 1885, British claims to a West African sphere of influence received international recognition,
and in the following year the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir
George Taubman Goldie. In 1900 the company's territory came under the control of the British
government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area of modern Nigeria. On January 1,
1901, Nigeria became a British protectorate, part of the British Empire, the foremost world
power at the time. Many wars against subjugation had been fought by the states of what later
became Nigeria against the British Empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Notably of those were the British Conquest of Benin in 1897 and the Anglo-Aro War from
1901—1902. The restraint or complete destruction of these states opened up the Niger area to
British rule.
In 1914, the Niger 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 felt in Nigeria's political life ever since. Slavery
was not finally outlawed in northern Nigeria until 1936.[23]
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 and increasingly federal basis. By the middle of the
20th century, the great wave for independence was sweeping across Africa.
Post-independence
On October 1, 1960, Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Newly
independent, Nigeria's government was a coalition of conservative parties: the Nigerian People's
Congress (NPC), a party dominated by Northerners and those of the Islamic faith, and the Igbo
and Christian dominated National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) led by
Nnamdi Azikiwe, who became Nigeria's maiden Governor-General in 1960. Forming the
opposition was the comparatively liberal Action Group (AG), which was largely dominated by
the Yoruba and led by Obafemi Awolowo.[24] The cultural and political differences between
Nigeria's dominant ethnicities, the Hausa ('Northerners'), Igbo ('Easterners') and Yoruba
('Westerners'), were sharp.
An imbalance was created in the polity by the result of the 1961 plebiscite. Southern Cameroon
opted to join the Republic of Cameroon while northern Cameroon chose to remain in Nigeria.
The northern part of the country was now far larger than the southern part. The nation parted
with its British legacy in 1963 by declaring itself a Federal Republic, with Azikiwe as its first
president. When elections came about in 1965, the AG was outmanoeuvred for control of
Nigeria's Western Region by the Nigerian National Democratic Party.
Nigerian-Biafran War
Main article: Nigerian Civil War
The disequilibrium and perceived corruption of the electoral and political process led in 1966 to
several back-to-back military coups. The first was in January and led by a collection of young
leftists under Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna and Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu. It was partially
successful; the coup plotters murdered Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Premier
Ahmadu Belloof of the Northern Region and Premier Ladoke Akintola of the Western Region.
Despite this, they could not set up a central government. President Nwafor Orizu was then
pressured to hand over government to the Nigeria Army, under the command of General JTU
Aguyi-Ironsi.
The coup was counter-acted by another successful plot, supported primarily by Northern military
officers and Northerners who favoured the NPC, it was engineered by Northern officers, which
allowed Lt Colonel Yakubu Gowon to become head of state. This sequence of events led to an
increase in ethnic tension and violence. The Northern coup, which was mostly motivated by
ethnic and religious reasons was a bloodbath of both military officers and civilians, especially
those of Igbo extraction.[citation needed]
The violence against the Igbo increased their desire for autonomy and protection from the
military's wrath. By May 1967, the Eastern Region had declared itself an independent state
called the Republic of Biafra under the leadership of Lt Colonel Emeka Ojukwu in line with the
wishes of the people.[25] The Nigerian Civil War began as the Nigerian (Western and Northern)
side attacked Biafra (South-eastern) on July 6, 1967 at Garkem signalling the beginning of the
30 month war that ended in January 1970.[26] Estimates in the former Eastern Region of the
number of dead from hostilities, disease, and starvation during the thirty-month civil war are
estimated at between 1 million and 3 million.[27]
Military era
Nigerian troops, part of the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur, embarking on a US
Aircraft
During the oil boom of the 1970s, Nigeria joined OPEC, and billions of dollars generated by
production in the oil-rich Niger Delta flowed into the coffers of the Nigerian state. The northern
military clique benefited from the oil boom to the detriment of the Nigerian people and economy.
As oil revenues fueled the rise of federal subventions to states and precariously to individuals,
the federal government soon became the centre of political struggle and the centre became the
threshold of power in the country. As oil production and revenue rose, the Nigerian government
created a dangerous situation as it became increasingly dependent on oil revenues and the
international commodity markets for budgetary and economic concerns eschewing economic
stability. That spelled doom to federalism in Nigeria.[28]
Beginning in 1979, Nigerians participated in a brief return to democracy when Obasanjo
transferred power to the civilian regime of Shehu Shagari. The Shagari government was viewed
as corrupt and incompetent by virtually all sectors of Nigerian society, so when the regime was
overthrown by the military coup of Muhammadu Buhari shortly after the regime's fraudulent reelection in 1984, it was generally viewed as a positive development by most of the population.[29]
Buhari promised major reforms, but his government fared little better than its predecessor, and
his regime was overthrown by yet another military coup in 1985.[30]
The new head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, promptly declared himself president and commander
in chief of the armed forces and the ruling Supreme Military Council and also set 1990 as the
official deadline for a return to democratic governance. Babangida's tenure was marked by a
flurry of political activity: he instituted the International Monetary Fund's Structural Adjustment
Program (SAP) to aid in the repayment of the country's crushing international debt, which most
federal revenue was dedicated to servicing. He also inflamed religious tensions in the nation and
particularly the south by enrolling Nigeria in the Organization of the Islamic Conference.[31]
After Babangida survived an abortive coup, he pushed back the promised return to democracy to
1992. When free and fair elections were finally held on 12 June 1993, Babangida declared that
the results showing a presidential victory for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola null and
void, sparking mass civilian violence in protest which effectively shut down the country for
weeks and forced Babangida to keep his promise to relinquish office to a civilian run
government.[32] Babangida's regime is adjudged to be at the apogee of corruption in the history of
the nation as it was during his time that corruption became officially diluted in Nigeria.[33]
Babangida's caretaker regime headed by Ernest Shonekan survived only until late 1993 when
General Sani Abacha took power in another military coup. Abacha proved to be perhaps
Nigeria's most brutal ruler and employed violence on a wide scale to suppress the continuing
civilian unrest. Money had been found in various western European banks traced to him. He
avoided coup plots by bribing army generals. Several hundred million dollars in accounts traced
to him were discovered in 1999.[34] The regime came to an end in 1998 when the dictator was
found dead amid dubious circumstances. Abacha's death yielded an opportunity for return to
civilian rule.
Recent history
Nigeria re-achieved democracy in 1999 when it elected Olusegun Obasanjo, the former military
head of state, as the new President of Nigeria ending almost 33 years of military rule (from 1966
until 1999) excluding the short-lived second republic (between 1979 and 1983) by military
dictators who seized power in coups d'état and counter-coups during the Nigerian military juntas
of 1966-1979 and 1983-1998. Although the elections which brought Obasanjo to power in 1999
and again in 2003 were condemned as unfree and unfair, Nigeria has shown marked
improvements in attempts to tackle government corruption and to hasten development.
Umaru Yar'Adua of the People's Democratic Party came into power in the general election of
2007 – an election that was witnessed and condemned by the international community as being
severely flawed.[35]
Ethnic violence over the oil producing Niger Delta region and inadequate infrastructures are
some of the current issues in the country.
Yar'Adua died on 5 May 2010. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was sworn in as Yar'Adua's
replacement on 6 May 2010,[36] becoming Nigeria's 14th Head of State, while his vice,a former
Kaduna state governor, Namadi Sambo, an architect,was chosen on 18 May 2010,by the National
Assembly following President Goodluck Jonathan's nomination for Sambo to be his Vice
President.[37][38]
Goodluck Jonathan served as Nigeria's president till April 16 2011,when a new presidential
election in Nigeria was conducted.Goodluck Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party (PDP)
was declared the winner on 19 April 2011,having won the election by a total of 22,495,187 of the
39,469,484 votes cast to stand ahead of Muhammadu Buhari from the main opposition party, the
The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which won 12,214,853 of the total votes cast.[39]
The international media reported the elections as having run smoothly with relatively little
violence or voter fraud in contrast to previous elections.[40]
Government and politics
Nigerian National Assembly
Nigeria is a Federal Republic modelled after the United States, with executive power exercised
by the president and with overtones of the Westminster System model in the composition and
management of the upper and lower houses of the bicameral legislature. The current president of
Nigeria is Goodluck Jonathan, who succeeded Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to the office in 2010. The
president presides as both Head of State and head of the national executive and is elected by
popular vote to a maximum of two four-year terms.
The president's power is checked by a Senate and a House of Representatives, which are
combined in a bicameral body called the National Assembly. The Senate is a 109-seat body with
three members from each state and one from the capital region of Abuja; members are elected by
popular vote to four-year terms. The House contains 360 seats and the number of seats per state
is determined by population.
Ethnocentrism, tribalism, religious persecution, and prebendalism have played a visible role in
Nigerian politics both prior and subsequent to independence in 1960. Kin-selective altruism has
made its way into Nigerian politics and has spurned various attempts by tribalists to concentrate
Federal power to a particular region of their interests.[41] Nationalism has also led to active
secessionist movements such as MASSOB, Nationalist movements such as Oodua Peoples
Congress, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and a civil war. Nigeria's three
largest ethnic groups (Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba) have maintained historical preeminence in
Nigerian politics; competition amongst these three groups has fuelled corruption and graft.[42]
Because of the above issues, Nigeria's current political parties are pan-national and irreligious in
character (though this does not preclude the continuing preeminence of the dominant
ethnicities).[42][43] The major political parties at present include the ruling People's Democratic
Party of Nigeria which maintains 223 seats in the House and 76 in the Senate (61.9% and 69.7%
respectively); the opposition All Nigeria People's Party under the leadership of Muhammadu
Buhari has 96 House seats and 27 in the Senate (26.6% and 24.7%). There are also about twenty
other minor opposition parties registered. The immediate past president, Olusegun Obasanjo,
acknowledged fraud and other electoral "lapses" but said the result reflected opinion polls. In a
national television address he added that if Nigerians did not like the victory of his handpicked
successor they would have an opportunity to vote
again in four years.[44]
Like in many other African societies, prebendalism
and extremely excessive corruption continue to
constitute major challenges to Nigeria, as vote
rigging and other means of coercion are practised
by all major parties in order to remain competitive.
In 1983, it was adjudged by the policy institute at
Kuru that only the 1959 and 1979 elections
witnessed minimal rigging.[45]
National Symbols of Nigeria
Bicolour
Flag
Coat of arms of Nigeria
Emblem
Arise, O Compatriots
Anthem
Eagle
Animal
Black Crowned Crane
Bird
Costus spectabilis
Flower
Football
Sport
Law
There are four distinct systems of law in Nigeria:




English law which is derived from its colonial past with Britain;
Common law, a development of its post colonial independence;
Customary law which is derived from indigenous traditional norms and practice,
including the dispute resolution meetings of pre-colonial Yorubaland secret societies and
the Èkpè and Okónkò of Igboland and Ibibioland;
Sharia law, used only in the predominantly Muslim north of the country. It is an Islamic
legal system which had been used long before the colonial administration in Nigeria but
recently politicised and spearheaded in Zamfara in late 1999 and eleven other states
followed suit. These states are Kano, Katsina, Niger, Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Gombe,
Sokoto, Jigawa, Yobe, and Kebbi.[46]
The country has a judicial branch, the highest court of which is the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Nigeria
ECOWAS building Abuja
Upon gaining independence in 1960, Nigeria made the liberation and restoration of the dignity of
Africa the centrepiece of its foreign policy and played a leading role in the fight against the
apartheid regime in South Africa.[47] One notable exception to the African focus of Nigeria's
foreign policy was the close relationship the country enjoyed with Israel throughout the 1960s,
with the latter country sponsoring and overseeing the construction of Nigeria's parliament
buildings.[48]
Nigeria's foreign policy was soon tested in the 1970s after the country emerged united from its
own civil war and quickly committed itself to the liberation struggles going on in the Southern
Africa sub-region. Though Nigeria never sent an expeditionary force in that struggle, it offered
more than rhetoric to the African National Congress (ANC) by taking a committed tough line
with regard to the racist regime and their incursions in southern Africa, in addition to expediting
large sums to aid anti-colonial struggles. Nigeria was also a founding member of the
Organisation for African Unity (now the African Union), and has tremendous influence in West
Africa and Africa on the whole. Nigeria has additionally founded regional cooperative efforts in
West Africa, functioning as standard-bearer for ECOWAS and ECOMOG, economic and
military organizations respectively.
With this African-centred stance, Nigeria readily sent troops to the Congo at the behest of the
United Nations shortly after independence (and has maintained membership since that time);
Nigeria also supported several Pan African and pro-self government causes in the 1970s,
including garnering support for Angola's MPLA, SWAPO in Namibia, and aiding anti-colonial
struggles in Mozambique, and Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) military and economically.
Nigeria retains membership in the Non-Aligned Movement, and in late November 2006
organized an Africa-South America Summit in Abuja to promote what some attendees termed
"South-South" linkages on a variety of fronts.[49] Nigeria is also a member of the International
Criminal Court, and the Commonwealth of Nations, from which it was temporarily expelled in
1995 under the Abacha regime.
Nigeria has remained a key player in the international oil industry since the 1970s, and maintains
membership in Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC which it joined in July,
1971. Its status as a major petroleum producer figures prominently in its sometimes
vicissitudinous international relations with both developed countries, notably the United States
and more recently China and developing countries, notably Ghana, Jamaica and Kenya.[50]
Millions of Nigerians have emigrated at times of economic hardship to Europe, North America
and Australia among others. It is estimated that over a million Nigerians have emigrated to the
United States and constitute the Nigerian American populace. Of such Diasporic communities
include the "Egbe Omo Yoruba" society.[51]
Military
See also: Military of Nigeria
The Nigerian Military are charged with protecting The Federal Republic of Nigeria, promoting
Nigeria's global security interests, and supporting peacekeeping efforts especially in West Africa.
The Nigerian Military consist of an Army, a Navy and an Air Force. The military in Nigeria have
played a major role in the country's history since independence. Various juntas have seized
control of the country and ruled it through most of its history. Its last period of rule ended in
1999 following the sudden death of former dictator Sani Abacha in 1998, with his successor,
Abdulsalam Abubakar, handing over power to the democratically elected government of
Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999.
Taking advantage of its role as Africa's most populated country, Nigeria has repositioned its
military as an African peacekeeping force. Since 1995, the Nigerian military through ECOMOG
mandates have been deployed as peacekeepers in Liberia (1997), Ivory Coast (1997–1999),
Sierra Leone 1997–1999,[52] and presently in Sudan's Darfur region under an African Union
mandate.
Geography
Main articles: Geography of Nigeria and Climate of Nigeria
Obudu Plateau with cattle in the foreground
Nigeria is located in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea and has a total area of 923,768 km2
(356,669 sq mi),[53] making it the world's 32nd-largest country (after Tanzania). It is comparable
in size to Venezuela, and is about twice the size of California. It shares a 4,047 kilometres
(2,515 mi) border with Benin (773 km), Niger (1497 km), Chad (87 km), Cameroon (1690 km),
and has a coastline of at least 853 km.[54] Nigeria lies between latitudes 4° and 14°N, and
longitudes 2° and 15°E.
The highest point in Nigeria is Chappal Waddi at 2,419 m (7,936 ft). The main rivers are the
Niger and the Benue River which converge and empty into the Niger Delta, one of the world's
largest river deltas and the location of a large area of Central African Mangroves.
Nigeria is also an important center for biodiversity. It is widely believed that the areas
surrounding Calabar, Cross River State, contain the world's largest diversity of butterflies. The
drill monkey is only found in the wild in Southeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.
Nigeria has a varied landscape. The far south is defined by its tropical rainforest climate, where
annual rainfall is 60 to 80 inches (1,524 to 2,032 mm) a year.[55] In the southeast stand the Obudu
Plateau. Coastal plains are found in both the southwest and the southeast.[56] This forest zone's
most southerly portion is defined as salt water swamp, also known as a mangrove swamp
because of the large amount of mangroves in the area. North of this is fresh water swamp,
containing different vegetation from the salt water swamp, and north of that is rain forest.[57][57]
Nigeria's most expansive topographical region is that of the valleys of the Niger and Benue River
valleys (which merge into each other and form a "y" shape).[56] To the southwest of the Niger
there is "rugged" highland, and to the southeast of the Benue are hills and mountains which
forms the Mambilla Plateau,the highest Plateau in Nigeria.This plateau extends to the border
with Cameroon, this montane land is part of the Bamenda Highlands in Cameroon. The area near
the border with Cameroon close to the coast is rich rainforest and part of the Cross-SanagaBioko coastal forests ecoregion, an important centre for biodiversity including the drill monkey
which is only found in the wild in this area and across the border in Cameroon. It is widely
believed that the areas surrounding Calabar, Cross River State, also in this forest, contain the
world's largest diversity of butterflies. The area of southern Nigeria between the Niger and the
Cross Rivers has seen its forest more or less disappear to be replaced by grassland (see CrossNiger transition forests).
Everything in between the far south and the far north, is savannah (insignificant tree cover, with
grasses and flowers located between trees), and rainfall is between 20 and 60 inches (508 and
1,524 mm) per year.[55] The savannah zone's three categories are Guinean forest-savanna mosaic,
plains of tall grass which are interrupted by trees and the most common across the country:
Sudan savannah, similar but with "shorter grasses and shorter trees; and Sahel savannah,
comprised patches of grass and sand, found in the northeast.[57] To the north is the Sahel with its
almost desert-like climate, where rain is less than 20 inches (508 mm) per year and the Sahara
Desert is encroaching.[55] In the dry north-east corner of the country lies Lake Chad, which
Nigeria shares with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Environmental issues
Nigeria's Delta region, home of the large oil industry, experiences serious oil spills and other
environmental problems. See Environmental issues in the Niger Delta for more details, and
Conflict in the Niger Delta about strife which has arisen in connection with those issues.
Waste management including sewage treatment, the linked processes of deforestation and soil
degradation, and climate change or global warming are the major environmental problems in
Nigeria.
Waste management presents problems in a mega city like Lagos and other major Nigerian cities
which are linked with economic development, population growth and the inability of municipal
councils to manage the resulting rise in industrial and domestic waste.
Haphazard industrial planning, increased urbanization, poverty and lack of competence of the
municipal government are seen as the major reasons for high levels of waste pollution in major
Nigerian cities. Some of the 'solutions' have been disastrous to the environment, resulting in
untreated waste being dumped in places where it can pollute waterways and groundwater.[58]
In terms of global warming, Africans contribute only about one metric ton of carbon dioxide per
person per year. It is perceived by many climate change experts that food production and security
in the northern sahel region of the country will suffer as semi-arid areas will have more dry
periods in the future.[59]
Subdivisions
Nigeria is divided into thirty-six states and one Federal Capital Territory, which are further subdivided into 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs). The plethora of states, of which there were
only three at independence, reflect the country's tumultuous history and the difficulties of
managing such a heterogeneous national entity at all levels of government.
Nigeria has six cities with a population of over 1 million people (from largest to smallest: Lagos,
Kano, Ibadan, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, and Benin City). Lagos is the largest city in sub-Saharan
Africa, with a population of over 8 million in its urban area alone. Population of Nigeria's cities
over a million are listed below
Population of major cities
List of cities in Nigeria
City
Population
Lagos
7,937,932
Kano
3,848,885
Ibadan
3,078,400
Kaduna
1,652,844
Port Harcourt 1,320,214
Benin City
1,051,600
Maiduguri
1,044,497
Zaria
1,018,827
However, these figures are regularly disputed in Nigeria.[60]
States of Nigeria, there are a total of 36 states in Nigeria and then Abuja, the federal capital territory.
States:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Abuja
Anambra
Enugu
Akwa Ibom
Adamawa
Abia
Bauchi
Bayelsa
Benue
Borno
Cross River
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
Edo
Ekiti
Gombe
Imo
Jigawa
Kaduna
Kano
Katsina
Kebbi
Kogi
Kwara
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
Niger
Ogun
Ondo
Osun
Oyo
Plateau
Rivers
Sokoto
Taraba
Yobe
12. Delta
13. Ebonyi
25. Lagos
26. Nasarawa
37. Zamfara
Federal Capital Territory: Abuja
Economy
Economy of Nigeria
Lagos Central Business District
Nigeria is classified as a mixed economy emerging market, and has already reached middle
income status according to the Worldbank,[61] with its abundant supply of natural resources,
well-developed financial, legal, communications, transport sectors and stock exchange (the
Nigerian Stock Exchange), which is the second largest in Africa. Nigeria is ranked 37th in the
world in terms of GDP (PPP) as of 2007. Nigeria is the United States' largest trading partner in
sub-Saharan Africa and supplies a fifth of its oil (11% of oil imports). It has the seventh-largest
trade surplus with the U.S. of any country worldwide. Nigeria is currently the 50th-largest export
market for U.S. goods and the 14th-largest exporter of goods to the U.S. The United States is the
country's largest foreign investor.[62]
February 2011: According to Citigroup, Nigeria will get the highest average GDP growth in the
world between 2010–2050. Nigeria is one of two countries from Africa among 11 Global
Growth Generators countries.[63]
Previously, economic development had been hindered by years of military rule, corruption, and
mismanagement. The restoration of democracy and subsequent economic reforms have
successfully put Nigeria back on track towards achieving its full economic potential. It is now
the second largest economy in Africa (following South Africa), and the largest economy in the
West Africa Region.[64]
During the oil boom of the 1970s, Nigeria accumulated a significant foreign debt to finance
major infrastructural investments. With the fall of oil prices during the 1980s oil glut Nigeria
struggled to keep up with its loan payments and eventually defaulted on its principal debt
repayments, limiting repayment to the interest portion of the loans. Arrears and penalty interest
accumulated on the unpaid principal which increased the size of the debt.
However, after negotiations by the Nigeria authorities, in October 2005 Nigeria and its Paris
Club creditors reached an agreement in which Nigeria repurchased its debt at a discount of
approximately 60%. Nigeria used part of its oil profits to pay the residual 40%, freeing up at
least $1.15 billion annually for poverty reduction programmes. Nigeria made history in April
2006 by becoming the first African Country to completely pay off its debt (estimated $30 billion)
owed to the Paris Club.
Key sectors
Obafemi Awolowo University Palm farm, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world and the 8th largest exporter, and
has the 10th largest proven reserves. (The country joined OPEC in 1971). Petroleum plays a
large role in the Nigerian economy, accounting for 40% of GDP and 80% of Government
earnings. However, agitation for better resource control in the Niger Delta, its main oil producing
region, has led to disruptions in oil production and currently prevents the country from exporting
at 100% capacity.[65]
Nigeria has one of the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world, major emerging
market operators (like MTN, Etisalat, Zain and Globacom) basing their largest and most
profitable centres in the country.[66] The government has recently begun expanding this
infrastructure to space based communications. Nigeria has a space satellite which is monitored at
the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency Headquarters in Abuja.
The country has a highly developed financial services sector, with a mix of local and
international banks, asset management companies, brokerage houses, insurance companies and
brokers, private equity funds and investment banks.[67]
Nigeria also has a wide array of underexploited mineral resources which include natural gas,
coal, bauxite, tantalite, gold, tin, iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead and zinc.[68] Despite huge
deposits of these natural resources, the mining industry in Nigeria is still in its infancy.
Agriculture used to be the principal foreign exchange earner of Nigeria.[69] At one time, Nigeria
was the world's largest exporter of groundnuts, cocoa, and palm oil and a significant producer of
coconuts, citrus fruits, maize, pearl millet, cassava, yams and sugar cane. About 60% of
Nigerians work in the agricultural sector, and Nigeria has vast areas of underutilized arable
land.[70]
It also has a manufacturing industry which includes leather and textiles (centred Kano,
Abeokuta, Onitsha, and Lagos), car manufacturing (for the French car manufacturer Peugeot as
well as for the English truck manufacturer Bedford, now a subsidiary of General Motors), tshirts, plastics and processed food.
The country has recently made considerable amount of revenue from home made Nigerian
Movies which are sold locally and Internationally. These movies are popular in other African
countries and among African immigrants in Europe.
Science and technology
Abuja Space Center
Three satellites have been launched by the Nigerian government into space. The Nigeriasat-1
was the first satellite to be built under the Nigerian government sponsorship. The satellite was
launched from Russia on 27 September 2003. Nigeriasat-1 was part of the world-wide Disaster
Monitoring Constellation System.[71] The primary objectives of the Nigeriasat-1 were:



To give early warning signals of environmental disaster.
To help detect and control desertification in the northern part of Nigeria.
To assist in demographic planning.



To establish the relationship between malaria vectors and the environment that breeds malaria
and to give early warning signals on future outbreaks of meningitis using remote sensing
technology.
To provide the technology needed to bring education to all parts of the country through distant
learning.
To aid in conflict resolution and border disputes by mapping out state and International borders.
Nigeriasat-2
Nigeriasat-2, Nigeria's second satellite,was build as a high-resolution earth satellite, built by a
United Kingdom-based satellite technology company, Surrey Space Technology Limited.
Nigeriasat-2 has 2.5-metre resolution panchromatic (very high resolution), 5-metre multispectral
(high resolution, NIR red, green and red bands) and 32-metre multispectral (medium resolution,
NIR red, green and red bands) with ground receiving station in Abuja. The NigeriaSat-2
spacecraft alone was built at a cost of over £35 million.[citation needed] This satellite was launched
into orbit from a military base in China.[71] NigComSat-1, a Nigerian satellite built in 2004, was
Nigeria's third satellite and Africa's first communication satellite. It was launched on 13 May
2007, aboard a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre
in China. The spacecraft was operated by NigComSat and the Nigerian Space Agency,
NASRDA. On November 11, 2008, NigComSat-1 failed in orbit after running out of power due
to an anomaly in its solar array.
Specifications
It was based on the Chinese DFH-4 satellite bus, and carries a variety of transponders:




4 C-band
14 Ku-band
8 Ka-band
2 L-band
It was designed to provide coverage to many parts of Africa, and the Ka-band transponders
would also cover Italy.
On 10 November 2008 (0900 GMT), the satellite was reportedly switched off for analysis and to
avoid a possible collision with other satellites. According to Nigerian Communications Satellite
Limited, it was put into "emergency mode operation in order to effect mitigation and repairs".[72]
The satellite eventually failed after losing power on 11 November 2008.
On March 24, 2009, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, NigComSat Ltd.
and CGWIC signed a further contract for the in-orbit delivery of the NigComSat-1R satellite.
NigComSat-1R was also a DFH-4 satellite, and is expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter
of 2011 as a replacement for the failed NigComSat-1.[73]
Demographics
Demographics of Nigeria
Education in Nigeria and List of Nigerian universities
Population density in Nigeria
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa but exactly how populous is a subject of
speculation. The United Nations estimates that the population in 2009 was at 154,729,000,
distributed as 51.7% rural and 48.3% urban, and with a population density of 167.5 people per
square kilometer. National census results in the past few decades have been disputed. The results
of the most recent census were released in December 2006 and gave a population of
140,003,542. The only breakdown available was by gender: males numbered 71,709,859,
females numbered 68,293,08.
According to the United Nations, Nigeria has been undergoing explosive population growth and
one of the highest growth and fertility rates in the world. By their projections, Nigeria is one of
eight countries expected to account collectively for half of the world's total population increase
from 2005–2050.[74] By 2100 the UN estimates that the Nigerian population will be no less than
730 million.[75] In 1950, Nigeria had only 33 million people.[76]
According to current data, one out of every four Africans is Nigerian.[77] Presently, Nigeria is the
eighth most populous country in the world, and even conservative estimates conclude that more
than 20% of the world's black population lives in Nigeria. 2006 estimates claim 42.3% of the
population is between 0–14 years of age, while 54.6% is between 15–65; the birth rate is
significantly higher than the death rate, at 40.4 and 16.9 per 1000 people respectively.[78]
Health, health care, and general living conditions in Nigeria are poor. Life expectancy is 47 years
(average male/female) and just over half the population has access to potable water and
appropriate sanitation; the percentage is of children under five has gone up rather than down
between 1990 and 2003 and infant mortality is 97.1 deaths per 1000 live births.[78] HIV/AIDS
rate in Nigeria is much lower compared to the other African nations such as Kenya or South
Africa whose prevalence (percentage) rates are in the double digits. In 2003, the HIV prevalence
rate among 20 to 29 year-olds was 5.6%.[79] Nigeria suffers from periodic outbreaks of cholera,
malaria, and sleeping sickness. It is the only country in Africa to have never eradicated polio,
which it periodically exports to other African countries. A 2004 vaccination drive, spearheaded
by the W.H.O. to combat polio and malaria, met with some opposition in the north,[80] but polio
was cut 98% between 2009 and 2010.
Education is in a state of neglect. After the 1970s oil boom, tertiary education was improved so
that it would reach every subregion of Nigeria. Education is provided free by the government,
but the attendance rate for secondary education is only 29% (32% for males, 27% for females).
The education system has been described as "dysfunctional" largely because of decaying
institutional infrastructure. 68% of the population is literate, and the rate for men (75.7%) is
higher than that for women (60.6%).[78]
Nigeria's largest city is Lagos. Lagos has grown from about 300,000 in 1950[81] to an estimated
15 million today, and the Nigerian government estimates that city will have expanded to 25
million residents by 2015.[82]
Ethno-linguistic groups
A Hausa harpist
Igbo men
Yoruba drummers
Nigeria has more than 250 ethnic groups, with varying languages and customs, creating a
country of rich ethnic diversity. The largest ethnic groups are the Fulani/Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo,
accounting for 68% of population,(Quote Source) while the Edo, Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Ebira
Nupe and Tiv comprise 27%; other minorities make up the remaining 7%.[83] The middle belt of
Nigeria is known for its diversity of ethnic groups, including the Pyem, Goemai, and Kofyar.
The official population count of each of Nigeria's ethnicities has always remained controversial
and disputed as members of different ethnic groups believe the census is rigged to give a
particular group (usually believed to be northern groups) numerical superiority.[60][84][85]
There are small minorities of British, American, East Indian, Chinese (est. 50,000),[86] white
Zimbabwean,[87] Japanese, Greek, Syrian and Lebanese immigrants in Nigeria. Immigrants also
include those from other West African or East African nations. These minorities mostly reside in
major cities such as Lagos and Abuja, or in the Niger Delta as employees for the major oil
companies. A number of Cubans settled in Nigeria as political refugees following the Cuban
Revolution.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a number of ex-slaves of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian
descent[88] and emigrants from Sierra Leone established communities in Lagos and other regions
of Nigeria. Many ex-slaves came to Nigeria following the emancipation of slaves in the
Americas. Many of the immigrants, sometimes called Saros (immigrants from Sierra Leone) and
Amaro (ex-slaves from Brazil)[89] later became prominent merchants and missionaries in these
cities.
Language
Linguistic map of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin
Main article: Languages of Nigeria
The number of languages currently estimated and catalogued in Nigeria is 521. This number
includes 510 living languages, two second languages without native speakers and nine extinct
languages. In some areas of Nigeria, ethnic groups speak more than one language. The official
language of Nigeria, English, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the
country. The choice of English as the official language was partially related to the fact that a part
of the Nigerian population spoke English as a result of British colonization that ended in 1960.
The major languages spoken in Nigeria represent three major families of African languages – the
majority are Niger-Congo languages, such as Yoruba, Igbo, the Hausa language is Afro-Asiatic;
and Kanuri, spoken in the northeast, primarily Borno State, is a member of the Nilo-Saharan
family. Even though most ethnic groups prefer to communicate in their own languages, English,
being the official language, is widely used for education, business transactions and for official
purposes. English as a first language, however, remains an exclusive preserve of a small minority
of the country's urban elite, and it is not spoken at all in some rural areas. With the majority of
Nigeria's populace in the rural areas, the major languages of communication in the country
remain indigenous languages. Some of the largest of these, notably Yoruba and Igbo, have
derived standardized languages from a number of different dialects and are widely spoken by
those ethnic groups. Nigerian Pidgin English, often known simply as 'Pidgin' or 'Broken' (Broken
English), is also a popular lingua franca, though with varying regional influences on dialect and
slang. The pidgin English or Nigerian English is widely spoken within the Niger Delta Regions,
predominately in Warri, Sapele, Port Harcourt, Agenebode, Ewu, and Benin City.[90]
Culture
Main article: Culture of Nigeria
Literature
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is Nigeria's most popular and best selling literary piece ever,
translated into over 40 languages[91]
Main article: Nigerian literature
Nigerian citizens have authored many influential works of post-colonial literature in the English
language. Nigeria's best-known writers are Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Laureate in
Literature, and Chinua Achebe, best known for the novel, Things Fall Apart and his
controversial critique of Joseph Conrad. Other Nigerian writers and poets who are well known
internationally include John Pepper Clark, Ben Okri, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Helon
Habila, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed in 1995 by the military
regime, and Saintmoses Eromosele a poet, playwright and social critic who wrote his first book,
a novela, at the age of 16 and while still a secondary school student. Nigeria has the second
largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt) with an estimated circulation of several million
copies daily in 2003.
Music and film
Main articles: Music of Nigeria and Cinema of Nigeria
Nigeria has a role in the development of West African highlife, afrobeat, and palm-wine music,
which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo, Brazil, Cuba, and
elsewhere.
Many late 20th century musicians such as Fela Kuti have famously fused cultural elements of
various indigenous music with American Jazz and Soul to form Afrobeat.[92] JuJu music which is
percussion music fused with traditional music from the Yoruba nation and made famous by King
Sunny Adé, is also from Nigeria. There is also fuji music, a Yoruba percussion style, created and
popularized by Mr. Fuji, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister. The is also the Afan Music invented and
popularized by the Ewuborn poet and musician Umuobuarie Igberaese.
There is a budding hip hop movement in Nigeria. Kennis Music, the self-proclaimed number-one
record label in Africa, and one of Nigeria's biggest record labels, has a roster almost entirely
dominated by hip hop artists.[citation needed]
Some famous musicians that come from Nigeria are Fela Kuti, Dele Sosimi, Adewale Ayuba,
Ezebuiro Obinna, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, King Sunny Adé, Ebenezer Obey, Umobuarie
Igberaese, Femi Kuti, Lagbaja, Dr. Alban, Sade Adu, Wasiu Alabi, Bola Abimbola,Zaki Adze,
Tuface Idibia, D Banj and P Square.
In November 2008, Nigeria's music scene (and that of Africa) received international attention
when MTV hosted the continent's first African music awards show in Abuja.[93]
The Nigerian video-film industry is known as Nollywood, which is now the second-largest
producer of movies in the world. Many of the film studios are based in Lagos and Enugu, and the
industry is now a very lucrative income for these cities.
T.B. Joshua's Emmanuel TV, originating from Nigeria, is also one of the most viewed television
stations across Africa.[94]
Religion
Main article: Religion in Nigeria
The Abuja National Mosque
National Church of Nigeria, Abuja
Nigeria is home to a variety of religions which tend to vary regionally. This situation accentuates
regional and ethnic distinctions and has often been seen as a source of sectarian conflict amongst
the population.[95] Even though, Nigeria is apparently divided equally between Islam and
Christianity between north and south, it is evident that across Nigeria there is widespread belief,
albeit suppressed for political reasons, in traditional religious practices.
Based on a 2009 World Religious survey (Mapping out the Global Muslim Population) 50.4% of
Nigeria's population were Muslims,[96] 48.2% were Christian (15% Protestant, 13.7% Catholic,
and 19.6% other Christian), and followers of other religions were 1.4%.[97] The core north is
largely Muslim, there are large numbers of both Muslims and Christians in the Middle Belt,
including the Federal Capital Territory. In the west of the country, especially in the Yorubaland,
the population is said to be evenly divided between Muslims and Christians, while in the
southeastern regions are predominantly Christians with widespread traditional beliefs, Catholics,
Anglicans, and Methodists are the majority with few traditional beliefs, while the Niger Delta
region is mainly Christian.[98]
The majority of Nigerian Muslims are Sunni, but a significant Shia and Sufi minority exists (see
Shia in Nigeria) and a small minority of Ahmadiyya. Some northern states have incorporated
Sharia law into their previously secular legal systems, which has brought about some
controversy.[99] Kano State has sought to incorporate Sharia law into its constitution.[100]
Christian Nigerians are about evenly split between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
Leading Protestant churches are the Church of Nigeria, of the Anglican communion, Assemblies
of God Church, Nigeria, Redeemed Christian Church of God, the Nigerian Baptist Convention
and The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations. The Yoruba area contains a large Anglican
population, while Igboland is predominantly Catholic and the Edo area is predominantly
Assemblies of God which was introduced into Nigeria by Gabrial Ojemekele Oyakhilome and
his associates at Enugu.
Across Yorubaland in the west many people are adherents to Yorubo/Irunmole spirituality with
its philosophy of divine destiny that all can become Orisha (ori, spiritual head; sha, is chosen: to
be one with Olodumare (oni odu, the God source of all energy; ma re, enlighthens / triumphs).
Across Nigeria, there is a growing tendency to abandon Christianity and Islam in favour of
traditional religions.
Other minority religious and spiritual groups in Nigeria include Hinduism,[101] Judaism, The
Bahá’í Faith, and Chrislam (a syncretic faith melding elements of Christianity and Islam).[102]
Further, Nigeria has become an African hub for the Grail Movement[citation needed] and the Hare
Krishnas.[103]
Cuisine
Main article: Cuisine of Nigeria
Nigerian cuisine, like West African cuisine in general, is known for its richness and variety.
Many different spices, herbs and flavourings are used in conjunction with palm oil or groundnut
oil to create deeply flavoured sauces and soups often made very hot with chili peppers. Nigerian
feasts are colourful and lavish, while aromatic market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues
or fried in oil are plentiful and varied.[104]
Sport
Inside Abuja Stadium
Main article: Football in Nigeria
Football is Nigeria's national sport and the country has its own Premier League of football.
Nigeria's national football team, known as the Super Eagles, has made the World Cup on four
occasions 1994, 1998, 2002, and most recently in 2010. They won the African Cup of Nations in
1980 and 1994, and also hosted the Junior World Cup. They won the gold medal for football in
the 1996 Summer Olympics (in which they beat Argentina).
The nation's cadet team to Japan '93 produced some international players notably Nwankwo
Kanu, a two-time African Footballer of the year who won the European Champions League with
Ajax Amsterdam and later played with Inter Milan (Italy), Arsenal FC (London, UK), West
Bromwich Albion (UK) and Portsmouth F.C. (UK). Other players that graduated from the Junior
teams are Celestine Babayaro (of Newcastle United, UK), Wilson Oruma and Taye Taiwo (of
Marseille, France).
According to the official May 2010 FIFA World Rankings, Nigeria was the second top-ranked
football nation in Africa and the 21st highest in the world. Nigeria is also involved in other sports
such as basketball, cricket and track and field.[105] Boxing is also an important sport in Nigeria;
Dick Tiger and Samuel Peter are both former World Champions.
Societal issues
Despite its vast government revenue from the mining of petroleum, Nigeria is faced by a number
of societal issues due primarily to a history of inefficiency in its governance.
Human rights
Main article: Human rights in Nigeria
Nigeria's human rights record remains poor and government officials at all levels continue to
commit serious abuses.[106]
According to the U.S. Department of State,[106] the most significant human rights problems are:
extrajudicial killings and use of excessive force by security forces; impunity for abuses by
security forces; arbitrary arrests; prolonged pretrial detention; judicial corruption and executive
influence on the judiciary; rape, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of
prisoners, detainees and suspects; harsh and life-threatening prison and detention center
conditions; human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution and forced labor; societal violence
and vigilante killings; child labor, child abuse and child sexual exploitation; female genital
mutilation (FGM); domestic violence; discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, region and
religion; restrictions on freedom of assembly, movement, press, speech and religion;
infringement of privacy rights; and the abridgement of the right of citizens to change the
government.
Under the Shari'a penal code that applies to Muslims in twelve northern states, offenses such as
alcohol consumption, homosexuality, infidelity and theft carry harsh sentences, including
amputation, lashing, stoning and long prison terms.[107]
Strife and sectarian violence
See also: Conflict in the Niger Delta and Nigerian sectarian violence
Because of its multitude of diverse, sometimes competing ethno-linguistic groups, Nigeria prior
to independence has been faced with sectarian tensions and violence. This is particularly a major
issue in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, where both state and civilian forces employ
varying methods of coercion in attempts gain control over regional petroleum resources. Some of
the ethnic groups like the Ogoni, have experienced severe environmental degradation due to
petroleum extraction.
Since the end of the civil war in 1970, some ethnic violence has persisted. There has
subsequently been a period of relative harmony since the Federal Government introduced tough
new measures against religious violence in all affected parts of the country.
In 2002, organizers of the Miss World Pageant were forced to move the pageant from the
Nigerian capital, Abuja, to London in the wake of violent protests in the Northern part of the
country that left more than 100 people dead and over 500 injured.[citation needed] The rioting erupted
after Muslims in the country reacted in anger to comments made by a newspaper reporter.
Rioters in Kaduna killed an estimated 105 men, women, and children with a further 521 injured
taken to hospital.
Health issues
Further information: Health care in Nigeria
Nigeria has been reorganizing its health system since the Bamako Initiative of 1987 formally
promoted community-based methods of increasing accessibility of drugs and health care services
to the population, in part by implementing user fees.[108] The new strategy dramatically increased
accessibility through community-based healthcare reform, resulting in more efficient and
equitable provision of services. A comprehensive approach strategy was extended to all areas of
health care, with subsequent improvement in the health care indicators and improvement in
health care efficiency and cost.[109]
The Nigerian health care system is continuously faced with a shortage of doctors known as 'brain
drain' due to the fact that many highly skilled Nigerian doctors emigrate to North America and
Europe.[citation needed] In 1995, it was estimated that 21,000 Nigerian doctors were practicing in the
United States alone, which about the same as the number of doctors working in the Nigerian
public service. Retaining these expensively trained professionals has been identified as one of the
goals of the government.[110]
Education
Main article: Education in Nigeria
Children at school in Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Nigeria provides free, government-supported education, but attendance is not compulsory at any
level, and certain groups, such as nomads and the handicapped, are under-served. The education
system consists of six years of primary school, three years of junior secondary school, three
years of senior secondary school, and four years of university education leading to a bachelor’s
degree. The rate of secondary school attendance is 32% for males and 27% for females. In 2004
the Nigerian National Planning Commission described the country’s education system as
“dysfunctional.” Reasons for this characterization included decaying institutions and ill-prepared
graduates.[111]
Crime
Further information: Nigerian organized crime, Confraternities in Nigeria, Piracy in
Nigeria, and Advance fee fraud
Nigeria is home to a substantial network of organized crime, active especially in drug trafficking.
Nigerian criminal groups are heavily involved in drug trafficking, shipping heroin from Asian
countries to Europe and America; and cocaine from South America to Europe and South Africa.
.[112] The various Nigerian Confraternities or "campus cults" are active in both organized crime
and in political violence as well as providing a network of corruption within Nigeria. As
confraternities have extensive connections with political and military figures, they offer excellent
alumni networking opportunities. The Supreme Vikings Confraternity, for example, boasts that
twelve members of the Rivers State House of Assembly are cult members.[113] On lower levels of
society, there are the "area boys", organized gangs mostly active in Lagos who specialize in
mugging and small-scale drug dealing. According to official statistics, gang violence in Lagos
resulted in 273 civilians and 84 policemen killed in the period of August 2000 to May 2001.[114]
Internationally, Nigeria is infamous for a crime dubbed 419, a type of advance fee fraud (named
after Section 419 of the Nigerian Penal Code) along with the "Nigerian scam", a form of
confidence trick practiced by individuals and criminal syndicates.[115] In 2003, the Nigerian
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (or EFCC) was created to combat this and other
forms of organized financial crime.[116]
There is also some Piracy in Nigeria, with attacks mainly directed at smaller ships shuttling
employees and materials belonging to the oil companies with any involvement in oil exploration
in the Niger Delta. From January 1, 2007 to October 29, 2007, twenty-six pirate attacks were
recorded.[117]
Media representation
Documentary




Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, an audio documentary
produced by Amy Goodman first aired in 1998 on Democracy Now!
Sweet Crude, a documentary film produced and directed by Sandy Cioffi about Nigeria's
oil-rich Niger Delta
Poison Fire, a documentary exposing oil and gas abuses in Nigeria, featuring Friends of
the Earth Nigeria volunteers, which premiered at the International Documentary Film
Festival Amsterdam
Nollywood Babylon, a 2008 documentary by Montrealers Ben Addelman and Samir
Mallal about the Nigerian film industry, Nollywood. It premiered at the Festival de
nouveau cinéma de Montréal 2008.
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History of Nigeria
History of Nigeria
This article is part of a series
Prehistory
Ancient and Middle Ages
(Before 1500)
Early modern period
(1500–1800)
Colonial Nigeria
(1800–1960)
Nigerian First Republic
(1960-1979)
Civil War
(1967–1970)
History of Nigeria (1979–1999)
Nigerian Second Republic
(1979-1983)
Nigerian Third Republic
(1993-1999)
Nigerian Fourth Republic
(1999–present)
Topics
History of the Igbo people
History of the Yoruba people
Nigeria Portal
v·d·e
Contents
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1 Early history
2 Akwa Akpa
3 Yoruba
4 The Igbo states
o 4.1 Nri Kingdom
5 Early states before 1500
o 5.1 Oyo and Benin
6 Northern kingdoms of the Savanna
7 Kanem-Bornu Empire
8 Hausa states
9 Pre-colonial states, 1500-1800
o 9.1 Savanna states
10 A British sphere of influence
11 Independence
12 First Republic
o 12.1 First period of military rule
13 Second Republic
14 The abortive Third Republic
o 14.1 Sani Abacha
o 14.2 Abubakar's transition to civilian
rule
15 Fourth Republic
16 Yar'Adua's disappearance and Jonathan's
succession
17 Further reading
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18 References
19 External links
Early history
Archaeological research, pioneered by Thurstan Shaw and Steve Daniels,[1] has shown that
people were already living in southwestern Nigeria (specifically Iwo-Eleru) as early as 9000 BC
and perhaps earlier at Ugwuelle-Uturu (Okigwe) in southeastern Nigeria, where microliths were
used.[2] Smelting furnaces at Taruga dating from the 4th century BC provide the oldest evidence
of metalworking in Archaeology.
The earliest known example of a fossil skeleton with negroid features, perhaps 10,000 years old,
was found at Iii Ileru in western Nigeria and attests to the antiquity of habitation in the region.[3]
Microlithic and ceramic industries were also developed by savanna pastoralists from at least the
4th millennium BC and were continued by subsequent agricultural communities. In the south,
hunting and gathering gave way to subsistence farming in the first millennium BC and the
cultivation of staple foods.
The stone axe heads, imported in great quantities from the north and used in opening the forest
for agricultural development, were venerated by the Yoruba descendants of neolithic pioneers as
"thunderbolts" hurled to earth by the gods.[3]
Kainji Dam excavations revealed iron-working by the 2nd century BC. The transition from
Neolithic times to the Iron Age apparently was achieved without intermediate bronze production.
Others suggest the technology moved west from the Nile Valley, although the Iron Age in the
Niger River valley and the forest region appears to predate the introduction of metallurgy in the
upper savanna by more than 800 years. The earliest identified iron using Nigerian culture is that
of the Nok culture that thrived between approximately 900 BC and 200 AD on the Jos Plateau in
northeastern Nigeria. Information is lacking from the first millennium AD following the Nok
ascendancy, but by the 2nd millennium AD there was active trade from North Africa through the
Sahara to the forest, with the people of the savanna acting as intermediaries in exchanges of
various goods.
Akwa Akpa
Main article: Akwa Akpa
The modern city of Calabar was founded in 1786 by Efik families (a branch of the Ibibio) who
had left Creek Town, further up the Calabar river, settling on the east bank in a position where
they were able to dominate traffic with European vessels that anchored in the river, and soon
becoming the most powerful in the region.[4] Akwa Akpa became a center of the slave trade,
where slaves were exchanged for European goods.[5] Most slave ships that transported slaves
from Calabar were English, and around 85% of these ships being from Bristol and Liverpool
merchants.[6] The main ethnic group taken out of Calabar as slaves were the Igbo, although they
were not the main ethnicity in the area.[7]
With the suppression of the slave trade, palm oil and palm kernels became the main exports. The
chiefs of Akwa Akpa placed themselves under British protection in 1884.[8] From 1884 until
1906 Old Calabar was the headquarters of the Niger Coast Protectorate, after which Lagos
became the main center.[8] Now called Calabar, the city remained an important port shipping
ivory, timber, beeswax, and palm produce until 1916, when the railway terminus was opened at
Port Harcourt, 145 km to the west.[9]
Yoruba
Historically the Yoruba have been the dominant group on the west bank of the Niger. Of mixed
origin, they were the product of periodic waves of migrants. Their nearest linguistic relatives are
the Igala who live on the opposite side of the Benue/Niger divergence, and from whom they are
believed to have split about 2,000 years ago. The Yoruba were organized in patrilineal groups
that occupied village communities and subsisted on agriculture. From approximately the 8th
century AD., adjacent village compounds called ile coalesced into numerous territorial city-states
in which clan loyalties became subordinate to dynastic chieftains. Urbanization was
accompanied by high levels of artistic achievement, particularly in terracotta and ivory sculpture
and in the sophisticated metal casting produced at Ife.
The Yoruba paid tribute to a pantheon headed by an impersonal deity, Olorun, as well as lesser
deities who performed various tasks. Oduduwa was regarded as the creator of the earth and the
ancestor of the Yoruba kings. According to myth Oduduwa founded Ife and dispatched his sons
to establish it.
The Igbo states
Main articles: Awka, Onitsha, Owerri, Aro Confederacy, and Abiriba
With the decline of Nri kingdom in the 1400-1600 AD, several states once under their influence,
became powerful economic oracular oligarchies and large commercial states that dominated
Igboland. The neighboring Awka city-state rose in power as a result of their powerful Agbala
oracle and metalworking expertise. The Onitsha Kingdom, which was originally inhabited by
Igbos from East of the Niger, was founded in the 16th century by migrants from Anioma
(Western Igboland) and Benin. Later groups like the Igala traders from the hinterland settled in
Onitsha in the 18nth century. Western Igbo kingdoms like Aboh, dominated trade in the lower
Niger area from the 17th century until European penetration. The Umunoha state in the Owerri
area used the Igwe ka Ala oracle at their advantage. However, the Cross River Igbo state like the
Aro had the greatest influence in Igboland and adjacent areas after the decline of Nri.
The Arochukwu kingdom which emerged after the Aro-Ibibio wars from 1630–1720, and went
on to form the Aro Confederacy which economically dominated parts of midwestern and eastern
Nigeria with pockets of influence in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. The source of the Aro
Confederacy's economic dominance was based on the judicial oracle of Ibini Ukpabi ("Long
Juju") and their military forces which included powerful allies such as Ohafia, Abam, Ezza, and
other related neighboring states. The related Abiriba (Abiriba and Aro Are Brothers who's
migration is traced to Ekpa Kingdom in East of Cross Qua Ibo River)(their exact take of location
was at Ekpa (Mkpa) east of the Cross (Qua Ibo) river. They crossed the river to urupkam
(Usukpam) west of the Cross river and founded two settlements - Ena Uda and Ena Ofia in
present day Erai in Cross River state Nigeria) Aro and Abiriba cooperated to become a powerful
economic force.
Igbo gods, like those of the Yoruba, were numerous, but their relationship to one another and
human beings was essentially egalitarian, reflecting Igbo society as a whole. A number of oracles
and local cults attracted devotees while the central deity, the earth mother and fertility figure Ala,
was venerated at shrines throughout Igboland.
The weakness of a popular theory that Igbos were stateless rests on the paucity of historical
evidence of pre-colonial Igbo society. There is a huge gap between the archaeological finds of
Igbo Ukwu, which reveal a rich material culture in the heart of the Igbo region in the 8th century,
and the oral traditions of the 20th century. Benin exercised considerable influence on the western
Igbo who adopted many of the political structures familiar to the Yoruba-Benin region. Ofega
was the queen.
Nri Kingdom
Main article: Kingdom of Nri
The city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture.[10] Nri and Aguleri, where the
Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umueri clan, who trace their lineages
back to the patriarchal king-figure, Eri.[11] Eri's origins are unclear, though he has been described
as a "sky being" sent by Chukwu (God).[11][12] He has been characterized as having first given
societal order to the people of Anambra.[12]
Archaeological evidence suggests that Nri hegemony in Igboland may go back as far as the 9th
century,[13] and royal burials have been unearthed dating to at least the 10th century. Eri, the godlike founder of Nri, is believed to have settled the region around 948 with other related Igbo
cultures following after in the 13th century.[14] The first Eze Nri (King of Nri), Ìfikuánim,
followed directly after him. According to Igbo oral tradition, his reign started in 1043.[15] At least
one historian puts Ìfikuánim's reign much later, around 1225 AD.[16]
“
Each king traces his origin back to the founding ancestor, Eri. Each king is a ritual
reproduction of Eri. The initiation rite of a new king shows that the ritual process of
becoming Ezenri (Nri priest-king) follows closely the path traced by the hero in
establishing the Nri kingdom.
E. Elochukwu Uzukwu[17]
”
“
Nri and Aguleri and part of the Umueri clan, a cluster of Igbo village groups which
traces its origins to a sky being called Eri, and, significantly, includes (from the
viewpoint of its Igbo members) the neighbouring kingdom of Igala.
Elizabeth Allo Isichei[18]
”
The Kingdom of Nri was a religio-polity, a sort of theocratic state, that developed in the central
heartland of the Igbo region.[14] The Nri had a taboo symbolic code with six types. These
included human (such as the birth of twins), animal (such as killing or eating of pythons),[19]
object, temporal, behavioral, speech and place taboos.[20] The rules regarding these taboos were
used to educate and govern Nri's subjects. This meant that, while certain Igbo may have lived
under different formal administration, all followers of the Igbo religion had to abide by the rules
of the faith and obey its representative on earth, the Eze Nri.[20][21] by mfonini usoro
Early states before 1500
Main article: History of Nigeria before 1500
The early independent Kingdoms and states that make the present day British colonialized
Nigeria are (in alphabetical order):
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Benin Kingdom
Borgu Kingdom
Fulani Empire
Hausa Kingdoms
Kanem Bornu Empire
Kwararafa Kingdom
Ibibio Kingdom
Nri Kingdom
Nupe Kingdom
Oyo Kingdom
Songhai Empire
Warri Kingdom
Oyo and Benin
Main article: Oyo Empire
During the 15th century Oyo and Benin surpassed Ife as political and economic powers, although
Ife preserved its status as a religious center. Respect for the priestly functions of the oni of Ife
was a crucial factor in the evolution of Yoruban culture. The Ife model of government was
adapted at Oyo, where a member of its ruling dynasty controlled several smaller city-states. A
state council (the Oyo Mesi) named the alafin (king) and acted as a check on his authority. Their
capital city was situated about 100 km north of present-day Oyo. Unlike the forest-bound
Yoruba kingdoms, Oyo was in the savanna and drew its military strength from its cavalry forces,
which established hegemony over the adjacent Nupe and the Borgu kingdoms and thereby
developed trade routes farther to the north.
Main article: Benin Empire
Northern kingdoms of the Savanna
The Songhai Empire, c. 1500
Trade is the key to the emergence of organized communities in the savanna portions of Nigeria.
Prehistoric inhabitants adjusting to the encroaching desert were widely scattered by the third
millennium BC, when the desiccation of the Sahara began. Trans-Saharan trade routes linked
western Sudan with the Mediterranean since the time of Carthage and with the Upper Nile from a
much earlier date, establishing avenues of communication and cultural influence that remained
open until the end of the 19th century. By these same routes, Islam made its way south into West
Africa after the 9th century AD.
By then a string of dynastic states, including the earliest Hausa states, stretched across western
and central Sudan. The most powerful of these states were Ghana, Gao, and Kanem, which were
not within the boundaries of modern Nigeria but which influenced the history of the Nigerian
savanna. Ghana declined in the 11th century but was succeeded by the Mali Empire which
consolidated much of western Sudan in the 13th century.
Following the breakup of Mali a local leader named Sonni Ali (1464–1492) founded the Songhai
Empire in the region of middle Niger and the western Sudan and took control of the transSaharan trade. Sonni Ali seized Timbuktu in 1468 and Jenne in 1473, building his regime on
trade revenues and the cooperation of Muslim merchants. His successor Askia Muhammad Ture
(1493–1528) made Islam the official religion, built mosques, and brought Muslim scholars,
including al-Maghili (d.1504), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim
scholarship, to Gao.[22]
Although these western empires had little political influence on the Nigerian savanna before
1500, they had a strong cultural and economic impact that became more pronounced in the 16th
century, especially because these states became associated with the spread of Islam and trade.
Throughout the 16th century much of northern Nigeria paid homage to Songhai in the west or to
Borno, a rival empire in the east.
Kanem-Bornu Empire
Main article: Kanem-Bornu Empire
Borno's history is closely associated with Kanem, which had achieved imperial status in the Lake
Chad basin by the 13th century. Kanem expanded westward to include the area that became
Borno. The mai (king) of Kanem and his court accepted Islam in the 11th century, as the western
empires also had done. Islam was used to reinforce the political and social structures of the state
although many established customs were maintained. Women, for example, continued to
exercise considerable political influence.
The mai employed his mounted bodyguard and an inchoate army of nobles to extend Kanem's
authority into Borno. By tradition the territory was conferred on the heir to the throne to govern
during his apprenticeship. In the 14th century, however, dynastic conflict forced the then-ruling
group and its followers to relocate in Borno, where as a result the Kanuri emerged as an ethnic
group in the late 14th century and 15th century. The civil war that disrupted Kanem in the second
half of the 14th century resulted in the independence of Borno.
Borno's prosperity depended on the trans-Sudanic slave trade and the desert trade in salt and
livestock. The need to protect its commercial interests compelled Borno to intervene in Kanem,
which continued to be a theater of war throughout the 15th century and into the 16th century.
Despite its relative political weakness in this period, Borno's court and mosques under the
patronage of a line of scholarly kings earned fame as centers of Islamic culture and learning.
Hausa states
Map of Nigeria (source: CIA's The World Factbook)
Hausa-Fulani Sokoto Caliphate in the 19th century
Main article: Hausa Kingdoms
By the 11th century some Hausa states - such as Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, and Gobir - had
developed into walled towns engaging in trade, servicing caravans, and the manufacture of
various goods. Until the 15th century these small states were on the periphery of the major
Sudanic empires of the era. They were constantly pressured by Songhai to the west and KanemBorno to the east, to which they paid tribute. Armed conflict was usually motivated by economic
concerns, as coalitions of Hausa states mounted wars against the Jukun and Nupe in the middle
belt to collect slaves or against one another for control of trade.
Islam arrived to Hausaland along the caravan routes. The famous Kano Chronicle records the
conversion of Kano's ruling dynasty by clerics from Mali, demonstrating that the imperial
influence of Mali extended far to the east. Acceptance of Islam was gradual and was often
nominal in the countryside where folk religion continued to exert a strong influence.
Nonetheless, Kano and Katsina, with their famous mosques and schools, came to participate
fully in the cultural and intellectual life of the Islamic world. The Fulani began to enter the Hausa
country in the 13th century and by the 15th century they were tending cattle, sheep, and goats in
Borno as well. The Fulani came from the Senegal River valley, where their ancestors had
developed a method of livestock management based on transhumance. Gradually they moved
eastward, first into the centers of the Mali and Songhai empires and eventually into Hausaland
and Borno. Some Fulbe converted to Islam as early as the 11th century and settled among the
Hausa, from whom they became racially indistinguishable. There they constituted a devoutly
religious, educated elite who made themselves indispensable to the Hausa kings as government
advisers, Islamic judges, and teachers.
Pre-colonial states, 1500-1800
Main article: History of Nigeria (1500-1800)
Savanna states
During the 16th century the Songhai Empire reached its peak, stretching from the Senegal and
Gambia rivers and incorporating part of Hausaland in the east. Concurrently the Saifawa Dynasty
of Borno conquered Kanem and extended control west to Hausa cities not under Songhai
authority. Largely because of Songhai's influence, there was a blossoming of Islamic learning
and culture. Songhai collapsed in 1591 when a Moroccan army conquered Gao and Timbuktu.
Morocco was unable to control the empire and the various provinces, including the Hausa states,
became independent. The collapse undermined Songhai's hegemony over the Hausa states and
abruptly altered the course of regional history.
Borno reached its apogee under mai Idris Aloma (ca. 1569-1600) during whose reign Kanem
was reconquered. The destruction of Songhai left Borno uncontested and until the 18th century
Borno dominated northern Nigeria. Despite Borno's hegemony the Hausa states continued to
wrestle for ascendancy. Gradually Borno's position weakened; its inability to check political
rivalries between competing Hausa cities was one example of this decline. Another factor was
the military threat of the Tuareg centered at Agades who penetrated the northern districts of
Borno. The major cause of Borno's decline was a severe drought that struck the Sahel and
savanna from in the middle of the 18th century. As a consequence Borno lost many northern
territories to the Tuareg whose mobility allowed them to endure the famine more effectively.
Borno regained some of its former might in the succeeding decades, but another drought
occurred in the 1790s, again weakening the state.
Ecological and political instability provided the background for the jihad of Usman dan Fodio.
The military rivalries of the Hausa states strained the regions economic resources at a time when
drought and famine undermined farmers and herders. Many Fulani moved into Hausaland and
Borno, and their arrival increased tensions because they had no loyalty to the political
authorities, who saw them as a source of increased taxation. By the end of the 18th century, some
Muslim ulema began articulating the grievances of the common people. Efforts to eliminate or
control these religious leaders only heightened the tensions, setting the stage for jihad.[22]
A British sphere of influence
Main article: Colonial Nigeria
Stamp of Southern Nigeria, 1901
Colonial Flag of Nigeria
Following the Napoleonic wars, the British expanded trade with the Nigerian interior. In 1885
British claims to a West African sphere of influence received international recognition and in the
following year the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir George
Taubman Goldie. In 1900 the company's territory came under the control of the British
Government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area of modern Nigeria. On January
1, 1901 Nigeria became a British protectorate, part of the British Empire, the foremost world
power at the time.
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 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 and increasingly federal basis. On 1 October 1954,
the colony became the autonomous Federation of Nigeria. By the middle of the 20th century, the
great wave for independence was sweeping across Africa.
Independence
Main article: History of Nigeria (1960-1979)
Jaja Wachuku, First Nigerian Speaker of the House: 1959 - 1960
The Federation of Nigeria was granted full independence on the 1st October 1960 under a
constitution that provided for a parliamentary government and a substantial measure of selfgovernment for the country's three regions. From 1959 to 1960, Jaja Wachuku was the First
black Speaker of the Nigerian Parliament - also called the "House of Representatives". Wachuku
replaced Sir Frederick Metcalfe of Great Britain. Notably, as First Speaker of the House, Jaja
Wachuku received Nigeria's Instrument of Independence - also known as Freedom [Charter - on
October 1, 1960, from Princess Alexandra of Kent, the Queen's representative at the Nigerian
independence ceremonies.
The federal government was given exclusive powers in defense, foreign relations, and
commercial and fiscal policy. The monarch of Nigeria was still head of state but legislative
power was vested in a bicameral parliament, executive power in a prime minister and cabinet,
and judicial authority in a Federal Supreme Court. Political parties, however, tended to reflect
the make up of the three main ethnic groups. The Nigerian People's Congress (NPC) represented
conservative, Muslim, largely Hausa interests, and dominated the Northern Region. The National
Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) was Igbo- and Christian-dominated, ruling in the
Eastern Region, and the Action Group (AG) was a left-leaning party that controlled the Yoruba
west. The first post-independence national government was formed by a conservative alliance of
the NCNC and the NPC, with Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a Hausa, becoming Nigeria's first
Prime Minister. The Yoruba-dominated AG became the opposition under its charismatic leader
Chief Obafemi Awolowo
First Republic
In October 1963 Nigeria proclaimed itself the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and former Governor
General Nnamdi Azikiwe became the country's first President. From the outset Nigeria's ethnic
and religious tensions were magnified by the disparities in economic and educational
development between the south and the north. The AG was maneuvered out of control of the
Western Region by the Federal Government and a new pro-government Yoruba party, the
Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), took over. Shortly afterward the AG opposition
leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, was imprisoned on treason charges that were later admitted to
be without foundation. The 1965 national election produced a major realignment of politics and a
disputed result that set the country on the path to civil war. The dominant northern NPC went
into a conservative alliance with the new Yoruba NNDP, leaving the Igbo NCNC to coalesce
with the remnants of the AG in a progressive alliance. In the vote, widespread electoral fraud
was alleged and riots erupted in the Yoruba West where heartlands of the AG discovered they
had apparently elected pro-government NNDP representatives.
Nigerian First Republic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The First Republic was the republican government of Nigeria between 1963 and 1966 governed
by the first republican constitution.
Contents
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1 Founding (1963)
2 Presidents
3 Prime ministers
4 Political parties
5 Politics
6 Notable politicians
7 The coup
8 Civil war and beyond: 1966-1979
9 See also
10 References
Founding (1963)
Nigeria gained independence from Britain on October 1, 1960, when the Declaration of
Independence was signed in the main boardroom of the Federal Palace Hotel. It was declared a
republic three years later on October 1, 1963. The constitution and Westminster system of
government were inherited from the British colonialists.
Presidents
Ceremonial Presidents during the Nigerian First Republic
President
Term
Party
Nnamdi Azikiwe October 1, 1963 - January 16, 1966 NCNC
Prime ministers
Prime Ministers during the Nigerian First Republic
Prime Minister
Term
Party
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa October 1, 1963 - January 16, 1966 NPC
Political parties
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Action Group (AG)
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Borno Youth Movement (BYM)
Democratic Party of Nigeria and Cameroon (DPNC)
Dynamic Party (DP)
Igala Union (IU)
Igbira Tribal Union (ITU)
Midwest Democratic Front (MDF)
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons/National Council of Nigerian Citizens
(NCNC)
Niger Delta Congress (NDC)
Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP)
Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU)
Northern People's Congress (NPC)
Northern Progressive Front (NPF)
Republican Party (RP)
United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC)
United National Independence Party (UNIP)
Zamfara Commoners Party (ZCP)
Politics
The country was split into three geopolitical regions — Western Region, Eastern Region and
Northern Region — and its political parties took on the identities and ideologies of each region.
The Northern People's Party (NPC) represented the interests of the predominantly Hausa/Fulani
Northern Region], the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC)] (later renamed
to "National Council of Nigerian Citizens") represented the predominantly Igbo Eastern Region,
and the Action Group (AG) dominated the Yoruba Western Region. The NPC took control of the
federal parliament, and formed a coalition government with the NCNC. Ahmadu Bello, leader of
the NPC, was poised to become the Prime Minister, but instead he chose to become the Premier
of the Northern Region, and supported his deputy Tafawa Balewa's candidacy for Prime
Minister. This raised suspicions amongst the southern politicians, who resented the idea of a
federal government controlled by a regional leader through his designated proxy. In the end,
Tafawa Balewa of NPC was named Prime Minister and Head of Government, and Nnamdi
Azikiwe of NCNC was named President.
At Nigeria's independence, the Northern Region gained more seats in parliament than both
Eastern and Western regions combined—this would cement Northern dominance in Nigerian
politics for years to come. Resentment amongst southern politicians precipitated into political
chaos in the country. Obafemi Awolowo, Premier of Western Region, was charged with sedition
and convicted in a controversial trial. With incarceration of Awolowo, Samuel Akintola was
elected as the Premier of Western Region. Akintola was widely seen as a tool of the North, and
he presided over the most chaotic era in Western Region—one which earned it the nickname "the
Wild-Wild West". This forced the Balewa government to crack-down on lawlessness in the West
using military might.
Notable politicians

Jaja Wachuku
Foreign Minister
(1961 - 1965)
The coup
The political unrest during the mid-1960s culminated into Nigeria's first military coup d'état. On
15 January 1966, Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and his fellow rebel soldiers led by Major
Emmanuel Ifeajuna (mostly of southern extraction) in the Nigerian Army, executed a bloody
takeover of all institutions of government. Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, was assassinated
along with the premier of Northern Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello, and the Finance Minister, Festus
Okotie-Eboh [1]. It is not clear whether President Azikiwe's life was spared because he was out
of the country at the time, or whether he had been informed about the impending coup and was
out of the country so his life could be spared. Major-General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi took control
as the first Head of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria on January 16, 1966.
Civil war and beyond: 1966-1979
The republic would be torn by the secession of Biafra and the ensuing civil war from 1966-1970.
After Biafra was overrun and the nation re-unified, military rule continued for another nine
years, implementing Nigerianization of foreign businesses. Eventually, elections were held in
1979 leading the way to the Nigerian Second Republic.
Nigerian Civil War
Nigerian Civil War
The independent state of the Republic of Biafra in June
1967.
Date
Location
Result
July 6, 1967–January 15, 1970
Nigeria
Nigerian victory
Belligerents
Biafra
Nigeria
Egypt (air force only)[1]
Supported by:[1][2]
United Kingdom
Soviet Union
Syria
Sudan
Chad
Benin
Foreign mercenaries
Supported by:[3][dead
link][4][4][5]
Israel
South Africa
Rhodesia
France
Portugal
Niger
Saudi Arabia
Commanders and leaders
Yakubu Gowon
Odumegwu Ojukwu
Murtala Mohammed
Philip Effiong
Benjamin Adekunle
Albert Okonkwo
Olusegun Obasanjo
Jan Zumbach
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Casualties and losses
1,000,000 Military and
civilian casualties
200,000 Military and
civilian casualties
total on all sides=1-3
million dead
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967–15 January
1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of
Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra. The conflict was the result of economic,
ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria.

Background
As with many other African nations, Nigeria was an artificial structure initiated by the British
which had neglected to consider religious, linguistic, and ethnic differences.[6] Nigeria, which
gained independence from Britain in 1960, had at that time a population of 60 million people
consisting of nearly 300 differing ethnic and cultural groups.
The causes of the Nigerian civil war were diverse. More than fifty years earlier, Great Britain
carved an area out of West Africa containing hundreds of different ethnic groups and unified it,
calling it Nigeria. Although the area contained many different groups, the three predominant
groups were the Igbo, which formed between 60-70% of the population in the southeast, the
Hausa-Fulani, which formed about 65% of the peoples in the northern part of the territory; the
Yoruba, which formed about 75% of the population in the southwestern part.[citation needed]
The semi-feudal and Islamic Hausa-Fulani in the North were traditionally ruled by an autocratic,
conservative Islamic hierarchy consisting of Emirs who, in turn, owed their allegiance to a
supreme Sultan. This Sultan was regarded as the source of all political power and religious
authority.
The Yoruba political system in the southwest, like that of the Hausa-Fulani, also consisted of a
series of monarchs being the Oba. The Yoruba monarchs, however, were less autocratic than
those in the North, and the political and social system of the Yoruba accordingly allowed for
greater upward mobility based on acquired rather than inherited wealth and title.
The Igbo in the southeast, in contrast to the two other groups, lived mostly in mostly
autonomous, democratically-organized communities although there were monarchs in many of
these ancient cities such as the Kingdom of Nri, which in its zenith controlled most of Igbo land,
including influence on the Anioma people, Arochukwu which controlled slavery in Igbo land and
Onitsha. Unlike the other two regions, decisions among the Igbo were made by a general
assembly in which men could participate[citation needed].
The differing political systems among these three peoples reflected and produced divergent
customs and values. The Hausa-Fulani commoners, having contact with the political system only
through their village head who was designated by the Emir or one of his subordinates, did not
view political leaders as amenable to influence. Political decisions were to be submitted to. As in
every highly authoritarian religious and political system leadership positions were taken by
persons willing to be subservient and loyal to superiors. A chief function of this political system
was to maintain Islamic and conservative values, which caused many Hausa-Fulani to view
economic and social innovation as subversive or sacrilegious.
In contrast to the Hausa-Fulani, the Igbo often participated directly in the decisions which
affected their lives. They had a lively awareness of the political system and regarded it as an
instrument for achieving their own personal goals. Status was acquired through the ability to
arbitrate disputes that might arise in the village, and through acquiring rather than inheriting
wealth. With their emphasis upon social achievement and political participation, the Igbo
adapted to and challenged colonial rule in innovative ways.
These tradition-derived differences were perpetuated and, perhaps, even enhanced by the British
system of colonial rule in Nigeria. In the North, the British found it convenient to rule indirectly
through the Emirs, thus perpetuating rather than changing the indigenous authoritarian political
system. As a concomitant of this system, Christian missionaries were excluded from the North,
and the area thus remained virtually closed to European cultural imperialism, in contrast to the
Igbo, the richest of whom sent many of their sons to British universities. During the ensuing
years, the Northern Emirs thus were able to maintain traditional political and religious
institutions, while reinforcing their social structure. In this division, the North, at the time of
independence in 1960, was by far the most underdeveloped area in Nigeria, with a literacy rate of
2% as compared to 19.2% in the East (literacy in Arabic script, learned in connection with
religious education, was higher). The West enjoyed a much higher literacy level, being the first
part of the country to have contact with western education in addition to the free primary
education program of the pre-independence Western Regional Government.[7]
In the South, the missionaries rapidly introduced Western forms of education. Consequently, the
Yoruba were the first group in Nigeria to adopt Western bureaucratic social norms and they
provided the first African civil servants, doctors, lawyers, and other technicians and
professionals.
In Igbo areas, missionaries were introduced at a later date because of British difficulty in
establishing firm control over the highly autonomous Igbo communities. (Audrey Chapman,
“Civil War in Nigeria,” Midstream, Feb 1968). However, the Igbo people took to Western
education actively, and they overwhelmingly came to adopt Christianity. Population pressure in
the Igbo homeland combined with aspirations for monetary wages drove thousands of Igbo to
other parts of Nigeria in search of work. By the 1960s Igbo political culture was more unified
and the region relatively prosperous, with tradesmen and literate elites active not just in the
traditionally Igbo South, but throughout Nigeria.[8]
The British colonial ideology that divided Nigeria into three regions North, West and East
exacerbated the already well-developed economic, political, and social differences among
Nigeria's different ethnic groups. For the country was divided in such a way that the North had
slightly more population than the other two regions combined. On this basis the Northern Region
was allocated a majority of the seats in the Federal Legislature established by the colonial
authorities. Within each of the three regions the dominant ethnic groups; the Hausa-Fulani,
Yoruba, and Igbo respectively formed political parties that were largely regional and based on
ethnic allegiances: the Northern People's Congress (NPC) in the North; the Action Group in the
West (AG): and the National Conference of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) in the East.
These parties were not exclusively homogeneous in terms of their ethnic or regional make-up;
the disintegration of Nigeria resulted largely from the fact that these parties were primarily based
in one region and one tribe. To simplify matters, we will refer to them here as the Hausa,
Yoruba, and Igbo-based; or Northern, Western and Eastern parties.
During the 1940s and 1950s the Igbo and Yoruba parties were in the forefront of the fight for
independence from Britain. They also wanted an independent Nigeria to be organized into
several small states so that the conservative North could not dominate the country. Northern
leaders, however, fearful that independence would mean political and economic domination by
the more Westernized elites in the South, preferred the perpetuation of British rule. As a
condition for accepting independence, they demanded that the country continue to be divided
into three regions with the North having a clear majority. Igbo and Yoruba leaders, anxious to
obtain an independent country at all costs, accepted the Northern demands.
Military coup
On January 15, 1966, Major Kaduna Nzeogwu and other junior Army officers (mostly majors
and captains) attempted a coup d'etat. It was generally speculated that the coup had been initiated
by the Igbos, and for their own primary benefit, because of the ethnicity of those that were killed.
Yoruba and Hausa leaders were killed while Igbo leaders were left untouched. However,
evidence exists to the contrary. For example, the coup was not only generally applauded in the
Northern region, it was most successful there. The fact that only one Igbo officer, Lt Col Arthur
Unegbe was killed can be attributed to the mere fact that the officers in charge of implementing
Nzeogwu's plans in the East were incompetent. The coup, also referred to as "The Coup of the
Five Majors" has been described in some quarters as Nigeria's only revolutionary coup. [9]This
was the first coup in the short life of Nigeria's nascent democracy. Claims of electoral fraud was
one of the reasons given by the coup plotters. This coup resulted in General Johnson AguiyiIronsi, an Igbo and head of the Nigerian Army, taking power as President, becoming the first
military head of state in Nigeria.
The coup d'etat itself failed, as Ironsi rallied the military against the plotters. Ironsi then
instituted military rule, by subverting the constitutional succession and alleging that the
democratic institutions had failed and that, while he was defending them, they clearly needed
revision and clean-up before reversion back to democratic rule. The coup, despite its failure, was
wrongly perceived as having benefited mostly the Igbo because most of the known coup plotters
were Igbo. However Ironsi, himself an Igbo, was thought to have made numerous attempts to
please Northerners. The other event that also fueled the so called "Igbo conspiracy" was the
killing of Northern leaders, and the killing of the Colonel Shodeinde's pregnant wife by the coup
executioners. Despite the overwhelming contradictions of the coup being executed by mostly
Northern soldiers (such as John Atom Kpera later military governor of Benue State), the killing
of a Igbo soldier Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Unegbe by coup executioners, and Ironsi's
termination of an Igbo-led coup, the ease by which Ironsi stopped the coup led to suspicion that
the Igbo coup plotters planned all along to pave the way for Ironsi to take the reins of power in
Nigeria. It also ignored the fact that the army was largely composed of Northerners at the private
level, but Igbo at the officer level, and thus promotions would have to draw upon a large body of
Igbo officers.
Counter-coup
On 29 July 1966, the Northerners executed a counter-coup. This coup was led by Lt. Col.
Murtala Mohammed. It placed Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon into power. Gowon was chosen as a
compromise candidate. He was a Northerner, a Christian, from a minority tribe, and had a good
reputation within the army. Ethnic tensions due to the coup and counter-coup increased and the
sequels to the mass pogroms in May 1966 repeated later the same year in July and September
known as the large-scale massacres of Christian Ibo living in the Muslim north.
Pogroms
In the aftermath of the Counter coup, there were pogroms in the North where soldiers, officers
and civilians were killed. It was estimated that about 30,000 out of the 13 million people of
Ibo/Igbo ethnic origin lost their lives.[citation needed]. Northerners beheaded numerous Igbo civilians
and left the headless corpses on trains to the East for the Igbos to see. This led to a large influx of
refugees from the North, about 1.8 million refugees heading to the south-east[7] The refusal of
Gowon's government to stop the killing of Igbo civilians by fellow Northerners led to increasing
anti-Nigerian feelings on the part of the Igbos. Even more pathetic was that some of these
killings were organized by soldiers, who after killing all Igbo soldiers they could lay hands on,
resorted to killing and maiming civilians.[10]
Oil
The discovery of vast oil reserves in the Niger River delta, a sprawling network of rivers and
swamps at the southernmost tip of the country, had especially tempted the Federal Government
to re-annex the region.[citation needed] However, the exclusion of easterners from power made many
fear that the oil revenues would be used to benefit areas in the north and west rather than their
own. Prior to the discovery of oil, Nigeria's wealth derived from agricultural products from the
south, and minerals from the north. The north, up until around 1965, had had low-level demands
to secede from Nigeria and retain its wealth for northerners. These demands seemed to cease
when it became clear that oil in the southeast would become a major revenue source.[citation needed]
This further fueled Easterners' fears that the northerners had plans to strip eastern oil to benefit
the North.
HISTORY OF NIGERIA
Breakaway
The military governor of the Igbo-dominated southeast, Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, citing the
northern massacres and electoral fraud, proclaimed with southern parliament the secession of the
south-eastern region from Nigeria as the Republic of Biafra, an independent nation on 30 May
1967. Although the very young nation had a chronic shortage of weapons to go to war, it was
determined to defend itself. There was much sympathy in Europe and elsewhere yet only five
countries recognized the new republic.
Several peace accords especially the one held at Aburi, Ghana (the Aburi Accord) collapsed and
the shooting war followed. Ojukwu managed at Aburi to get agreement to a confederation for
Nigeria, rather than a federation. He was warned by his advisers that this reflected a failure of
Gowon to understand the difference and, that being the case, predicted that it would be reneged
upon. When this happened, Ojukwu regarded it as both a failure by Gowon to keep to the spirit
of the Aburi agreement, and lack of integrity on the side of Nigeria Military Government in the
negotiations toward a united Nigeria. Gowon's advisers, to the contrary, felt that he had enacted
as much as was politically feasible in fulfillment of the spirit of Aburi.[11] The Eastern region was
very ill equipped for war, out manned, and out gunned by the Nigeria. Their advantages included
fighting in their homeland, support of most Easterners, determination, and use of limited
resources. The British and Soviet Union supported (especially militarily) the Nigerian
government while Canada and France helped the Biafrans. The United States seemed to be
neutral but helped the Biafrans through the Red Cross.
Civil War
The Nigerian government launched a "police action" to retake the secessionist territory. The war
began on 6 July 1967 when Nigerian Federal troops advanced in two columns into Biafra. The
Nigerian army offensive was through the north of Biafra led by Colonel Shuwa and the local
military units were formed as the 1st Infantry Division. The division was led mostly by northern
officers. After facing unexpectedly fierce resistance and high casualties, the right-hand Nigerian
column advanced on the town of Nsukka which fell on 14 July, while the left-hand column made
for Garkem, which was captured on 12 July. At this stage of the war, the other regions of Nigeria
(the West and Mid-West) still considered the war as a confrontation between the north (mainly
Hausas) against the east (mainly Igbos)[citation needed]. But the Biafrans responded with an offensive
of their own when, on 9 August, the Biafran forces moved west into the Mid-Western Nigerian
region across the Niger river, passing through Benin City, until they were stopped at Ore (in
present day Ondo State) just over the state boundary on 21 August, just 130 miles east of the
Nigerian capital of Lagos. The Biafran attack was led by Lt. Col. Banjo, a Yoruba, with the
Biafran rank of brigadier. The attack met little resistance and the Mid-West was easily taken
over. This was due to the pre-secession arrangement that all soldiers should return to their
regions to stop the spate of killings, in which Igbo soldiers had been major victims.[7][12] The
Nigerian soldiers that were supposed to defend the Mid-West state were mostly Mid-West Igbo
and while some were in touch with their eastern counterparts, others resisted. General Gowon
responded by asking Colonel Murtala Mohammed (who later became head of state in 1975) to
form another division (the 2nd Infantry Division) to expel the Biafrans from the Mid-West, as
well as defend the West side and attack Biafra from the West as well. As Nigerian forces retook
the Mid-West, the Biafran military administrator declared the Republic of Benin on 19
September.
Flag of the Republic of Benin.
Although Benin City was retaken by the Nigerians on 22 September, the Biafrans succeeded in
their primary objective by tying down as many Nigerian Federal troops as much as they could.
Gen. Gowon also launched an offensive into Biafra south from the Niger Delta to the riverine
area using the bulk of the Lagos Garrison command under Colonel Benjamin Adekunle (called
the Black Scorpion) to form the 3rd Infantry Division (which was later renamed as the 3rd
Marine Commando). As the war continued, the Nigerian Army recruited amongst a wider area,
including the Yoruba, Itshekiri, Urhobo, Edo, Ijaw, and etc. Four battalions of the Nigerian 2nd
Infantry Division were needed to drive the Biafrans back and eliminate their territorial gains
made during the offensive. The Nigerians were repulsed three times as they attempted to cross
the River Niger during October, resulting in the loss of thousands of troops, dozens of tanks and
equipment. The first attempt by the 2nd Infantry Division on 12 October to cross the Niger from
the town of Asaba to the Biafran city of Onitsha cost the Nigerian Federal Army over 5,000
soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing.
Stalemate
A child suffering the effects of severe hunger and malnutrition as a result of the blockade.
Pictures of the famine caused by Nigerian blockade garnered sympathy for the Biafrans
worldwide.
From 1968 onward, the war fell into a form of stalemate, with Nigerian forces unable to make
significant advances into the remaining areas of Biafran control due to stiff resistance and major
defeats in Abagana, Arochukwu, Oguta, Umuahia (Operation OAU), Onne, Ikot Ekpene, and
etc.[13] But another Nigerian offensive from April to June 1968 began to close the ring around the
Biafrans with further advances on the two northern fronts and the capture of Port Harcourt on 19
May 1968. The blockade of the surrounded Biafrans led to a humanitarian disaster when it
emerged that there was widespread civilian hunger and starvation in the besieged Igbo areas. The
Biafran government claimed that Nigeria was using hunger and genocide to win the war, and
sought aid from the outside world. A Nigerian commission, including British doctors from the
Liverpool University School of Tropical Medicine, visited Biafra after the war[14] and concluded
that the evidence of deliberate starvation was overplayed, caused by confusion between the
symptoms of starvation and various tropical illnesses. They did not doubt that starvation had
occurred, but were unsurprisingly not clear of the extent to which it was a result of the Nigerian
blockade or the restriction of food to the civilians by the Biafran government [11]
Many volunteer bodies organised blockade-breaking relief flights into Biafra, carrying food,
medicines, and sometimes (according to some claims) weapons.[15] More common was the claim
that the arms-carrying aircraft would closely shadow aid aircraft, making it more difficult to
distinguish between aid aircraft and military supply aircraft.[15] It has been argued that by
prolonging the war the Biafran relief effort (characterized by Canadian development consultant
Ian Smillie as "an act of unfortunate and profound folly"), contributed to the deaths of as many
as 180,000 civilians.[16]
In response to the Nigerian government using foreigners to lead some advances, the Biafran
government also began hiring foreign mercenaries to extend the war.[17] Only German born Rolf
Steiner a Lt. Col. with the 4th Commandos, and Major Taffy Williams, a Welshman would
remain for the duration.[18] Nigeria also used 'mercenaries', in the form of Egyptian pilots for
their air force MiG 17 fighters and Il 28 bombers. The Egyptians conscripts frequently attacked
civilian rather than military targets, bombing numerous Red Cross shelters.[15]
Bernard Kouchner was one of a number of French doctors who volunteered with the French Red
Cross to work in hospitals and feeding centres in besieged Biafra. The Red Cross required
volunteers to sign an agreement, which was seen by some (like Kouchner and his supporters) as
being similar to a gag order, that was designed to maintain the organisation's neutrality, whatever
the circumstances. Kouchner and the other French doctors signed this agreement.
After entering the country, the volunteers, in addition to Biafran health workers and hospitals,
were subjected to attacks by the Nigerian army, and witnessed civilians being murdered and
starved by the blockading forces. Kouchner also witnessed these events, particularly the huge
number of starving children, and when he returned to France, he publicly criticised the Nigerian
government and the Red Cross for their seemingly complicit behaviour. With the help of other
French doctors, Kouchner put Biafra in the media spotlight and called for an international
response to the situation. These doctors, led by Kouchner, concluded that a new aid organisation
was needed that would ignore political/religious boundaries and prioritise the welfare of victims.
They created Médecins Sans Frontières in 1971 (Doctors Without Borders).[19]
In September 1968, the federal army planned what Gowon described as the "final offensive."
Initially the final offensive was neutralized by Biafran troops by the end of the year after several
Nigerian troops were routed in Biafran ambushes. In the latter stages, a Southern FMG offensive
managed to break through. However in 1969, the Biafrans launched several offensives against
the Nigerians in their attempts to keep the Nigerians off-balance starting in March when the 14th
Division of the Biafran army recaptured Owerri and moved towards Port Harcourt, but were
halted just north of the city. In May 1969, Biafran commandos recaptured oil wells in Kwale. In
July 1969, Biafran forces launched a major land offensive supported by foreign mercenary pilots
continuing to fly in food, medical supplies and weapons. Most notable of the mercenaries was
Swedish Count Carl Gustav von Rosen who led air attacks with five Malmö MFI-9 MiniCOIN
small piston-engined aircraft, armed with rocket pods and machine guns. His BAF (Biafran Air
Force) consisted of three Swedes, two Biafrans and an ex-RCAF pilot. From May 22 to July 8,
1969 von Rosen's small force attacked Nigerian military airfields in Port Harcourt, Enugu, Benin
City and Ughelli, destroying or damaging a number of Nigerian Air Force jets used to attack
relief flights, including a few Mig-17's and three out of Nigeria's six Ilyushin Il-28 bombers that
were used to bomb Biafran villages and farms on a daily basis. Although the Biafran offensives
of 1969 were a tactical success, the Nigerians soon recovered. The Biafran air attacks did disrupt
the combat operations of the Nigerian Air Force, but only for a few months.
One of the interesting characters assisting Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen was Lynn Garrison, an
ex-RCAF fighter pilot. He introduced the Count to a Canadian method of dropping bagged
supplies to remote areas in Canada without losing the contents. He showed how one sack of food
could be placed inside a larger sack before the supply drop. When the package hit the ground the
inner sack would rupture while the outer one kept the contents intact. With this method many
tons of food were dropped to many Biafrans who would otherwise have died of starvation.
War's End
With increased British support, the Nigerian federal forces launched their final offensive against
the Biafrans once again on 23 December 1969 with a major thrust by the 3rd Marine Commando
Division (the division was commanded by Col. Obasanjo, who later became president twice)
which succeeded in splitting the Biafran enclave into two by the end of the year. The final
Nigerian offensive, named "Operation Tail-Wind", was launched on 7 January 1970 with the 3rd
Marine Commando Division attacking, and supported by the 1st Infantry division to the north
and the 2nd Infantry division to the south. The Biafran town of Owerri fell on 9 January, and Uli
fell on 11 January. Only a few days earlier, Ojukwu fled into exile by flying by plane to the
republic of Côte d'Ivoire, leaving his deputy Philip Effiong to handle the details of the surrender
to General Yakubu Gowon of the federal army on 13 January 1970. The war finally ended a few
days later with the Nigerian forces advancing in the remaining Biafran held territories with little
opposition.
After the war Gowon said, "The tragic chapter of violence is just ended. We are at the dawn of
national reconciliation. Once again we have an opportunity to build a new nation. My dear
compatriots, we must pay homage to the fallen, to the heroes who have made the supreme
sacrifice that we may be able to build a nation, great in justice, fair trade, and industry."[20]
Aftermath and legacy
The war cost the Igbos a great deal in terms of lives, money and infrastructure. It has been
estimated that up to three million people may have died due to the conflict, most from hunger
and disease.[21] Reconstruction, helped by the oil money, was swift; however, the old ethnic and
religious tensions remained a constant feature of Nigerian politics. While accusations were made
of Nigerian government officials diverting resources meant for reconstruction in the former
Biafran areas to their ethnic areas. Military government continued in power in Nigeria for many
years, and people in the oil-producing areas claimed they were being denied a fair share of oil
revenues.[22] Laws were passed mandating that political parties could not be ethnically or tribally
based; however, it has been hard to make this work in practice.
Igbos who ran for their lives during the pogroms and war returned to find their positions had
been taken over; and when the war was over the government did not feel any need to re-instate
them, preferring to regard them as having resigned. This reasoning was also extended to Igbo
owned properties and houses. People from other regions were quick to take over any house
owned by an Igbo, especially in the Port Harcourt area. The Nigerian Government justified this
by terming such properties abandoned. This, however, has led to a feeling of an injustice as the
Nigerian government policies were seen as further economically disabling the Igbos even long
after the war. Further feelings of injustice were caused by Nigeria, changing its currency so that
Biafran supplies of pre-war Nigerian currency were no longer honoured, at the end of the war,
only N£20 was given to any easterner despite what ever amount of money he or she had in the
bank. This was applied irrespective of their banking in pre-war Nigerian currency or Biafran
currency. This was seen as a deliberate policy to hold back the Igbo middle class, leaving them
with little wealth to expand their business interests.[23]
On Monday 29 May 2000, The Guardian of Lagos reported that President Olusegun Obasanjo
commuted to retirement the dismissal of all military persons who fought for the breakaway state
of Biafra during the Nigerian civil war. In a national broadcast, he said that the decision was
based on the principle that "justice must at all times be tempered with mercy."
List of civil wars
Warfare
Military history
Eras[show]
Battlespace[show]
Weapons[show]
Tactics[show]
Strategy[show]
Organization[show]
Logistics[show]
Lists[show]
Portal v · d · e
The Latin term bellum civile was first used of the Roman civil wars of the 1st century BC. The
term civilis here had the very specific meaning of "Roman citizen". The English term civil war
was first used in 1651 to refer to the English Civil War.[1] Since the 17th century, the term has
also been applied retroactively to other historical conflicts where at least one side claims to
represent the country's civil society (rather than a feudal dynasty or an imperial power).[2]
The terms intestine war and domestic war are often used interchangeably with "civil war", but
"intestine war" can be used in a wider meaning, referring to any conflict within a single state,
regardless of the participation of civil forces. Thus, any war of succession is by definition an
intestine war, but not necessarily a civil war. In modern geopolitics since 1945, "civil war" is
also used in a loose sense to refer to any large scale military conflict within a single country (i.e.
used as a strict synonym of the generic term "intestine war"), creating terminological overlap
with insurgencies or coups d'état.
Contents

1 Past civil wars
o 1.1 Ancient and medieval
o 1.2 Early Modern (1550–1800)
o
o
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1.3 Modern (1800–1945)
1.4 Post-WWII (1945 to present)
2 Ongoing civil wars
Past civil wars
Further information: Wars of succession, List of peasant revolts, and List of revolutions and
rebellions
Ancient and medieval
Further information: Warring States period, Sengoku
period, Warlord, Feudalism, and Internecine war
Only civil wars involving popular or civil forces are listed here. Not covered are wars between
clans, warlords or dynasties, wars of succession, etc. Such wars of succession are sometimes also
described as "Civil Wars" in modern literature, see e.g. Ottoman Civil War or Islamic Civil War.
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Roman Civil Wars (a list of numerous civil wars in the late Roman Republic and in the
Roman Empire, between 100 BC and AD 400)
An Shi Rebellion, December 16, 755-February 17, 763[dubious – discuss]
Civil war era in Norway, 1130–1240
The Anarchy, 1135–1153 (refers to the disorder during the reign of King Stephen of
England)
Civil war in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem between King Baldwin III and dowager
Queen Melisende (1152–1153).[dubious – discuss]
Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War, 1407-1435
Hussite Wars (Bohemia), 1420–1434
Great Feudal War in Russia, 1425–1453
Ōnin War (Japan), 1467–1477
Sengoku Period (Japan), 1467–1615[dubious – discuss]
Popular revolt in late medieval Europe
German Peasants' War, 1524–1525
War of the Two Brothers, 1529-1532 in the Inca Empire
Early Modern (1550–1800)
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French Wars of Religion, 1562–1598
Rokosz of Zebrzydowski, 1606–1609 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648 between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman
Empire
Khmelnytsky Uprising 1648-1657
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Wars of the Three Kingdoms (England, Ireland, Scotland) 1639–1651 involved a number
of civil wars:
o Irish Confederate Wars some parts of which were a civil war.[3]
o English Civil War, 1642–1651
o Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, to some extent a civil war, 1644–
1652
 First English Civil War 1642–1646
 Second English Civil War 1648–1649
 Third English Civil War 1650–1651
Rokosz of Lubomirski, 1665–1666 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
War in the Vendée France, 1793-1804 fought between Royalist and Republican forces,
part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Modern (1800–1945)
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South American wars of independence, 1808–1829
Argentine Civil War, 1814–1880
Zulu Civil War, 1817–1819
Liberal Wars (Portuguese Civil War), 1828–1834.
Chilean Civil War of 1829, 1829-1830
Carlist Wars, 1833–1839, 1846–1849, 1872–1876 in Spain
Uruguayan Civil War, 1839-1851
Māori War (New Zealand) 1845–1872
Sonderbund war (Switzerland), November 1847
Revolution of 1851 (Chile)
Taiping Rebellion (China), 1851–1864
Bleeding Kansas, 1854–1858
War of Reform (Mexico) 1857–1861
American Civil War, 1861–1865
Klang War; also known as Selangor Civil War, 1867–1874
Boshin War (Japan), 1868–1869
Satsuma Rebellion (Japan), 1877
Jementah Civil War, 1879
Chilean Civil War, 1891
Thousand Days War, 1899-1902 in Colombia
Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920
Russian Civil War, 1917–1921
Finnish Civil War, 1918
Irish Civil War, 1922–1923
Chinese Civil War, 1928–1937, 1945–1949
Austrian Civil War, February 12 to February 16, 1934
Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939
War of national liberation (NOB, NOR) in area of Yugoslavia, 1941–1945
Post-WWII (1945 to present)
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Greek Civil War, 1946–1949
Paraguayan Civil War, 1947
Palestinian Civil War, 1947–48
Costa Rican Civil War, 1948
La Violencia, 1948–1958
Korean War, 1950-1953 between North and South Korea
Laotian Secret War 1953-1975
Vietnamese Civil War, 1954–1975
Guatemalan Civil War, 1960–1996
Congo Crisis, 1960-1966
North Yemen Civil War 1962-1970
Dominican Civil War, 1963
Rhodesian Bush War, 1965–1980
Cypriot Civil War, 1967–1974
Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970
The Troubles, 1969–1998 (considered ongoing by extremist minority groups)
Cambodian Civil War 1970-1975
Pakistani Civil War, 1971
Lebanese Civil War, 1975–1990
Mozambican Civil War, see Rome General Peace Accords, 1975–1992
Angolan Civil War, 1975-2002
Cambodia, 1978–1993, 1997–1998
Nicaraguan Civil War, 1979–1990
Salvadoran Civil War (El Salvador), 1979–1991
Peruvian Civil War, 1980–2000
Second Sudanese Civil War, 1983-2005
Sri Lankan Civil War, 1983–2009
First Liberian Civil War, 1989-1996
Rwandan Civil War, 1990–1993
Casamance Conflict, 1990–2006
Georgian Civil War, 1991-1993
Sierra Leone Civil War, 1991–2002
Algerian Civil War, 1991–2002, conflicts persist
Civil war in Tajikistan, 1992-1997
Burundi Civil War, 1993–2005
Civil war in Yemen, 1994
First Chechen War, 1994-1996
Iraqi Kurdish Civil War, 1994–1997
First Congo War, 1996–1997
Republic of the Congo Civil War, 1997-1999 in Congo-Brazzaville
Nepalese Civil War, 1996–2006 labelled "People's War" by the Maoists
1997 rebellion in Albania, 1997
Republic of the Congo Civil War, 1997-1999
Guinea-Bissau Civil War, 1998–1999
Kosovo War, 1998–1999
Second Congo War, 1998-2003
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Second Liberian Civil War, 1999-2003
Second Chechen War, 1999-2009
Albanian rebellion in Macedonia 2001
Ivorian Civil War, 2002-2007, conflicts persist
War in Darfur, 2003-2009
2004 Haitian rebellion, 2004
Fatah–Hamas conflict (third Palestinian Civil War), 2006–2009, tensions ongoing
Ongoing civil wars
The following civil wars are ongoing as of 2011. Only ongoing conflicts meeting the definition
of a civil war are listed. See list of ongoing military conflicts and lists of active separatist
movements for lists with a wider scope.
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Colombian armed conflict, since 1964.
Afghan civil war, since 1978.
Ugandan Civil War, since 1987.
Somali Civil War, since 1991.
Sa'dah insurgency, since 2004 in Yemen
Civil war in Chad, since 2005, part of the War in Darfur.
Civil war in Iraq, since ca. 2007, part of the larger War in Iraq (since 2003).
Civil war in Libya, 2011.
Nigeria
Biafra

Nigerian Second Republic (1979 - 1983)
Nigerian Third Republic
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources
remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more
precise citations where appropriate. (April 2008)
The Third Republic was the planned republican government of Nigeria in 1993 which was to be
governed by the Third Republican constitution.
Contents
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1 Founding (1993)
2 Presidents-elect
3 Political parties
4 Annulment
5 See also
6 References
Founding (1993)
The constitution of the Third Republic was drafted in 1989, when General Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida (IBB), the military Head of State, promised to terminate military rule by 1990 – a
date which was subsequently pushed back to 1993. IBB lifted the ban on political activity in the
spring of 1989, and his government established two political parties: the center-right National
Republican Convention (NRC) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). Gubernatorial
and state legislative elections were conducted in December 1991, while the presidential election
was postponed till 12 June 1993 – due to political unrest. MKO Abiola, a wealthy Yoruba
businessman, won a decisive victory in the presidential elections on the SDP platform.
Presidents-elect
Presidents-Elect during the Nigerian Third Republic
President-Elect
MKO Abiola
Elected
June 12, 1993
Party
SDP
Political parties
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National Republican Convention (NRC)
Social Democratic Party (SDP)
Annulment
On 23 June 1993, IBB had the election annulled, and this threw the country into chaos. IBB
eventually bowed to pressures from his inner circle and resigned from office on 23 August 1993.
Ernest Shonekan, a Yoruba business man, and the head of IBB’s transition team, assumed the
office of the presidency as the Head of the Interim National Government. Shonekan was unable
to manage the political turmoil which ensued in the post IBB months. His caretaker government
was quietly removed from office, by the Minister of Defence, General Sani Abacha on 17
November 1993. On 11 June 1994, president-elect Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola,
declared himself president and went into hiding. The Abacha administration hunted Abiola down
and arrested him for treason. Abiola remained in prison until his death in 1998.
First period of military rule
Main article: Nigerian Civil War
On 15 January 1966 a group of army officers, mostly southeastern Igbos, overthrew the NPCNNDP government and assassinated the prime minister and the premiers of the northern and
western regions. The federal military government that assumed power under General Johnson
Aguiyi-Ironsi was unable to quiet ethnic tensions or produce a constitution acceptable to all
sections of the country.[23] Its efforts to abolish the federal structure and the renaming the country
the Republic of Nigeria on 24 May 1966 raised tensions and led to another coup by largely
northern officers in July 1966, which established the leadership of Major General Yakubu
Gowon. The name Federal Republic of Nigeria was restored on 31 August 1966. However, the
subsequent massacre of thousands of Igbo in the north prompted hundreds of thousands of them
to return to the southeast where increasingly strong Igbo secessionist sentiment emerged. In a
move towards greater autonomy to minority ethnic groups the military divided the four regions
into 12 states. However the Igbo rejected attempts at constitutional revisions and insisted on full
autonomy for the east. On May 29, 1967 Lt. Col. Emeka Ojukwu, the military governor of the
eastern region who emerged as the leader of increasing Igbo secessionist sentiment, declared the
independence of the eastern region as the Republic of Biafra. The ensuing Nigerian Civil War
resulted in an estimated one million deaths before the war ended with the famous "No victor, no
vanquished" speech in 1970.[24]
Following the civil war 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. Murtala Mohammed and a group of officers staged a bloodless
coup, accusing Gen. Yakubu Gowon of corruption and delaying the promised return to civilian
rule. General Mohammed replaced thousands of civil servants and announced a timetable for the
resumption of civilian rule by October 1, 1979. He was assassinated on February 13, 1976 in an
abortive coup and his chief of staff Lt. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo became head of state.
Second Republic
Main article: History of Nigeria (1979-1999)
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 was lifted. In 1979, five political parties
competed in a series of elections in which 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, with a majority
of seats in the National Assembly and control of 12 state governments. But the elections were
marred by violence and allegations of widespread vote rigging and electoral malfeasance led to
legal battles over the results.[25]
On December 31, 1983 the military overthrew the Second Republic. Major General Muhammadu
Buhari emerged as the leader of the Supreme Military Council (SMC), the country's new ruling
body. The Buhari government was peacefully overthrown by the SMC's third-ranking member
General Ibrahim Babangida in August 1985. Babangida (IBB) 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 days in
office President Babangida moved to restore freedom of the press and to release political
detainees being held without charge. As part of a 15-month economic emergency plan he
announced pay cuts for the military, police, civil servants and the private sector. President
Babangida demonstrated his intent to encourage public participation in decision making by
opening a national debate on proposed economic reform and recovery measures. The public
response convinced Babangida of intense opposition to an economic rec.
The abortive Third Republic
Main article: Nigerian Third Republic
Head of State, Babangida, promised to return the country to civilian rule by 1990 which was later
extended until January 1993. In early 1989 a constituent assembly completed a constitution and
in the spring of 1989 political activity was again permitted. In October 1989 the government
established two parties, the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic
Party (SDP) - other parties were not allowed to register.
In April 1990 mid-level officers attempted unsuccessfully to overthrow the government and 69
accused plotters were executed after secret trials before military tribunals. In December 1990 the
first stage of partisan elections was held at the local government level. Despite low turnout there
was no violence and both parties demonstrated strength in all regions of the country, with the
SDP winning control of a majority of local government councils.
In December 1991 state legislative elections were held and Babangida decreed that previously
banned politicians could contest in primaries scheduled for August. These were canceled due to
fraud and subsequent primaries scheduled for September also were canceled. All announced
candidates were disqualified from standing for president once a new election format was
selected. The presidential election was finally held on June 12, 1993 with the inauguration of the
new president scheduled to take place August 27, 1993, the eighth anniversary of President
Babangida's coming to power.
In the historic June 12, 1993 presidential elections, which most observers deemed to be Nigeria's
fairest, early returns indicated that wealthy Yoruba businessman M.K.O. Abiola won a decisive
victory. However, on June 23, Babangida, using several pending lawsuits as a pretense, annulled
the election, throwing Nigeria into turmoil. More than 100 were killed in riots before Babangida
agreed to hand power to an interim government on August 27, 1993. He later attempted to renege
this decision, but without popular and military support, he was forced to hand over to Ernest
Shonekan, a prominent nonpartisan businessman. Shonekan was to rule until elections scheduled
for February 1994. Although he had led Babangida's Transitional Council since 1993, Shonekan
was unable to reverse Nigeria's economic problems or to defuse lingering political tension.
Sani Abacha
With the country sliding into chaos Defense Minister Sani Abacha assumed power and forced
Shonekan's resignation on November 17, 1993. Abacha dissolved all democratic institutions and
replaced elected governors with military officers. Although promising restoration of civilian rule
he refused to announce a transitional timetable until 1995. Following the annulment of the June
12 election the United States and others imposed sanctions on Nigeria including travel
restrictions on government officials and suspension of arms sales and military assistance
Additional sanctions were imposed as a result of Nigeria's failure to gain full certification for its
counter-narcotics efforts.
Although Abacha was initially welcomed by many Nigerians, disenchantment grew rapidly.
Opposition leaders formed the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which campaigned to
reconvene the Senate and other disbanded democratic institutions. On June 11, 1994 Moshood
Kashimawo Olawale Abiola declared himself president and went into hiding until his arrest on
June 23. In response petroleum workers called a strike demanding that Abacha release Abiola
and hand over power to him. Other unions joined the strike, bringing economic life around Lagos
and the southwest to a standstill. After calling off a threatened strike in July the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) reconsidered a general strike in August after the government imposed
conditions on Abiola's release. On August 17, 1994 the government dismissed the leadership of
the NLC and the petroleum unions, placed the unions under appointed administrators, and
arrested Frank Kokori and other labor leaders.
The government alleged in early 1995 that military officers and civilians were engaged in a coup
plot. Security officers rounded up the accused, including former Head of State Obasanjo and his
deputy, retired General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua. After a secret tribunal most of the accused were
convicted and several death sentences were handed down. In 1994 the government set up the
Ogoni Civil Disturbances Special Tribunal to try Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and others for
their alleged roles in the killings of four Ogoni politicians. The tribunal sentenced Saro-Wiwa
and eight others to death and they were executed on November 10, 1995.
On October 1, 1995 Abacha announced the timetable for a 3-year transition to civilian rule. Only
five political parties were approved by the regime and voter turnout for local elections in
December 1997 was under 10%. On December 21, 1997 the government arrested General
Oladipo Diya, ten officers, and eight civilians on charges of coup plotting. The accused were
tried before a military tribunal in which Diya and eight others were sentenced to death. Abacha
enforced authority through the federal security system which is accused of numerous human
rights abuses, including infringements on freedom of speech, assembly, association, travel, and
violence against women.
Abubakar's transition to civilian rule
Abacha died of heart failure on June 8, 1998 and was replaced by General Abdulsalami
Abubakar. The military Provisional Ruling Council (PRC) under Abubakar commuted the
sentences of those accused in the alleged coup during the Abacha regime and released almost all
known civilian political detainees. Pending the promulgation of the constitution written in 1995,
the government observed some provisions of the 1979 and 1989 constitutions. Neither Abacha
nor Abubakar lifted the decree suspending the 1979 constitution, and the 1989 constitution was
not implemented. The judiciary system continued to be hampered by corruption and lack of
resources after Abacha's death. In an attempt to alleviate such problems Abubakar's government
implemented a civil service pay raise and other reforms.
In August 1998 Abubakar appointed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to
conduct elections for local government councils, state legislatures and governors, the national
assembly, and president. The NEC successfully held elections on December 5, 1998, January 9,
1999, February 20, and February 27, 1999, respectively. For local elections nine parties were
granted provisional registration with three fulfilling the requirements to contest the following
elections. These parties were the People's Democratic Party (PDP), the All People's Party (APP),
and the predominantly Yoruba Alliance for Democracy (AD). Former military head of state
Olusegun Obasanjo, freed from prison by Abubakar, ran as a civilian candidate and won the
presidential election. The PRC promulgated a new constitution based largely on the suspended
1979 constitution, before the May 29, 1999 inauguration of the new civilian president. The
constitution includes provisions for a bicameral legislature, the National Assembly consisting of
a 360-member House of Representatives and a 109-member Senate.
Fourth Republic
The emergence of democracy in Nigeria on May 1999 ended 16 years of consecutive military
rule. Olusegun Obasanjo inherited a country suffering economic stagnation and the deterioration
of most democratic institutions. Obasanjo, a former general, was admired for his stand against
the Abacha dictatorship, his record of returning the federal government to civilian rule in 1979,
and his claim to represent all Nigerians regardless of religion.
The new President took over a country that faced many problems, including a dysfunctional
bureaucracy, collapsed infrastructure, and a military that wanted a reward for returning quietly to
the barracks. The President moved quickly and retired hundreds of military officers holding
political positions, established a blue-ribbon panel to investigate human rights violations,
released scores of persons held without charge, and rescinded numerous questionable licenses
and contracts left by the previous regimes. The government also moved to recover millions of
dollars in funds secreted to overseas accounts.
Most civil society leaders and Nigerians witnessed marked improvements in human rights and
freedom of the press under Obasanjo. As Nigeria works out representational democracy,
conflicts persist between the Executive and Legislative branches over appropriations and other
proposed legislation. A sign of federalism has been the growing visibility of state governors and
the inherent friction between Abuja and the state capitals over resource allocation.[26]
Communal violence has plagued the Obasanjo government since its inception. In May 1999
violence erupted in Kaduna State over the succession of an Emir resulting in more than 100
deaths. In November 1999, the army destroyed the town of Odi, Bayelsa State and killed scores
of civilians in retaliation for the murder of 12 policemen by a local gang. In Kaduna in February–
May 2000 over 1,000 people died in rioting over the introduction of criminal Shar'ia in the State.
Hundreds of ethnic Hausa were killed in reprisal attacks in southeastern Nigeria. In September
2001, over 2,000 people were killed in inter-religious rioting in Jos. In October 2001, hundreds
were killed and thousands displaced in communal violence that spread across the states of
Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa. On October 1, 2001 Obasanjo announced the formation of a
National Security Commission to address the issue of communal violence. Obasanjo was
reelected in 2003.
The new president faces the daunting task of rebuilding a petroleum-based economy, whose
revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement. Additionally, the
Obasanjo administration must defuse longstanding ethnic and religious tensions if it hopes to
build a foundation for economic growth and political stability. Currently there is unrest in the
Niger delta over the environmental destruction caused by oil drilling and the ongoing poverty in
the oil-rich region.
A further major problem created by the oil industry is the drilling of pipelines by the local
population in an attempt to drain off the petroleum for personal use or as a source of income.
This often leads to major explosions and high death tolls.[27] Particularly notable disasters in this
area have been: 1) October 1998, Jesse, 1100 deaths, 2) July 2000, Jesse, 250 deaths, 3)
September 2004, near Lagos, 60 deaths, 4) May 2006, Ilado, approx. 150-200 deaths (current
estimate).[28]
Two militants of an unknown faction shot and killed Ustaz Ja'afar Adam, a northern Muslim
religious leader and Kano State official, along with one of his disciples in a mosque in Kano
during dawn prayers on 13 April 2007. Obasanjo had recently stated on national radio that he
would "deal firmly" with election fraud and violence advocated by "highly placed individuals."
His comments were interpreted by some analysts as a warning to his Vice President and 2007
presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.[29]
In the 2007 general election, Umaru Yar'Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, both of the People's
Democratic Party, were elected President and Vice President, respectively. The election was
marred by electoral fraud, and denounced by other candidates and international observers.[30][31]
Yar'Adua's disappearance and Jonathan's succession
Yar'Adua's presidency was fraught with uncertainty as media reports said he suffered from
kidney and heart disease. In November 2009, he fell ill and was flown out of the country to Saudi
Arabia for medical attention. He remained incommunicado for 50 days, by which time rumours
were rife that he had died. This continued until the BBC aired an interview that was allegedly
done via telephone from the president's sick bed in Saudi Arabia. As of January 2010, he was
still abroad.
In February 2010, Goodluck Jonathan began serving as acting President in the absence of
Yaradua.[32] In May 2010, the Nigerian government learned of Yar'Adua's death after a long
battle with existing health problems and an undisclosed illness. This lack of communication left
the new acting President Jonathan with no knowledge of his predecessor's plans. Yar'Adua's
Hausa-Fulani background gave him a political base in the northern regions of Nigeria, while
Goodluck does not have the same ethnic and religious affiliations. This lack of primary ethnic
support makes Jonathan a target for militaristic overthrow or regional uprisings in the area. With
the increase of resource spending and oil exportation, Nigerian GDP and HDI (Human
Development Index) have risen phenomenally since the economically-stagnant rule of Sani
Abacha, but the primary population still survives on less than $2 USD per day. Goodluck
Jonathan called for new elections and stood for re-election in April 2011. He won and is
currently the president of Nigeria.[33]
President of Nigeria
President of the
President of
Nigeria
GOVERNMENT OFFICE
President of Nigeria.
Name
Occupation Birth
Death
Known for
Sani
Abacha
Head of
State
Dictator of
208-JunSepNigeria, 19931998
1943
98
Nnamdi
Azikiwe
Head of
State
16Nov1904
11- First President
May- of Nigeria,
1996 1963-66
Yakubu
Gowon
Head of
State
19Oct1934
Dictator of
Nigeria, 196675
Goodluck
Jonathan
Head of
State
20Nov1957
President of
Nigeria
Olusegun
Obasanjo
Head of
State
5Mar1937
President of
Nigeria, 19992007
Umaru
Yar'Adua
Head of
State
President of
95-MayJulNigeria, 20072010
1951
10
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Seal of the President of Nigeria
Incumbent
Goodluck Jonathan
since 6 May 2010
Residence
Aso Rock Presidential Villa
Appointer
Acting president
Term length
Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder
Nnamdi Azikiwe
Formation
1 October 1963
Flag of the Commander in Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces
Nigeria
This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Nigeria
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Constitution
President (List)
o Goodluck Jonathan
Vice-President
o Namadi Sambo
Cabinet
Federal Parastatals
National Assembly
o Senate
o House of Representatives
Supreme Court
States
o State governors
o Local Government Areas
Zones
Elections
o Presidential: 2007, 2011
o Parliamentary: 2007, 2011
Political parties
Foreign relations
Human rights
The President of Nigeria is the Head of State and head of the national executive. Officially
styled President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian
Armed Forces. The current President of Nigeria is Goodluck Jonathan.
Contents
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1 History
2 Functions of the President of Nigeria
3 Eligibility
4 Oath of office
History
On October 1, 1960, Nigeria gained independence from Britain. An all-Nigerian Executive
Council was headed by a Prime Minister, Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. On November
16, 1960, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, became the first Governor-General of a Federation of three
Regions of the North, East and West, with Lagos as the Federal Capital. Each of the Regions was
headed by a Premier with a Governor as Ceremonial Head. On October 1, 1963, Nigeria became
a Federal Republic and severed whatever ties were left with Britain. Nigeria decided, however,
to remain in the British Commonwealth of Nations. The Governor-General's position was,
therefore, re-designated as President.
In January 1966, a group of army officers, led by Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, overthrew the
central and regional governments, killed the prime minister, tried to take control of the
government in a failed coup d'état. Nzeogwu was countered, captured and imprisoned by General
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi. General Aguiyi-Ironsi was named Military Head of State.
In July 1966, a group of northern army officers revolted against the government, killed General
Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, and appointed the army chief of staff, General Yakubu Gowon as the
head of the new military government.
In 1975, Gen. Yakubu Gowon was deposed and General Murtala Mohammed was the Head of
the Federal Military Government of Nigeria until his assassination in 1976.
In 1976 Gen. Obasanjo was made head of state in a meeting of the Supreme Military Council.
Keeping the chain of command established by Murtala Muhammed in place.
In 1979, Nigeria adopted a constitution that was modelled on the Constitution of the United
States, with provision for a President, Senate, and House of Representatives.
In October 1979, after more than 13 years of military rule, Nigeria was returned to democratic
rule. The National Party of Nigeria emerged victorious in the presidential election and Alhaji
Shehu Shagari was elected President.
December 31, 1983, the military overthrew the Second Republic. Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari
emerged as the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council (SMC), the new Head of State.
In August 1985, the Gen. Buhari government was peacefully overthrown by the then Army Chief
of Staff Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. Babangida became the President and chairman Armed
Forces Ruling Council.
In 1993, General Babangida steps down in August and chooses interim government. Ernest
Shonekan was named as interim president. Gen. Sani Abacha seizes power from Shonekan in
November 1993, he became the president and Chairman Provisional Ruling Council. On 8 June
1998, General Abacha dies at the presidential villa in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Maj. Gen.
Abdulsalami Abubakar became the new president and Chairman Provisional Ruling Council.
In May 1999, Maj. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar steps down and the former military head of state
Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo became the newly elected civilian president. Gen Obasanjo served two
terms in office.
In May 2007, Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua was sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria, the 13th head of state of Nigeria. Yar'Adua died on 5 May 2010 in the Presidential villa,
in Abuja, Nigeria.
On 6 May 2010 the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and the 14th head of state.
Functions of the President of Nigeria
The President has the powers entrusted by the Constitution and legislation, including those
necessary to perform the functions of Head of State and head of the national executive.
The President is responsible for:
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

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assenting to and signing Bills
referring a Bill back to the National Assembly for reconsideration of the Bill's constitutionality
referring a Bill to the Constitutional Court for a decision on the Bill's constitutionality
summoning the National Assembly, or Parliament to an extraordinary sitting to conduct special
business
making any appointments that the Constitution or legislation requires the President to make,
other than as head of the national executive
appointing commissions of inquiry
calling a national referendum in terms of an Act of Parliament
receiving and recognising foreign diplomatic and consular representatives
appointing ambassadors, plenipotentiaries, and diplomatic and consular representatives
pardoning or reprieving offenders and remitting any fines, penalties or forfeitures
conferring honours
Eligibility
A person shall be eligible for the office of President if he or she is a citizen of Nigeria, at least 40
years of age, is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party. The
constitution limits the President to only two terms of four years each in office.
Oath of office
The Constitution of Nigeria specifies an oath of office for the President of the federation. The
oath is administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria or the person for the
time being appointed to exercise the functions of that office:
“
I do solemnly swear/affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal
Republic of Nigeria; that as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will discharge my
duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law, and always in the interest of the sovereignty,
integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that I will
strive to preserve the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy
contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that I will not allow my
personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions; that I will to the
best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria; that I will abide by the Code of Conduct contained in the Fifth Schedule to the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that in all circumstances, I will do right to all
manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will; that I will not
directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person any matter which shall be
brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, except as may be required for the due discharge of my duties as
President; and that I will devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of
Nigeria. So help me God.
Constitution of Nigeria
Nigeria
This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Nigeria
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Constitution
President (List)
o Goodluck Jonathan
Vice-President
o Namadi Sambo
Cabinet
”
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Federal Parastatals
National Assembly
o Senate
o House of Representatives
Supreme Court
States
o State governors
o Local Government Areas
Zones
Elections
o Presidential: 2007, 2011
o Parliamentary: 2007, 2011
Political parties
Foreign relations
Human rights
Nigeria Portal · Politics Portal
Other countries view · talk · edit
The Constitution of Nigeria is the supreme law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The current
constitution is the 1999 Constitution. It was adopted in its original form on May 29, 1999 in
Abuja, at the dawn of the Nigerian Fourth Republic.
Constitution of 1979 (2nd Republic)
The 1979 constitution saw the Westminster system of government (previously used in the First
Republic) jettisoned for an American Presidential system, with a directly elected executive. To
avoid the pitfalls of the First Republic, the constitution mandated that political parties and
cabinet positions reflect the "federal character" of the nation — political parties were required to
be registered in at least two-thirds of the states, and each state was required to produce at least
one cabinet member.
In January 2011, two amendments of the 1999 constitution were signed by President Goodluck
Jonathan, the first modifications since the document came into use in 1999.
Drafting members of the constitution
Billy Dudley

1979 Constitution (PDF File)
Constitution of 1993 (3rd Republic)

1993 Constitution (aborted)
Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Jonathan
President of Nigeria
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Acting: 9 February 2010 – 6 May 2010
Elected - 18 April 2011
Vice President Namadi Sambo
Preceded by
Umaru Yar'Adua
Vice President of Nigeria
In office
29 May 2007 – 6 May 2010
President
Umaru Yar'Adua
Preceded by
Atiku Abubakar
Succeeded by
Namadi Sambo
Governor of Bayelsa
In office
9 December 2005 – 28 May 2007
Preceded by
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha
Succeeded by
Timipre Sylva
Personal details
Born
Political party
Spouse(s)
20 November 1957 (age 53)
Ogbia, Nigeria
People's Democratic Party
Patience Jonathan
Alma mater
University of Port Harcourt
Profession
Zoologist
Religion
Christianity
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, GCFR, BNER, GCON (born 20 November 1957[1]) is the
14th and current President of Nigeria.
He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as
Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the
ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). On 13 January 2010, a federal court handed him the
power to carry out state affairs while President Umaru Yar'Adua received medical treatment in a
Saudi Arabian hospital. A motion from the Nigerian Senate on 9 February 2010 confirmed these
powers to act as President, in recognition of her opinion. On 24 February 2010, Yar'Adua
returned to Nigeria, but Jonathan continued as acting president.[2] Upon Yar'Adua's death on 5
May 2010, Jonathan succeeded to the Presidency, taking the oath of office on 6 May 2010.
Contents
[hide]


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1 Early life, education and personal life
2 Presidency
3 World Cup controversy
4 References
Early life, education and personal life
Jonathan was born in Otueke in Ogbia Local Government Area of the then Eastern Region, later
Rivers State, now Bayelsa State to a family of canoe makers.[1][3] Jonathan holds a B.Sc. degree
in Zoology in which he attained Second Class Honours, Upper Division. He also holds an M.Sc.
degree in Hydrobiology and Fisheries biology, and a Ph.D. degree in Zoology from the
University of Port Harcourt. After obtaining his degree, he worked as an education inspector,
lecturer, and environmental-protection officer, until he decided to enter politics in 1998.[4]
Jonathan and his wife, Patience, have two children. He is a member of the Ijaw ethnic group.[5]
Presidency
Jonathan (fifth from right) standing with other world leaders at a meeting of the Economic Community
of West African States in July 2010.
Umaru Yar'Adua died on 5 May 2010. Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as Yar'Adua's successor
on the following day,[6] becoming Nigeria's 14th Head of State, to serve until the next election, in
2011, at which time he could elect to run again, which he has done. Upon taking office, he cited
anti-corruption, power and electoral reform as focuses of his administration. He stated that he
came to office under "very sad and unusual circumstances".[7]
On 18 May 2010, the National Assembly approved President Jonathan's nomination of former
Kaduna State governor, Namadi Sambo, an architect, for the position of Vice President.[8][9]
On 14 January 2011, President Jonathan was elected as the Presidential flag-bearer of the ruling
People's Democratic Party for the 2011 Presidential election by 77.7% of valid votes cast. He
faced other candidates in the April 16, 2011 general election, including Mallam Nuhu Ribadu[10]
of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Muhammadu Buhari of Congress for Progressive
Change (CPC).[11] On April 18, 2011, Goodluck Jonathan was declared the winner of the 2011
Nigerian presidential election. His election victory was followed by violence in the Northern part
of the country.[12]
World Cup controversy
After the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, in which the Nigerian team failed to advance
beyond group stage, Jonathan decreed a ban on international games for the football team. FIFA
objected to the president's decision and threatened to evict Nigeria from the association.
Subsequently he lifted the ban.[13]
References
1. ^ a b Lawson Heyford, "Jonathan: A Colossus at 49", The Source (Lagos), 11 December 2006
2. ^ "Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan 'is acting president'". BBC News (BBC). 25 February 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8537718.stm. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ "Profile: Goodluck Jonathan". BBC News. 6 May 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8510390.stm. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
5. ^ "Profile: Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's unlikely leader". BBC. 22 February 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8510390.stm. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Goodluck Jonathan
Nigeria portal
Political offices
Preceded by
Diepreye Alamieyeseigha
Governor of Bayelsa State
2005–2007
Succeeded by
Timipre Sylva
Preceded by
Umaru Yar'Adua
President of Nigeria
2010–present
Incumbent
Diplomatic posts
Chairperson of the Economic
Community of West African States
2010–present
Preceded by
Umaru Yar'Adua
Incumbent
[show]v · d · ePresidents of Nigeria (List)
[show]v · d · eGovernors of Bayelsa State
[show]v · d · eNigerian state governors 2003-2007 term
Abia
Orji Uzor Kalu
(PDP)
Delta
James Ibori (PDP) Katsina
Umaru
Oyo
Yar'Adua (PDP)
Ebonyi Sam Egwu (PDP)
Adamawa Boni Haruna
(PDP)
Akwa
Ibom
Victor Attah
(PDP)
Edo
Ekiti
Kebbi
Adamu Aliero
(APP)
Kogi
Ibrahim Idris
(PDP)
Lucky Igbinedion
(PDP)
Ayo Fayose (PDP)
(impeached)
Tunji Olurin
Kwara
(Administrator)
Anambra Chris Ngige
(PDP) (nullified)
Peter Obi
Enugu Chimaroke
(APGA)
Nnamani (PDP)
Bauchi Adamu Mu'azu
Gombe Mohammed
(PDP)
Danjuma Goje
Rasheed Ladoja
(PDP)
(impeached)
Christopher
Alao-Akala (PDP)
Rasheed Ladoja
(PDP)
(reinstated)
Bukola Saraki Plateau Joshua Dariye
(PDP)
(PDP)
(suspended)
Bola Tinubu
Lagos
Chris Alli
(AC)
(administrator)
Joshua Dariye
Nasarawa Abdullahi
(PDP)
Bayelsa
Benue
Borno
Cross
River
Diepreye
Alamieyeseigha
Imo
(PDP)
(impeached)
Goodluck
Jonathan (PDP) Jigawa
(PDP)
Achike Udenwa
(PDP)
Adamu (PDP)
Niger
Ibrahim Saminu Ogun
Turaki (APP)
George Akume
Kaduna Ahmed Makarfi Ondo
(PDP)
(PDP)
Ali Modu Sheriff
Kano Ibrahim Shekarau Osun
(ANPP)
(ANPP)
Donald Duke
(PDP)
[show]v · d · eVice
Presidents of Nigeria
[show]v · d · eCabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan
Abdulkadir
Kure (PDP)
Gbenga Daniel
(PDP)
Olusegun
Agagu (PDP)
(reinstated)
Rivers
Sokoto Attahiru
Bafarawa (APP)
Taraba Jolly Nyame
(PDP)
Yobe
Olagunsoye
Oyinlola (PDP)
Peter Odili (PDP)
Bukar Ibrahim
(APP)
Zamfara Ahmad Sani
Yerima (ANPP)
Interior
Capt.
Emmanuel
Iheanacho 6
April 2010
Justice
Mohammed
Bello Adoke,
SAN 6 April
2010
Labour & Productivity
Chukwuemeka
Ngozichineke
Wogu 6 April
2010
Lands & Urban Development
Hon. Nduese
Essien 6 April
2010
Mines & Steel Development
Arc. Musa
Mohammed
Sada 6 April
2010
National Planning Commission
Dr.
Shamsuddeen
Usman 6 April
2010
National Sports Commission
Hon. Ibrahim
Isa Bio 6 April
2010
Niger Delta Affairs
Elder Peter
Godsday
Orubebe 6
April 2010
Petroleum Resources
Mrs. Diezani
AlisonMadueke 6
April 2010
Police Affairs
Alhaji Adamu
Waziri 6 April
2010
Power
Acting
President
Goodluck
Jonathan 6
April 2010
Science & Technology
Prof.
Muhammed K.
Abubakar 6
April 2010
Special Duties
Navy Capt.
Omoniyi Caleb
Olubolade
(Rtd) 6 April
2010
Transport
Yusuf
Sulaiman 6
April 2010
Women Affairs
Mrs.
Josephine
Anenih 6 April
2010
Works
Sen.
Mohammed
Sanusi
Daggash 6
April 2010
Sen. Akinlabi
Olasunkanmi
6 April 2010
Youth Development
[show]v · d · eOPEC Leaders
Vice President of Nigeria
Vice President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Seal of the Vice President of Nigeria
Incumbent
Namadi Sambo
since 19 May 2010
Style
The Honourable
Residence
Akinola Aguda House
Nominator
The individual's sponsoring political
party
Appointer
Direct Popular Election
Inaugural
Babafemi Ogundipe (Military)
Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme
holder
(Elected)
Formation
16 January 1965
Succession
First
The Vice President of Nigeria is the second-in-command to the President of Nigeria in the
Government of Nigeria. Officially styled Vice President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.The Vice President is elected alongside the President in national elections. The office is
currently held by Namadi Sambo.
Contents
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
1 Eligibility
2 Oath of office
3 Functions of the Vice-President of Nigeria
4 List of Vice Presidents
Eligibility
A person shall be eligible for the office of Vice President if he or she is a citizen of Nigeria by
birth, at least 40 years of age, is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political
party.
Oath of office
The Constitution of Nigeria specifies an oath of office for the Vice President of the federation.
The oath is administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria or the person for
the time being appointed to exercise the functions of that office. It is the same oath recited by
Deputy State Governors, Ministers, Commissioners and Special Advisers to the President:
“
I, do solemnly swear/affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal
Republic of Nigeria; that as Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I will discharge
my duties to the best of my ability, faithfully and in accordance with the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria and the law, and always in the interest of the sovereignty,
integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that I will
strive to preserve the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy
contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that I will not allow my
personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions, that I will to the
best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of
”
Nigeria; that I will abide by the Code of Conduct contained in the Fifth Schedule to the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; that in all circumstances, I will do right to all
manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour, affection or ill-will; that I will not
directly or indirectly communicate or reveal to any person any matter which shall be
brought under my consideration or shall become known to me as Vice-President of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria. So help me God.
Functions of the Vice-President of Nigeria
The executive functions of the Nigerian vice president includes participation in all cabinet
meetings and, by statute, membership in the National Security Council, the National Defence
Council, Federal Executive Council, and the Chairman of National Economic Council. Although
the vice president may take an active role in establishing policy in the Executive Branch by
serving on such committees and councils, the relative power of the Nigerian vice president's
office depends upon the duties delegated by the president.
List of Vice Presidents
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Babafemi Ogundipe* (Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi Military regime)
J. E. A. Wey* (Yakubu Gowon Military regime)
Olusegun Obasanjo* (Murtala Mohammed Military regime)
Shehu Musa Yar'Adua* (Olusegun Obasanjo Military regime)
Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme (Shehu Shagari presidency)
Tunde Idiagbon* (Muhammadu Buhari Military regime)
Ebitu Ukiwe* (Ibrahim Babangida Military regime)
Augustus Aikhomu* (Ibrahim Babangida Military regime)
Oladipo Diya* (Sani Abacha Military regime)
Michael Akhigbe* (Abdusalami Abubakar Military regime)
Atiku Abubakar (Olusegun Obasanjo presidency)
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (Umaru Musa Yar'Adua presidency)
Namadi Sambo (Goodluck Ebele Jonathan presidency)
*Chief of Staff, Supreme HQ; Chief of General Staff, Deputy Military Head of State, and de facto
Vice President
Namadi Sambo
Namadi Sambo
Vice President of Nigeria
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 May 2010
President
Goodluck Jonathan
Preceded by
Goodluck Jonathan
Governor of Kaduna
In office
May 2007 – 19 May 2010
Preceded by
Ahmed Makarfi
Succeeded by
Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa
Personal details
Born
Political party
Spouse(s)
August 2, 1954 (age 56)
Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria
PDP
Mrs. Amina Sambo
Alma mater
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
Profession
Architecture
Religion
Islam
Mohammed Namadi Sambo (born August 2, 1954) is a Nigerian politician and
currently the 4th Vice President of Nigeria. He was named Vice President on May 13, 2010 and
confirmed May 18, 2010,[1] then sworn in on 19 May 2010.[2] An architect by training, Sambo is
an alumnus of the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.[3]
Contents
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
1 Background
2 As Governor of Kaduna State
3 Vice president
4 References
5 External links
Background
Mohammed Namadi Sambo was born on the 2nd of August, 1954 in Zaria, Kaduna State of
Nigeria. He started his Educational Career between the year 1959 at Baptist Primary School,
Kakuri, Kaduna, Kobi Primary School in Bauchi and Towns School No. 1 in Zaria. Between
1967 to 1971, he attended Government Secondary School now Alhuda-Huda College in Zaria.
He attended the School of Basic Studies at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1972, after
which he gained admission into the famous Department of Architecture, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria 1973 and graduated in 1976 with Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in
Architecture (B. Sc. (Hons) and holds a Masters degree (M. Sc.) Arch 1978. He served with the
Oyo State Ministry of Works and Housing for the National Youth Service Corps up to
August1979.[4]
In 1988 he was appointed Commissioner for Works, Transport and Housing, Kaduna. In 1990,
Namadi Sambo left the service of Kaduna State Government and went back to his private
donding practice.
As Governor of Kaduna State
In May 2007, Mohammed Namadi Sambo assumed office of the Governor of Kaduna State,
Nigeria. His term ended on 18 May 2010. Sambo had an 11-point agenda as Governor of Kaduna
State. He once proclaimed "Our 11 - point Agenda will address all the development and social
needs of Kaduna state and bring tools of empowerment to youth and women in the state.
Operation Yaki is meant to address the issue of security and our e-government strategy will
uplift the state economically. I wish to reaffirm my total commitment to the service, Welfare and
interest of the people of Kaduna State. We shall spare no effort to make sure that our tenure
brings succour and prosperity to our people".[5] Mid way to his term as governor, he was tapped
by the president of Nigeria to become his deputy.
Vice president
Following the death of President Umaru Yar'Adua, Goodluck Jonathan became the President.
Jonathan nominated Sambo as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his official
correspondence conveying the nomination of Sambo for the VP position was received by the
National Assembly on Friday 15 May 2010. On 18 May 2010, the National Assembly approved
President Goodluck Jonathan's nomination of former Kaduna State governor, Namadi Sambo, an
architect, for the position of Vice President.[6][7]
On 19 May 2010, Namadi Sambo was formally sworn in as the Vice President of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.[8][9]
Cabinet of Nigeria
The Cabinet of Nigeria is the Executive Branch of the Government of Nigeria. The Cabinet
members are appointed by the President and report to the President. The Cabinet oversees 19
Federal Ministries, each responsible for some aspect of providing government services, as well
as a number of parastatals (government-owned corporations).

Relationship to Civil Service
The ministries and parastatals are staffed by career civil servants. Each is headed by a Permanent
Secretary, a senior civil servant appointed by the Head of the Civil Service. The Permanent
Secretary is accountable to a Minister, who sits in the Cabinet and reports to the President. The
Minister is appointed by the President subject to approval by the Senate and is responsible for
policy, while the Permanent Secretary is responsible for implementation of policy.[1]
Ministers and Ministers of State
By convention, there must be one Cabinet member from each of the 36 states in Nigeria,
although there are only 19 ministries and at times a Federal minister is responsible for more than
one ministry (e.g. Environment and Housing), or the President takes direct control of a key
ministry such as Petroleum Resources. To ensure representation from each state, a Minister is
often assisted by one or more Ministers of State.[2]
For example, in the new Cabinet announced by President Goodluck Jonathan on 8 April 2010,
Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga of Edo State was Minister of Finance while Aderemi Babalola of
Oyo State was Minister of State for Finance; Diezani Alison-Madueke of Rivers State was
Minister of Petroleum Resources, with no Minister of State; Adetokunbo Kayode of Ondo State
was Minister of Defence with Murtala Shehu Yar'Adua of Katsina State as Minister of State for
Defence; and so on.[3]
List of Nigerian agencies
The following is a list of agencies in the government of Nigeria.
Contents
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1 Communications and media
2 Economic
3 Energy
4 Intelligence
5 Law enforcement
6 Other
Communications and media

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)
Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC)
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is the independent regulatory body for the
Nigerian telecommunications industry. The NCC was created under Decree number 75 by the
Federal Military Government of Nigeria on 24th of November 1992. The NCC was charged with
the responsibility of regulating the supply of telecommunications services and facilities,
promoting competition, and setting performance standards for telephone services in Nigeria.

Organizational structure
The commission is headed by a board of nine commissioners, composed of the Chairman, the
Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, two Executive Officers, and five nonexecutive commissioners.
There are five directorates, fourteen departments, and five units. All these offices report to the
office of the chief executive.
Directorates and their departments
Spectrum Administration Directorate

Spectrum Planning



Spectrum Assignment
Spectrum Utilization & Monitoring
Spectrum Database Management
Licensing Directorate



Licensing/Records
Zonal Operations
Tariff/Charges
Technical Standards & Network Integrity



Wireless Networks
Fixed Networks and Converged Services
Interconnection & Network Monitoring
Legal Directorate



License Docs/Registry
Telecoms laws/Regulations
Dispute Resolution
Support Services Directorate

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

Finance
Administration
Human Resources
Information Technology
List of Present Commissioners








Chairman - Mr Peter Igho
Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive - Dr. Eugene Juwah
Executive Commissioner - Dr. Bashir Gwandu
Former Member - Engr. Patrick S. Kentebe
Former Member - Engr. Olawale Ige
Member - Engr. Muhtari Ibrahim Zimit
Member - Dr. Micheal Onyia
Member - Mr. Bayo Atoyebi
Nigerian Television Authority(NTA)
The Nigerian Television Authority - also known as NTA - was inaugurated in 1977 and is the
government-owned body in charge of television broadcasting in the country.[1] The NTA claims
to run the biggest television network in Africa with stations in several parts of Nigeria. Formerly
known as Nigerian Television (NTV), the network began with a take over of regional television
stations in 1976 by the then Nigerian military authorities, and is widely viewed as the authentic
voice of the Nigerian government.
Contents





1 Background and history
2 Programming
3 NTA Branches and Network Centers
4 References
5 External links
Background and history
The first official director general was Vincent Maduka, a former engineer. Prior to his
appointment Maduka was General Manager of Western Nigeria Television, Ibadan, which was
Africa's first television station. The NTA has been criticized by performing artists such as Becky
Umeh for pressuring artists to align their expression with government propaganda goals.[2],[3] The
Guardian in its editorial of Sunday October 18, 2009 stated "The federal government-owned
television network, the Nigeria Television Authority, (NTA) is arguably the largest of its type in
Africa, but it is yet to have the operational freedom required to maximise its potentials".
However, the NTA's monopoly on the Nigerian airspace was broken in the mid-1990s with the
establishment of privately owned television stations and networks, notable among which is the
Africa Independent Television.
Programming
A number of NTA programmes can be viewed online via Africast. NTA News bulletins are
frequently aired on Africa Independent Television, and BEN Television in the United Kingdom.
The station was made available through Sky in the UK on channel 202, but in early March 2010,
they refused to make their channel pay-per-view on Sky, the next day the channel was removed
from the Sky EPG. It is also on the IPTV platform SuncasTV, and via free-to-air satellite on
Galaxy 19, Intelsat 905 and Intelsat 907.
NTA Branches and Network Centers




NTA Aba
NTA Abeokuta
NTA Abuja
NTA Plus Abuja
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Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria
The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) is Nigeria's publicly-funded radio
broadcasting organization. Among its subsidiaries are the domestic radio network known as
Radio Nigeria and the Voice of Nigeria international radio service.
History
The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria was originally founded in 1933 by the British colonial
government. Named the Radio Diffusion Service (RDS), it allowed the public to hear the British
Broadcasting Corporation's foreign radio service broadcasts in certain public locations over
loudspeakers. [1]
In April 1950, the RDS became the Nigerian Broadcasting Service and introduced radio stations
in Lagos, Kaduna, Enugu, Ibadan, and Kano. This service was reorganized into the Nigerian
Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) on April 1, 1957 by act of parliament. Its mission was to
"provide, as a public service, independent and impartial broadcasting services". By 1962 the
NBC had expanded its broadcast stations into Sokoto, Maiduguri, Ilorin, Zaria, Jos, and Katsina
in the north; Port Harcourt, Calabar, and Onitsha in the East; and Abeokuta, Warri, and IjebuOde in the West. Each of these stations was considered a subsidiary station of a regional station.
The subsidiary stations broadcast local interest programs during part of the day, and then relayed
programming from their regional station during the rest of the broadcast day. National programs
were broadcast from two shortwave transmitters and one mediumwave transmitter located in
Sogunle, near Lagos. [2]
In late 1960, the Federal Parliament amended the NBC Ordinance to allow the sale of
commercial advertisements. The first ads ran on October 31, 1961, and were broadcast from
Lagos. By 1962 regional and provincial broadcasters began selling ads to local businesses. The
goal of allowing radio advertisements was to help provide additional funding to NBC stations
beyond that received from the government. [2]
The Federal Parliament approved the creation of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) external shortwave
service in 1961. Broadcasts began on January 1, 1961 from Lagos State. Its initial operations
were limited to two hours a day to West Africa, but by 1963 VON had expanded both its
coverage and transmission times with the addition of five additional transmitters. [3]
In April 1961, with financial assistance from the Ford Foundation and technical assistance from
the British Broadcasting Corporation, NBC began the National School Broadcasting Service in
April 1961. The NBC Schools unit broadcast lessons in various school subjects for primary and
secondary schools, as well as special programs for teacher training colleges. The Schools unit
was based in Ibadan. [2]
The NBC and the Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria (BCNN) were merged together
in 1978 to become the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). Mediumwave transmitters
previously owned by the NBC were transferred to the individual state governments where the
transmitters were located. At the same time, the states transferred shortwave transmitters to the
FRCN. [1]
In 1996, VON installed three high power transmitters at its Ikorodu transmitter site, allowing
worldwide transmissions for the first time.[3]
FRCN Today
FRCN's mediumwave service, Radio Nigeria, has 25 stations located throughout the country, and
together with Voice of Nigeria, considers itself to have the largest radio network in Africa [1]. In
2007, FRCN began introducing FM transmitters in some locations, and plans to begin upgrading
and modernizing its shortwave and medium wave transmitters in the coming years[3]
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Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
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Nigerian Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT)
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search
Flood sacks Lagos, Oyo, Taraba *Fashola
orders workers, school children to stay at
home today *Plane overshoots runway at
Benin airport
Written by Adebayo Waheed, Shola Adekola, Olayinka Olukoya,
Chukwuma Okparaocha, Dele Ayeleso and Celestine Ihejirika
Monday, July 11, 2011
IT was like a replay of the Great Flood during the time of the
biblical Noah in some states in the country, especially Lagos, Ogun
and Oyo, on Sunday, as long hours of ceaseless rain caused havoc
and resulted in casualties, as well as huge material losses.
Ilamoye street, Ijesha, Surulere
As early as 7.00a.m, the downpour forced residents of Lagos to
remain indoors for most part of the day, while Christians could not
attend Sunday services in the affected states, just as many motorists
could not leave their respective homes. It was still raining after 7.00
p.m on Sunday.
Travellers were stranded as the rain disrupted flight operations for
hours and made departure and landing difficult for aircraft even as
the runway of the Lagos airport was also flooded.
Air traffic controllers described the rain as the heaviest in recent
times, adding that airplanes were diverted to other airports until
the runaway was free of flood.
There were heavy flooding in parts of Victoria Island, Ikoyi,
Obalende, Orile Iganmu, Surulere, Aguda, Idi Araba, Ikorodu road,
Ajegunle and Maryland.
A similar downpour led to serious flooding that wreaked havoc in
many other places. The state government, in a bid to reduce the
adverse effect often experienced by Lagos citizen as a result of the
asperity of the rains, had lately taken steps, including excavation of
blocked drainage channels, expansion of existing ones and creation
of new ones to check the menace.
Consequently, the Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola,
has directed workers, businessmen and children in public schools
to stay at home today, to enable the state government to assess the
impact of the flood on property and social infrastructure across the
state.
As a pre-emptive measure, the government also sent an alert to
residents of places highly prone to flooding.
Houses worth millions of naira were also destroyed in Bissaula and
Angwan Yadi villages in Kurmi Local Government Area of Taraba
State.
The rain wreaked havoc in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital,
leaving many buildings, including religious centres submerged. It
took the efforts of men of the state fire service to prevent some
residents of the flooded areas from being washed away.
Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, also recorded another flood, few days
after the one that destroyed properties, bridges and roads. A petrol
station also collapsed in the torrential rain in the city.
A driver of a Starlet taxi car, while trying to avoid a flooded portion
at Bode area of Ibadan, was washed off by the flood. The driver
could not be seen, when the car was stopped around Soka area of
the metropolis.
Meanwhile, the popular Secretariat-University of Ibadan and the
Iwo Road under bridge, were flooded as a result of the rain.
The stream at the Awolowo Junction in the state capital overflowed its bank, thereby hindering free flow of traffic. As a result,
most of the commercial vehicle operators and motorists, especially
those coming from churches, had to look for alternative routes.
The traffic situation on the two roads left many commuters
stranded while several others resorted to trekking with many
vehicles developing faults.
The stream has become a menace to road users especially when it
rains.
In Abeokuta, the rain, which stopped overnight on Saturday, again
started at about 12.45p.m on Sunday and was still raining, at the
time of filing this report.
Most areas affected by the flood were Isale-Oja Kuto, Ijaye,
Olorunsogo, Abiola Way, Amolaso, and Isale-Igbein.
At Ijaye area, a fish cold-room was filled with water, destroying
goods worth millions of naira, while a bridge linking Isale Oja Kuto
and Nawa-ur-deen junction was also washed away by the flood.
Flood also affected St. Mary's Anglican Church, as musical
instruments and other property of the church were destroyed. The
Sunday service could not be held due to the havoc caused by the
downpour.
In areas like Olorunsogo and Abiola Way, some houses and cars
were submerged, as some residents fled to save their lives.
In Iperu and Ikenne Remo visited by the Nigerian Tribune, many
drainage channels were blocked with refuse dumped by residents,
despite various warnings by both the state and local governments
against indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the drainage.
A member of the state House of Assembly in Taraba, Honourable
Ishaku Audu, after visiting the affected areas, expressed shock at
the extent of the havoc caused by the flood.
He said the situation had led to the movement of people out of their
houses to schools and church premises across some villages, adding
that school children were no longer attending schools. He, however,
expressed gratitude to God that there was no loss of life.
History of Nigeria (1500–1800)
Contents


1 Savanna States
o 1.1 Akwa Akpa
2 Igbo states

3 References
Savanna States
During the 16th century the Songhai Empire reached its peak, stretcfrom the Senegal and
Gambia rivers and incorporating part of Hausaland in the east. Concurrently the Sayfawa dynasty
of Kanem-Bornu reconquered its Kanem homeland and extended control west to Hausa cities not
under Songhai authority. Largely because of Songhai's influence, there was a blossoming of
Islamic learning and culture. Songhai collapsed in 1591 when a Moroccan army conquered Gao
and Timbuktu. Morocco was unable to control the empire and the various provinces, including
the Hausa states, became independent. The collapse undermined Songhai's hegemony over the
Hausa states and abruptly altered the course of regional history.
Kanem-Bornu reached its apogee under mai Idris Aluma (ca. 1569-1600) during whose reign
Kanem was reconquered. The destruction of Songhai left Borno uncontested and until the 18th
century Borno dominated northern Nigeria. Despite Borno's hegemony the Hausa states
continued to wrestle for ascendancy. Gradually Borno's position weakened; its inability to check
political rivalries between competing Hausa cities was one example of this decline. Another
factor was the military threat of the Tuareg centered at Agades who penetrated the northern
districts of Borno. The major cause of Borno's decline was a severe drought that struck the Sahel
and savanna from in the middle of the 18th century. As a consequence Borno lost many northern
territories to the Tuareg whose mobility allowed them to endure the famine more effectively.
Borno regained some of its former might in the succeeding decades, but another drought
occurred in the 1790s, again weakening the state.
Ecological and political instability provided the background for the jihad of Usman dan Fodio.
The military rivalries of the Hausa states strained the regions economic resources at a time when
drought and famine undermined farmers and herders. Many Fulani moved into Hausaland and
Borno, and their arrival increased tensions because they had no loyalty to the political
authorities, who saw them as a source of increased taxation. By the end of the 18th century, some
Muslim ulema began articulating the grievances of the common people. Efforts to eliminate or
control these religious leaders only heightened the tensions, setting the stage for jihad.
Akwa Akpa
The city-state of Akwa Akpa was founded in 1786 by Efik families (a branch of the Ibibio) who
had left Creek Town, further up the Calabar river, settling on the east bank in a position where
they were able to dominate traffic with European vessels that anchored in the river, and soon
becoming the most powerful in the region.[1] The Europeans gave this city the name "Old
Calabar" for unknown reasons.[2] The city became a center of the slave trade, where slaves were
exchanged for European goods.[3] Most slave ships that transported slaves from Calabar were
English, at around 85% of these ships being from Bristol and Liverpool merchants.[4] The main
ethnic group taken out of Calabar as slaves were the Igbo, although they were not the main
ethnicity in the area.[5]
Igbo states
The Onitsha Kingdom, which was originally inhabited by Igbo, was founded in the 16th century
by migrants from Benin. Later groups like the Igalas and Igbo traders from the hinterland settled
in Onitsha in the 18th century. Another Igbo kingdom to form was the Arochukwu kingdom
which emerged after the Aro-Ibibio wars from 1630-1720, and went on to form the Aro
Confederacy which dominated midwestern and eastern Nigeria with pockets of influence in
Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon.
Igbo gods, like those of the Yoruba, were numerous, but their relationship to one another and
human beings was essentially egalitarian, reflecting Igbo society as a whole. A number of oracles
and local cults attracted devotees while the central deity, the earth mother and fertility figure Ala,
was venerated at shrines throughout Igboland.
The weakness of a popular theory that Igbos were stateless rests on the paucity of historical
evidence of pre-colonial Igbo society. There is a huge gap between the archaeological finds of
Igbo Ukwu, which reveal a rich material culture in the heart of the Igbo region in the 8th century,
and the oral traditions of the 20th century. Benin exercised considerable influence on the western
Igbo who adopted many of the political structures familiar to the Yoruba-Benin region. Ofega
was the queen.
History of Nigeria before 1500
Long before 1500 much of modern-Nigeria was divided into states identified with contemporary
ethnic groups. These early states included the Yoruba kingdoms, the Igbo Kingdom of Nri, the
Edo State kingdom of Benin, the Hausa cities, and Nupe. Additionally numerous small states to
the west and south of Lake Chad were absorbed or displaced in the course of the expansion of
Kanem, which was centered to the northeast of Lake Chad. Borno, initially the western province
of Kanem, became independent in the late 14th century. Other states probably existed but the
absence of archaeological data prevents accurate dating. In the southeast, the earliest Igbo state
was Nri which emerged in 900 AD. Despite its relatively small size geographically it is
considered the cradle of Igbo culture.
Statue of the orisha Eshu, Oyo, Nigeria, c. 1920
Contents




1 The Kingdom of Nri
2 Yoruba kingdoms and Benin
o 2.1 Oyo and Benin
3 The northern kingdoms of the Savanna
o 3.1 Kanem-Bornu Empire
o 3.2 Hausa states
4 References
The Kingdom of Nri
Main article: Kingdom of Nri
The Nri Kingdom in the Awka area was founded in about 900 AD in North Central Igboland.
The Nsukka-Awka-Orlu axis is said to be the oldest area of Igbo settlement and therefore,
homeland of the Igbo people. This ancient kingdom is still considered the cradle of Igbo culture.
The Nri people are children of the historical and mythical divine king Eri (founder of Aguleri of
the Umueri clan on the Anambra river valley). It was a center of spirituality, learning, and
commerce. They were agents of peace and harmony whose influence stretched beyond Igboland.
The Nri people's influence in neighboring lands was especially in Southern Igalaland and Benin
kingdom in the 12th to 15th centuries. As great travelers, they were also business people
involved in the long distant Tran Saharan trade. The development and sophistication of this
civilization is evident in the bronze castings found in Igbo Ukwu, a area of Nri influence. The
Benin kingdom became a threat in the 15th century under Oba Ewuare. Since they were against
slaves and slavery, their power took a downturn when the slave trade was at its peak in the 18nth
century. The Benin and Igala slave raiding empires became the main influence in their
relationship with Western and Northern Igbos their former main areas of influence and operation.
Upper Northwest Cross River Igbo groups like the Aro Confederacy and Abiriba peoples, as well
as the Awka and Umunoha people used oracular activities and other trading opportunities after
Nri's decline in the 18th century to become the major influences in Igboland and all adjacent
areas. This includes parts of Igalaland and places west of the Niger river indirectly affected by
the Benin kingdom.
Yoruba kingdoms and Benin
Historically the Yoruba have been the dominant group on the west bank of the Niger. Of mixed
origin, they were the product of periodic waves of migrants. The Yoruba were organized in
patrilineal groups that occupied village communities and subsisted on agriculture. From about
the 8th century adjacent village compounds, called ile, coalesced into numerous territorial citystates in which clan loyalties became subordinate to dynastic chieftains. The earliest known of
these city states formed at Ife and Ijebu. The latter city was fortified by a wall and ditch known
today as Sungbo's Eredo around 800 AD. Urbanization was accompanied by high levels of
artistic achievement, particularly in terracotta and ivory sculpture and in the sophisticated metal
casting produced at Ife. The Yoruba placated a luxuriant pantheon headed by an impersonal
deity, Olorun, and included lesser deities who performed various tasks. Oduduwa was regarded
as the creator of the earth and the ancestor of the Yoruba kings. According to myth Oduduwa
founded Ife and dispatched his sons to establish other cities, where they reigned as priest-kings.
Ife was the center of as many as 400 religious cults whose traditions were manipulated to
political advantage by the oni (king).
Oyo and Benin
During the 15th century Oyo and Benin surpassed Ife as political and economic powers although
Ife preserved its status as a religious center. Respect for the priestly functions of the oni of Ife
was a crucial factor in the evolution of Yoruba ethnicity. The Ife model of government was adept
and derived its military strength from its cavalry forces, which established hegemony over the
adjacent Nupe and the Borgu kingdoms and thereby developed trade routes farther to the north.
Yorubaland established a community in the Edo-speaking area east of Ife before becoming a
dependency of Ife at the beginning of the 14th century. By the 15th century it became an
independent trading power, blocking Ife's access to the coastal ports as Oyo had cut off the
mother city from the savanna. Political and religious authority resided in the oba (king) who
according to tradition was descended from the Ife dynasty. Benin, which may have housed
100,000 inhabitants at its height, spread over twenty-five square km that were enclosed by three
concentric rings of earthworks. By the late 15th century Benin was in contact with Portugal (see
Atlantic slave trade). At its apogee in the 16th and 17th centuries, Benin encompassed parts of
southeastern Yorubaland,and the western parts of the present Delta State.
The northern kingdoms of the Savanna
The Songhai Empire, c. 1500
Trade as the key to the emergence of organized communities in the savanna portions of Nigeria.
Prehistoric inhabitants adjusting to the encroaching desert were widely scattered by the third
millennium BC, when the desiccation of the Sahara began. Trans-Saharan trade routes linked the
western Sudan with the Mediterranean since the time of Carthage and with the Upper Nile from a
much earlier date, establishing avenues of communication and cultural influence that remained
open until the end of the 19th century. By these same routes, Islam made its way south into West
Africa after the 9th century AD.
By then a string of dynastic states, including the earliest Hausa states, stretched across the
western and central Sudan. The most powerful of these states were Ghana, Gao, and Kanem,
which were not within the boundaries of modern Nigeria but indirectly influenced the history of
the Nigerian savanna. Ghana declined in the 11th century but was succeeded by Mali Empire
which consolidated much of the western Sudan in the 13th century. Following the breakup of
Mali a local leader named Sonni Ali (1464–1492) founded the Songhai Empire in the region of
middle Niger and the western Sudan and took control of the trans-Saharan trade. Sunni Ali
seized Timbuktu in 1468 and Jenne in 1473, building his regime on trade revenues and the
cooperation of Muslim merchants. His successor Askiya Mohammad Ture (1493–1528) made
Islam the official religion, built mosques, and brought Muslim scholars, including al-Maghili
(died c. 1505), the founder of an important tradition of Sudanic African Muslim scholarship, to
Gao.[1] Although these western empires had little political influence on the Nigerian savanna
before 1500, they had a strong cultural and economic impact that became more pronounced in
the 16th century, especially because these states became associated with the spread of Islam and
trade. Throughout the 16th century much of northern Nigeria paid homage to Songhai in the west
or to Borno, a rival empire in the east.
Kanem-Bornu Empire
Main article: Kanem-Bornu Empire
Borno's history is closely associated with Kanem, which had achieved imperial status in the Lake
Chad basin by the 13th century. Kanem expanded westward to include the area that became
Borno. The mai (king) of Kanem and his court accepted Islam in the 11th century, as the western
empires also had done. Islam was used to reinforce the political and social structures of the state
although many established customs were maintained. Women, for example, continued to
exercise considerable political influence.
The mai employed his mounted bodyguard and an inchoate army of nobles to extend Kanem's
authority into Borno. By tradition the territory was conferred on the heir to the throne to govern
during his apprenticeship. In the 14th century, however, dynastic conflict forced the then-ruling
group and its followers to relocate in Borno, where as a result the Kanuri emerged as an ethnic
group in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The civil war that disrupted Kanem in the
second half of the 14th century resulted in the independence of Borno.
Borno's prosperity depended on the trans-Sudanic slave trade and the desert trade in salt and
livestock. The need to protect its commercial interests compelled Borno to intervene in Kanem,
which continued to be a theater of war throughout the fifteenth and into the sixteenth centuries.
Despite its relative political weakness in this period, Borno's court and mosques under the
patronage of a line of scholarly kings earned fame as centers of Islamic culture and learning.
Hausa states
Map of Nigeria (source: CIA's The World Factbook)
Main article: Hausa Kingdoms
By the 11th century some Hausa states - such as Kano, Katsina, and Gobir - had developed into
walled towns engaging in trade, servicing caravans, and the manufacture of various goods. Until
the 15th century these small states were on the periphery of the major Sudanic empires of the era.
They were constantly pressured by Songhai to the west and Kanem-Borno to the east, to which
they paid tribute. Armed conflict was usually motivated by economic concerns, as coalitions of
Hausa states mounted wars against the Jukun and Nupe in the middle belt to collect slaves or
against one another for control of trade.
Islam arrived to Hausaland along the caravan routes. The famous Kano Chronicle records the
conversion of Kano's ruling dynasty by clerics from Mali, demonstrating that the imperial
influence of Mali extended far to the east. Acceptance of Islam was gradual and was often
nominal in the countryside where folk religion continued to exert a strong influence.
Nonetheless, Kano and Katsina, with their famous mosques and schools, came to participate
fully in the cultural and intellectual life of the Islamic world. The Fulani began to enter the Hausa
country in the 13th century and by the 15th century they were tending cattle, sheep, and goats in
Borno as well. The Fulani came from the Senegal River valley, where their ancestors had
developed a method of livestock management based on transhumance. Gradually they moved
eastward, first into the centers of the Mali and Songhai empires and eventually into Hausaland
and Borno. Some Fulbe converted to Islam as early as the 11th century and settled among the
Hausa, from whom they became racially indistinguishable. There they constituted a devoutly
religious, educated elite who made themselves indispensable to the Hausa kings as government
advisers, Islamic judges, and teachers.
Colonial Nigeria
Stamp of Southern Nigeria, 1901
Colonial Flag of Nigeria
Colonial Nigeria ran from 1800 till October 1, 1960 when it gained independence. Up until the
amalgamation of 1914, the country's constituting parts existed as separate British protectorates.

Beginnings
Abolition of the Slave Trade
In 1807 the Houses of Parliament in London enacted legislation prohibiting British subjects from
participating in the slave trade. Indirectly, this legislation was one of the reasons for the collapse
of Oyo. Britain withdrew from the slave trade while it was the major transporter of slaves to the
Americas. Furthermore, the French had been knocked out of the trade during the French
Revolution beginning in 1789 and by the Napoleonic Wars of the first fifteen years of the
nineteenth century. Between them, the French and the British had purchased a majority of the
slaves sold from the ports of Oyo. The commercial uncertainty that followed the disappearance
of the major purchasers of slaves unsettled the economy of Oyo. Ironically, the political troubles
in Oyo came to a head after 1817, when the transatlantic market for slaves once again boomed.
Rather than supplying slaves from other areas, however, Oyo itself became the source of slaves.
British legislation forbade ships under British registry to engage in the slave trade, but the
restriction was applied generally to all flags and was intended to shut down all traffic in slaves
coming out of West African ports. Other countries more or less hesitantly followed the British
lead. The United States, for example, also prohibited the slave trade in 1807 (Denmark actually
was the first country to declare the trade illegal in 1792). Attitudes changed slowly, however, and
not all countries cooperated in controlling the activity of their merchant ships. American ships,
for instance, were notorious for evading the prohibition and going unpunished under United
States law. It should be noted, moreover, that the abolition movement concentrated on the
transatlantic trade for more than five decades before eventually becoming a full-fledged attack
on slave trading within Africa itself.
The Royal Navy maintained a prevention squadron to blockade the coast, and a permanent
station was established at the Spanish colony of Fernando Po, off the Nigerian coast, with
responsibility for patrolling the West African coast. For several decades, as much as one-sixth of
all British warships were assigned to this mission, and a squadron was maintained at Fernando
Po from 1827 until 1844. Slaves rescued at sea were usually taken to Sierra Leone, where they
were released. British naval crews were permitted to divide prize money from the sale of
captured slave ships. Apprehended slave runners were tried by naval courts and were liable to
capital punishment if found guilty.
Still, a lively slave trade to the Americas continued into the 1860s. The demands of Cuba and
Brazil for slaves were met by a flood of captives taken in wars among the Yoruba and shipped
from Lagos, while some Aro traders continued to supply the delta ports with slave exports
through the 1830s. Despite the British blockade, almost 1 million slaves were exported from
Nigeria in the nineteenth century. The risk involved in running the British blockade obviously
made profits all the greater on delivery.
The campaign to eradicate the slave trade and substitute for it trade in other commodities
increasingly resulted in British intervention in the internal affairs of the Nigerian region during
the nineteenth century and ultimately led to the decision to assume jurisdiction over the coastal
area. Suppression of the slave trade and issues related to slavery remained at the forefront of
British dealings with local states and societies for the rest of the nineteenth century and even into
the twentieth century.
Lagos, where the British concentrated activities after 1851, had been founded as a colony of
Benin in about 1700. A long dynastic struggle, which became entwined with the struggle against
the slave trade, resulted in the overthrow of the reigning oba and the renunciation of a treaty with
Britain to curtail the slave trade. Britain was determined to halt the traffic in slaves fed by the
Yoruba wars, and responded to this frustration by annexing Lagos Colony in 1861. Thereafter,
Britain gradually extended its control along the coast. British intervention became more insistent
in the 1870s and 1880s as a result of pressure from missionaries and liberated slaves returning
from Sierra Leone. There was also the necessity of protecting commerce disrupted by the
fighting. The method of dealing with these problems was to dictate treaties that inevitably led to
further annexations.
Commodity Trade
The development of "legitimate" trade was the final phase of private and official British efforts
to find a positive alternative to the traffic in slaves. Earlier aspects of such constructive interest
had included the founding of the colony at Sierra Leone in 1787 as a refuge for liberated slaves,
the missionary movement designed to bring Christianity to the region, and programs of
exploration sponsored by learned societies and scientific groups, such as the London-based
African Association.
The principal commodities of legitimate trade were palm oil and palm kernels, which were used
in Europe to make soap and as lubricants for machinery before petroleum products were
developed for that purpose. Although this trade grew to significant proportions—palm oil
exports alone were worth £1 billion a year by 1840—it was concentrated near the coast, where
palm trees grew in abundance. Gradually, however, the trade forced major economic and social
changes in the interior, although it hardly undermined slavery and the slave trade. Quite the
contrary, the incidence of slavery in local societies actually increased.
Initially most palm oil (and later kernels) came from Igboland, where palm trees formed a
canopy over the densely inhabited areas of the Ngwa, Nri Kingdom, Awka, and other Igbo
peoples. Palm oil was used locally for cooking, the kernels were a source for food, trees were
tapped for palm wine, and the fronds were used for building material. It was a relatively simple
adjustment for many Igbo families to transport the oil to rivers and streams that led to the Niger
Delta for sale to European merchants. The rapid expansion in exports, especially after 1830,
occurred precisely at the time slave exports collapsed. Instead, slaves were redirected into the
domestic economy, especially to grow the staple food crop, yams, in northern Igboland for
marketing throughout the palm-tree belt. As before, Aro merchants dominated trade in the
hinterland, including palm products to the coast and the sale of slaves within Igboland.
The Niger Delta and Calabar, which once had been known for the export of slaves, now became
famous for the export of palm oil, so much so that the delta streams were given the name the "oil
rivers." The basic economic units in each town were "houses," family-operated entities that were
also the focus of loyalty for those employed in them. A "house" included the extended family of
the trader, both his retainers and slaves. As its head, the master trader taxed other traders who
were members of his "house" and was obligated to maintain a war vessel, which was a large
dugout canoe that could hold several tons of cargo and dozens of crew, for the defense of the
harbor. Whenever a trader could afford to keep a war canoe, he was expected to form his own
"house". Economic competition among these "houses" was so fierce that trade often erupted into
armed battle between the large canoes.
Because of the hazards of climate and disease for Europeans and the absence of any authority
responsive to their interests on the mainland, European merchants ordinarily moored their ships
outside harbors or in the delta and used the ships as trading stations and warehouses. In time,
however, they built depots onshore and eventually moved up the Niger River to stations
established in the interior, like that at Onitsha, where they could bargain with local suppliers and
purchase products likely to turn a profit. Some European traders switched to legitimate business
only when the commerce in slaves became too hazardous. Disreputable as many of the traders
had been, they often suffered from the precariousness of their position and were at the mercy of
what they considered to be unpredictable coastal rulers. Accordingly, as the volume of trade
increased, the British government responded to repeated requests of merchants to appoint a
consul to cover the region. Consequently in 1849, John Beecroft was accredited as consul for the
bights of Benin and Biafra, a jurisdiction stretching from Dahomey to Cameroon. Beecroft was
the British representative to Fernando Po, where the prevention squadron of the British Royal
Navy was stationed.
Exploration of the Niger Basin had a commercial as well as scientific motivation, but curiosity
about the course and destination of the river also played a part. The delta masked the mouth of
the great river, and for centuries Nigerians chose not to tell Europeans the secrets of the interior,
initially probably because no one thought to ask but by the nineteenth century because of the
commercial implications. In 1794 the African Association commissioned Mungo Park, an
intrepid Scottish physician and naturalist, to search for the headwaters of the Niger and follow
the river downstream. Park reached the upper Niger the next year by traveling inland from the
Gambia River. Although he reported on the eastward flow of the Niger, he was forced to turn
back when his equipment was lost to Muslim slave traders. In 1805 he set out on a second
expedition, sponsored by the British government, to follow the Niger to the sea. His mission
failed, but Park and his party covered more than 1,500 kilometers, passing through the western
portions of the Sokoto Caliphate, before being drowned in rapids near Bussa.
On a subsequent expedition to the Sokoto Caliphate, Hugh Clapperton learned where the Niger
River flowed to the sea, but Clapperton also died before he could substantiate his information. It
was his servant, Richard Lander, and Lander's brother, John, who actually demonstrated that the
Niger flowed into the dicks. The Lander brothers were seized by slave traders in the interior and
sold down the river to a waiting European ship.
Initial attempts to open trade with the interior by way of the Niger could not overcome climate
and disease, which took the lives of a third of a British riverine expedition in 1842. Use of
quinine to combat malaria on similar expeditions in the 1850s enabled a Liverpool merchant,
Macgregor Laird, to open the river. Laird's efforts were stimulated by the detailed reports of a
pioneer German explorer, Heinrich Barth, who traveled through much of Borno and the Sokoto
Caliphate and recorded information about the region's geography, economy, and inhabitants.
Royal Niger Company
The legitimate trade in commodities attracted a number of rough-hewn British merchants to the
Niger River, as well as some men who had been formerly engaged in the slave trade but who
now changed their line of wares. The large companies that subsequently opened depots in the
delta cities and in Lagos were as ruthlessly competitive as the delta towns themselves and
frequently used force to compel potential suppliers to agree to contracts and to meet their
demands. The most important of these trading companies, whose activities had far-reaching
consequences for Nigeria, was the United Africa Company, founded by George Goldie in 1879.
In 1884, Asaba became the first headquarters of the Royal Niger Company. In 1886 Goldie's
consortium was chartered by the British government as the Royal Niger Company and granted
broad concessionary powers in "all the territory of the basin of the Niger."[citation needed] Needless
to say, these concessions emanated from Britain, not from any authority in Nigeria.
The terms of the charter specified that trade should be free in the region—a principle
systematically violated as the company strengthened its monopoly to forestall French and
German trade interests. The company also was supposed to respect local customs "except so far
as may be necessary in the interests of humanity." The qualifying clause was aimed at slavery
and other activities categorized as "barbarous practices" by British authorities, and it
foreshadowed the qualifications applied to noninterference as a guide to official policy when
Britain assumed formal colonial responsibility in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Royal Niger Company established its headquarters far inland at Lokoja, from
where it pretended to assume responsibility for the administration of areas along the Niger and
Benue rivers where it maintained depots. The company interfered in the territory along the Niger
and the Benue, sometimes becoming embroiled in serious conflicts when its British-led native
constabulary intercepted slave raids or attempted to protect trade routes. The company negotiated
treaties with Sokoto, Gwandu, and Nupe that were interpreted as guaranteeing exclusive access
to trade in return for the payment of annual tribute. Officials of the Sokoto Caliphate considered
these treaties quite differently; from their perspective, the British were granted only
extraterritorial rights that did not prevent similar arrangements with the Germans and the French
and certainly did not surrender sovereignty.
Under Goldie's direction, the Royal Niger Company was instrumental in depriving France and
Germany of access to the region. Consequently, he may well deserve the epithet "father of
Nigeria," which imperialists accorded him. He definitely laid the basis for British claims.
Influence of the Christian Missions
Christianity was introduced at Benin in the fifteenth century by Portuguese Roman Catholic
priests who accompanied traders and officials to the West African coast. Several churches were
built to serve the Portuguese community and a small number of African converts. When direct
Portuguese contacts in the region were withdrawn, however, the influence of the Catholic
missionaries waned and by the eighteenth century had disappeared.
Although churchmen in Britain had been influential in the drive to abolish the slave trade,
significant missionary activity was renewed only in the 1840s and was confined for some time to
the area between Lagos and Ibadan. The first missions there were opened by the Church of
England's Church Missionary Society (CMS). They were followed by other Protestant
denominations from Britain, Canada, and the United States and in the 1860s by Roman Catholic
religious orders. Protestant missionaries tended to divide the country into spheres of activity to
avoid competition with each other, and Catholic missions similarly avoided duplication of effort
among the several religious orders working there. Catholic missionaries were particularly active
among the Igbo, the CMS among the Yoruba.
The CMS initially promoted Africans to responsible positions in the mission field, an
outstanding example being the appointment of Samuel Ajayi Crowther as the first Anglican
bishop of the Niger. Crowther, a liberated Yoruba slave, had been educated in Sierra Leone and
in Britain, where he was ordained before returning to his homeland with the first group of
missionaries sent there by the CMS. This was part of a conscious "native church" policy pursued
by the Anglicans and others to create indigenous ecclesiastical institutions that eventually would
be independent of European tutelage. The effort failed in part, however, because church
authorities came to think that religious discipline had grown too lax during Crowther's episcopate
but especially because of the rise of prejudice. Crowther was succeeded as bishop by a British
cleric. Nevertheless, the acceptance of Christianity by large numbers of Nigerians depended
finally on the various denominations coming to terms with local conditions and involved
participation of an increasingly high proportion of African clergy in the missions.
In large measure, European missionaries were convinced of the value of colonial rule, thereby
reinforcing colonial policy. In reaction some African Christian communities formed their own
independent churches. British expansion accelerated in the last decades of the nineteenth century.
The early history of Lagos Colony was one of repeated attempts to end the Yoruba wars. In the
face of threats to the divided Yoruba states from Dahomey and the Sokoto Caliphate, as
represented by the emirate of Ilorin, the British governor—assisted by the CMS—succeeded in
imposing peace settlements on the interior.
Colonial Lagos was a busy, cosmopolitan port, reflecting Victorian and distinctively Brazilian
architecture and the varied backgrounds of a black elite, composed of English-speakers from
Sierra Leone and of emancipated slaves repatriated from Brazil and Cuba. Its residents were
employed in official capacities and were active in business. Africans also were represented on
the Lagos Legislative Council, a largely appointed assembly.
After the Berlin Conference, Britain announced formation of the Oil Rivers Protectorate, which
included the Niger Delta and extended eastward to Calabar, where the British consulate general
was relocated from Fernando Po. The essential purpose of the protectorate was to control trade
coming down the Niger. Vice consuls were assigned to ports that already had concluded treaties
of cooperation with the Foreign Office. Local rulers continued to administer their territories, but
consular authorities assumed jurisdiction for the equity courts established earlier by the foreign
mercantile communities. A constabulary force was raised and used to pacify the coastal area. In
1894 the territory was redesignated the Niger Coast Protectorate and was expanded to include the
region from Calabar to Lagos Colony and Protectorate, including the hinterland, and northward
up the Niger River as far as Lokoja, the headquarters of the Royal Niger Company. As a
protectorate, it did not have the status of a colony but remained under the jurisdiction of the
Foreign Office.
Continued expansion of the protectorate was accomplished largely by diplomatic means,
although military force was employed to bring Ijebu, Oyo, and Benin into compliance with
dictated treaty obligations. The conquest of Benin in 1897 completed the British occupation of
southwestern Nigeria. The incident that sparked the expedition was the massacre of a British
consul and his party, which was on its way to investigate reports of ritual human sacrifice in the
city of Benin. In reprisal a marine detachment promptly stormed the city and destroyed the oba's
palace. The reigning oba was sent into exile, and Benin was administered indirectly under the
protectorate through a council of chiefs.
Although treaties were signed with rulers as far north as Sokoto by 1885, actual British control
was confined to the coastal area and the immediate vicinity of Lokoja until 1900. The Royal
Niger Company had access to the territory from Lokoja extending along the Niger and Benue
rivers above their confluence, but there was no effective control, even after punitive expeditions
against Bida and Ilorin in 1897. The clear intent was to occupy the Sokoto Caliphate, but for that
purpose the Royal Niger Company was not deemed to be a sufficient instrument of imperialism.
Consequently, on December 31, 1899, Britain terminated the charter of the company, providing
compensation and retention of valuable mineral rights.
Colonial Rule
Lugard and Indirect Rule
Frederick Lugard, who assumed the position of High Commissioner of the Protectorate of
Northern Nigeria in 1900, often has been regarded as the model British colonial administrator.
Trained as an army officer, he had served in India, Egypt, and East Africa, where he expelled
Arab slave traders from Nyasaland and established the British presence in Uganda. Joining the
Royal Niger Company in 1894, Lugard was sent to Borgu to counter inroads made by the
French, and in 1897 he was made responsible for raising the Royal West African Frontier Force
(RWAFF) from local levies to serve under British officers.
During his six-year tenure as High Commissioner, Lugard was occupied with transforming the
commercial sphere of influence inherited from the Royal Niger Company into a viable territorial
unit under effective British political control. His objective was to conquer the entire region and
to obtain recognition of the British protectorate by its indigenous rulers, especially the Fulani
emirs of the Sokoto Caliphate. Lugard's campaign systematically subdued local resistance, using
armed force when diplomatic measures failed. Borno capitulated without a fight, but in 1903
Lugard's RWAFF mounted assaults on Kano and Sokoto. From Lugard's point of view, clear-cut
military victories were necessary because their surrenders weakened resistance elsewhere.
Lugard's success in northern Nigeria has been attributed to his policy of indirect rule, which
called for governing the protectorate through the rulers who had been defeated. If the emirs
accepted British authority, abandoned the slave trade, and cooperated with British officials in
modernizing their administrations, the colonial power was willing to confirm them in office. The
emirs retained their caliphate titles but were responsible to British district officers, who had final
authority. The British High Commissioners could depose emirs and other officials if necessary.
Unification of Nigeria
After having been assigned for six years as governor of Hong Kong, Lugard returned to Nigeria
in 1912 to set in motion the merger of the northern and southern protectorates. The task of
unification was achieved two years later on the eve of World War I. The principle of indirect rule
administered by traditional rulers was applied throughout Nigeria, and colonial officers were
instructed to interfere as little as possible with the existing order. In 1916 Lugard formed the
Nigerian Council, a consultative body that brought together six traditional leaders—including the
sultan of Sokoto, the emir of Kano, and the king of Oyo—to represent all parts of the colony.
The council was promoted as a device for allowing the expression of opinions that could instruct
the governor. In practice Lugard used the annual sessions to inform the traditional leaders of
British policy, leaving them with no functions at the council's meetings except to listen and to
assent.
Unification meant only the loose affiliation of three distinct regional administrations into which
Nigeria was subdivided—northern, western, and eastern regions (see fig. 6). Each was under a
lieutenant governor and provided independent government services. The governor was, in effect,
the coordinator for virtually autonomous entities that had overlapping economic interests but
little in common politically or socially. In the Northern Region, the colonial government took
careful account of Islam and avoided any appearance of a challenge to traditional values that
might incite resistance to British rule. This system, in which the structure of authority focused on
the emir to whom obedience was a mark of religious devotion, did not welcome change. As the
emirs settled more and more into their role as reliable agents of indirect rule, colonial authorities
were content to maintain the status quo, particularly in religious matters. Christian missionaries
were barred, and the limited government efforts in education were harmonized with Islamic
institutions.[1]
In the south, by contrast, traditional leaders were employed as vehicles of indirect rule in
Yorubaland, but Christianity and Western education undermined their sacerdotal functions. In
some instances, however, a double allegiance—to the idea of sacred monarchy for its symbolic
value and to modern concepts of law and administration—was maintained. Out of reverence for
traditional kingship, for instance, the oni of Ife, whose office was closely identified with Yoruba
religion, was accepted as the sponsor of a Yoruba political movement. In the Eastern Region,
appointed officials who were given "warrants" and hence called warrant chiefs, were vehemently
resisted because they had no claims on tradition.
In practice, however, British administrative procedures under indirect rule entailed constant
interaction between colonial authorities and local rulers—the system was modified to fit the
needs of each region. In the north, for instance, legislation took the form of a decree cosigned by
the governor and the emir, while in the south, the governor sought the approval of the Legislative
Council. Hausa was recognized as an official language in the north, and knowledge of it was
expected of colonial officers serving there, whereas only English had official status in the south.
Regional administrations also varied widely in the quality of local personnel and in the scope of
the operations they were willing to undertake. British staffs in each region continued to operate
according to procedures developed before unification. Economic links among the regions
increased, but indirect rule tended to discourage political interchange. There was virtually no
pressure for fuller unity until the end of World War II.
Public works, such as harbor dredging and road and railroad construction, opened Nigeria to
economic development. British soap and cosmetics manufacturers tried to obtain land
concessions for growing oil palms, but these were refused. Instead, the companies had to be
content with a monopoly of the export trade in these products. Other commercial crops such as
cocoa and rubber also were encouraged, and tin was mined on the Jos Plateau. The only
significant interruption in economic development arose from natural disaster—the great drought
of 1913-14. Recovery came quickly, however, and improvements in port facilities and the
transportation infrastructure during World War I furthered economic development. Nigerian
recruits participated in the war effort as laborers and soldiers. The Nigeria Regiment of the
RWAFF, integrating troops from the north and south, saw action against German colonial forces
in Cameroon and in German East Africa. During the war, the colonial government earmarked a
large portion of the Nigerian budget as a contribution to imperial defense. To raise additional
revenues, Lugard took steps to institute a uniform tax structure patterned on the traditional
system that he had adopted in the north during his tenure there. Taxes became a source of
discontent in the south, however, and contributed to disturbances protesting British policy. In
1920 portions of former German Cameroon were mandated to Britain by the League of Nations
and were administered as part of Nigeria.
Until he stepped down as governor general in 1918, Lugard primarily was concerned with
consolidating British sovereignty and with assuring local administration through traditional
leaders. He was contemptuous of the educated and Westernized African elite, and he even
recommended transferring the capital from Lagos, the cosmopolitan city where the influence of
these people was most pronounced, to Kaduna in the north. Although the capital was not moved,
Lugard's bias in favor of the Muslim north was clear at the time. Nevertheless, Lugard was able
to bequeath to his successor a prosperous colony when his term as governor general expired.
Further Development of Colonial Policy
Lugard's immediate successor, Hugh Clifford (1919–25), was an aristocratic professional
administrator with liberal instincts who had won recognition for his enlightened governorship of
the Gold Coast. The approaches of the two governors to colonial development were diametrically
opposed. In contrast to Lugard, Clifford argued that it was the primary responsibility of colonial
government to introduce as quickly as practical the benefits of Western experience. He was
aware that the Muslim north would present problems, but he evinced great hopes for progress
along the lines that he laid down in the south, where he anticipated "general emancipation"
leading to a more representative form of government. Clifford emphasized economic
development, encouraging enterprises by immigrant southerners in the north while restricting
European participation to capital intensive activity.
Uneasy with the amount of latitude allowed traditional leaders under indirect rule, Clifford
opposed further extension of the judicial authority held by the northern emirs, stating bluntly that
he did "not consider that their past traditions and their present backward cultural conditions
afford to any such experiment a reasonable chance of success." He did not apply this rationale in
the south, however, where he saw the possibility of building an elite educated in schools
modeled on a European method. These schools would teach "the basic principles that would and
should regulate character and conduct." In line with this attitude, he rejected Lugard's proposal
for moving the capital from Lagos, the stronghold of the elite in whom he placed so much
confidence for the future.
Clifford also believed that indirect rule encouraged centripetal tendencies, and he argued that the
division into two separate colonies was advisable unless a stronger central government could
bind Nigeria into more than just an administrative convenience for the three regions. Whereas
Lugard had applied lessons learned in the north to the administration of the south, Clifford was
prepared to extend to the north practices that had been successful in the south. Richmond Palmer,
acting as Lieutenant-Governor in the North, disagreed with Clifford and advocated the principles
of Lugard and further decentralisation.[1] The Colonial Office, where Lugard was still held in
high regard, accepted that changes might be due in the south, but it forbade fundamental
alteration of procedures in the north. A.J. Harding, director of Nigerian affairs at the Colonial
Office, defined the official position of the British government in its continued support of indirect
rule when he commented that "direct government by impartial and honest men of alien race . . .
never yet satisfied a nation long and . . . under such a form of government, as wealth and
education increase, so do political discontent and sedition."
Emergence of Nigerian Nationalism
British colonialism created Nigeria, joining diverse peoples and regions in an artificial political
entity. It was not unusual that the nationalism that became a political factor in Nigeria during the
interwar period derived both from an older political particularism and broad pan-Africanism
rather than from any sense of a common Nigerian nationality. Its goal initially was not selfdetermination, but rather increased participation in the governmental process on a regional level.
Inconsistencies in British policy reinforced cleavages based on regional animosities by
attempting simultaneously to preserve the indigenous cultures of each area and to introduce
modern technology and Western political and social concepts. In the north, appeals to Islamic
legitimacy upheld the rule of the emirs, so that nationalist sentiments there were decidedly antiWestern. Modern nationalists in the south, whose thinking was shaped by European ideas,
opposed indirect rule, which had entrenched what was considered to be an anachronistic ruling
class in power and shut out the Westernized elite.
The ideological inspiration for southern nationalists came from a variety of sources, including
prominent American-based activists such as Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois. Nigerian
students abroad joined those from other colonies in pan-African groups, such as the West
African Students Union, founded in London in 1925. Early nationalists tended to ignore Nigeria
as the focus of patriotism; rather, the common denominator was based on a newly assertive
ethnic consciousness, particularly Yoruba and Igbo. Despite their acceptance of European and
North American influences, the nationalists were critical of colonialism for its failure to
appreciate the antiquity of indigenous cultures. They wanted self-government, charging that only
colonial rule prevented the unshackling of progressive forces in Africa.
Political opposition to colonial rule often assumed religious dimensions. Independent Christian
churches had emerged at the end of the nineteenth century because many European missionaries
were racist and blocked the advancement of a Nigerian clergy. European interpretations of
Christian orthodoxy also refused to allow the incorporation of local customs and practices, even
though the various mission denominations themselves interpreted Christianity very differently. It
was acceptable for the established missions to differ, but most Europeans were surprised and
shocked that Nigerians would develop new denominations independent of European control.
Christianity long had experienced "protestant" schisms; the emergence of independent Christian
churches in Nigeria was another phase of this history. The pulpits of the independent
congregations provided one of the few available avenues for the free expression of attitudes
critical of colonial rule.
In the 1920s, there were several types of associations that were ostensibly nonpolitical. One
group consisted of professional and business associations, such as the Nigerian Union of
Teachers, which provided trained leadership for political groups; the Nigerian Law Association,
which brought together lawyers, many of whom had been educated in Britain; and the Nigerian
Produce Traders' Association, led by Obafemi Awolowo.
Ethnic and kinship organizations that often took the form of a tribal union also emerged in the
1920s. These organizations were primarily urban phenomena that arose after large numbers of
rural migrants moved to the cities. Alienated by the anonymity of the urban environment and
drawn together by ties to their ethnic homelands—as well as by the need for mutual aid—the
new city dwellers formed local clubs that later expanded into federations covering whole regions.
By the mid-1940s, the major ethnic groups had formed such associations as the Igbo Federal
Union and the Egbe Omo Oduduwa (Society of the Descendants of Oduduwa), a Yoruba cultural
movement, in which Awolowo played a leading role.
A third type of organization that was more pointedly political was the youth or student group,
which became the vehicle of intellectuals and professionals. They were the most politically
conscious segment of the population and stood in the vanguard of the nationalist movement.
Newspapers, some of which were published before World War I, provided coverage of
nationalist views.
The opportunity afforded by the 1922 constitution to elect a handful of representatives to the
Legislative Council gave politically conscious Nigerians something concrete to work on. The
principal figure in the political activity that ensued was Herbert Macauley, often referred to as
the father of Nigerian nationalism. He aroused political awareness through his newspaper, the
Lagos Daily News, while leading the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP), which
dominated elections in Lagos from its founding in 1922 until the ascendancy of the National
Youth Movement (NYM) in 1938. His political platform called for economic and educational
development, Africanization of the civil service, and self-government for Lagos. Significantly,
however, Macauley's NNDP remained almost entirely a Lagos party, popular only in the area
with experience in elective politics.
The NYM first used nationalist rhetoric to agitate for improvements in education. The movement
brought to public notice a long list of future leaders, including H.O. Davies and Nnamdi
Azikiwe. Although Azikiwe later came to be recognized as the leading spokesman for national
unity, his orientation on return from university training in the United States was pan-African
rather than nationalist, emphasizing the common African struggle against European colonialism.
He betrayed much less consciousness of purely Nigerian goals than Davies, a student of Harold
Laski at the London School of Economics, whose political orientation was considered left-wing.
By 1938 the NYM was agitating for dominion status within the British Commonwealth of
Nations, so that Nigeria would have the same status as Canada and Australia. In elections that
year, the NYM ended the domination of the NNDP in the Legislative Council and moved to
establish a genuinely national network of affiliates. This promising start was stopped short three
years later by internal divisions in which ethnic loyalties emerged triumphant. The departure of
Azikiwe and other Igbo members of the NYM left the organization in Yoruba hands; during
World War II, it was reorganized into a predominantly Yoruba political party, the Action Group,
by Awolowo. Yoruba-Igbo rivalry had become a major factor in Nigerian politics (see Ethnic
Relations , ch. 2).
During World War II, three battalions of the Nigeria Regiment fought in the Ethiopian campaign.
Nigerian units also contributed to two divisions serving with British forces in Palestine,
Morocco, Sicily, and Burma, where they won many honors. Wartime experiences provided a
new frame of reference for many soldiers, who interacted across ethnic boundaries in ways that
were unusual in Nigeria. The war also made the British reappraise Nigeria's political future. The
war years, moreover, witnessed a polarization between the older, more parochial leaders inclined
toward gradualism and the younger intellectuals, who thought in more immediate terms.
The rapid growth of organized labor in the 1940s also brought new political forces into play.
During the war, union membership increased sixfold to 30,000. The proliferation of labor
organizations, however, fragmented the movement, and potential leaders lacked the experience
and skill to draw workers togeth
The Action Group was largely the creation of Awolowo, general secretary of Egbe Omo
Oduduwa and leader of the Nigerian Produce Traders' Association. The Action Group was thus
the heir of a generation of flourishing cultural consciousness among the Yoruba and also had
valuable connections with commercial interests that were representative of the comparative
economic advancement of the Western Region. Awolowo had little difficulty in appealing to
broad segments of the Yoruba population, but he strove to prevent the Action Group from being
stigmatized as a "tribal" group. Despite his somewhat successful efforts to enlist non-Yoruba
support, the regionalist sentiment that had stimulated the party initially could hardly be
concealed.
Another obstacle to the development of the Action Group was the animosity between segments
of the Yoruba community—for example, many people in Ibadan opposed Awolowo on personal
grounds because of his identification with the Ijebu Yoruba. Despite these difficulties, the Action
Group rapidly built an effective organization. Its program reflected greater planning and was
more ideologically oriented than that of the NCNC. Although he did not have Azikiwe's
compelling personality, Awolowo was a formidable debater as well as a vigorous and tenacious
political campaigner. He used for the first time in Nigeria modern, sometimes flamboyant,
electioneering techniques. Among his leading lieutenants were Samuel Akintola of Ibadan and
the oni of Ife.
The Action Group was a consistent supporter of minority-group demands for autonomous states
within a federal structure, and it even supported the severance of a midwest state from the
Western Region. This move assumed that comparable alterations would be made elsewhere, an
attitude that won the party minority voting support in the other regions. It also backed Yoruba
irredentism in the Fulani-ruled emirate of Ilorin in the Northern Region and separatist
movements among non-Igbo in the Eastern Region.
The Northern People's Congress (NPC) was organized in the late 1940s by a small group of
Western-educated northern Muslims who obtained the assent of the emirs to form a political
party capable of counterbalancing the activities of the southern-based parties. It represented a
substantial element of reformism in the Muslim north. The most powerful figure in the party was
Ahmadu Bello, the sardauna (war leader) of Sokoto, a controversial figure who aspired to
become the sultan of Sokoto, still the most important political and religious position in the north.
Often described by opponents as a "feudal" conservative, Bello had a consuming interest in the
protection of northern social and political institutions from southern influence. He also insisted
on maintaining the territorial integrity of the Northern Region, including those areas with nonMuslim populations. He was prepared to introduce educational and economic changes to
strengthen the north. Although his own ambitions were limited to the Northern Region, Bello
backed the NPC's successful efforts to mobilize the north's large voting strength so as to win
control of the national government.
edThe NPC platform emphasized the integrity of the north, its traditions, religion, and social
order. Support for broad Nigerian concerns occupied a clear second place. A lack of interest in
extending the NPC beyond the Northern Region corresponded to this strictly regional
orientation. Its activist membership was drawn from local government and emirate officials who
had access to means of communication and to repressive traditional authority that could keep the
opposition in line.
The small contingent of northerners who had been educated abroad—a group that included
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Aminu Kano—was allied with British-backed efforts to introduce
gradual change to the emirates. The support given by the emirs to limited modernization was
motivated largely by fear of the unsettling presence of southerners in the north and by the equally
unsettling example of improving conditions in the south. Those northern leaders who were
committed to modernization were firmly connected to the traditional power structure. Most
internal problems within the north—peasant disaffection or rivalry among Muslim factions—
were concealed, and open opposition to the domination of the Muslim aristocracy was not
tolerated. Critics, including representatives of the middle belt who plainly resented Muslim
domination, were relegated to small, peripheral parties or to inconsequential separatist
movements.
In 1950 Aminu Kano, who had been instrumental in founding the NPC, broke away to form one
such party, the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), in protest against the NPC's
limited objectives and what he regarded as a vain hope that traditional rulers would accept
modernization. NEPU form a parliamentary alliance with the NCNC.
The NPC continued to represent the interests of the traditional order in the pre-independence
deliberations. After the defection of Kano, the only significant disagreement within the NPC
related to the awareness of moderates, such as Balewa, that only by overcoming political and
economic backwardness could the NPC protect the foundations of traditional northern authority
against the influence of the more advanced south.
In all three regions, minority parties represented the special interests of ethnic groups, especially
as they were affected by the majority. The size of their legislative delegations, when successful
in electing anyone to the regional assemblies, was never large enough to be effective, but they
served as a means of public expression for minority concerns. They received attention from
major parties before elections, at which time either a dominant party from another region or the
opposition party in their region sought their alliance.
The political parties jockeyed for positions of power in anticipation of the independence of
Nigeria. Three constitutions were enacted from 1946 to 1954 that were subjects of considerable
political controversy in themselves but inevitably moved the country toward greater internal
autonomy, with an increasing role for the political parties. The trend was toward the
establishment of a parliamentary system of government, with regional assemblies and a federal
House of Representatives.
In 1946 a new constitution was approved by the British Parliament and promulgated in Nigeria.
Although it reserved effective power in the hands of the governor and his appointed executive
council, the so-called Richards Constitution (after Governor Arthur Richards, who was
responsible for its formulation) provided for an expanded Legislative Council empowered to
deliberate on matters affecting the whole country. Separate legislative bodies, the houses of
assembly, were established in each of the three regions to consider local questions and to advise
the lieutenant governors. The introduction of the federal principle, with deliberative authority
devolved on the regions, signaled recognition of the country's diversity. Although realistic in its
assessment of the situation in Nigeria, the Richards Constitution undoubtedly intensified
regionalism as an alternative to political unification.
The pace of constitutional change accelerated after the promulgation of the Richards
Constitution, which was suspended in 1950. The call for greater autonomy resulted in an interparliamentary conference at Ibadan in 1950, when the terms of a new constitution were drafted.
The so-called Macpherson Constitution, after the incumbent governor, went into effect the
following year.
The most important innovations in the new charter reinforced the dual course of constitutional
evolution, allowing for both regional autonomy and federal union. By extending the elective
principle and by providing for a central government with a Council of Ministers, the Macpherson
Constitution gave renewed impetus to party activity and to political participation at the national
level. But by providing for comparable regional governments exercising broad legislative
powers, which could not be overridden by the newly established 185-seat federal House of
Representatives, the Macpherson Constitution also gave a significant boost to regionalism.
Subsequent revisions contained in a new constitution the Lyttleton Constitution, enacted in 1954,
firmly established the federal principle and paved the way for independence.
In 1957 the Western and the Eastern regions became formally self-governing under the
parliamentary system. Similar status was acquired by the Northern Region two years later. There
were numerous differences of detail among the regional systems, but all adhered to
parliamentary forms and were equally autonomous in relation to the federal government at
Lagos. The federal government retained specified powers, including responsibility for banking,
currency, external affairs, defense, shipping and navigation, and communications, but real
political power was centered in the regions. Significantly, the regional governments controlled
public expenditures derived from revenues raised within each region.
Ethnic cleavages intensified in the 1950s. Political activists in the southern areas spoke of selfgovernment in terms of educational opportunities and economic development. Because of the
spread of mission schools and wealth derived from export crops, the southern parties were
committed to policies that would benefit the south of the country. In the north, the emirs intended
to maintain firm control on economic and political change. Any activity in the north that might
include participation by the federal government (and consequently by southern civil servants)
was regarded as a challenge to the primacy of the emirates. Broadening political participation
and expanding educational opportunities and other social services also were viewed as threats to
the status quo. Already there was an extensive immigrant population of southerners, especially
Igbo, in the north; they dominated clerical positions and were active in many trades.
The cleavage between the Yoruba and the Igbo was accentuated by their competition for control
of the political machinery. The receding British presence enabled, local officials and politicians
to gain access to patronage over government jobs, funds for local development, market permits,
trade licenses, government contracts, and even scholarships for higher education. In an economy
with many qualified applicants for every post, great resentment was generated by any favoritism
authorities showed to members of their own ethnic group.
In the immediate post-World War II period, Nigeria benefited from a favorable trade
balance.Although per capita income in the country as a whole remained low by international
standards, rising incomes among salaried personnel and burgeoning urbanization expanded
consumer demand for imported goods.
In the meantime, public sector spending increased even more dramatically than export earnings.
It was supported not only by the income from huge agricultural surpluses but also by a new
range of direct and indirect taxes imposed during the 1950s. The transfer of responsibility for
budgetary management from the central to the regional governments in 1954 accelerated the
pace of public spending on services and on development projects. Total revenues of central and
regional governments nearly doubled in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP—see
Glossary) during the decade.
The most dramatic event, having a long-term effect on Nigeria's economic development, was the
discovery and exploitation of petroleum deposits. The search for oil, begun in 1908 and
abandoned a few years later, was revived in 1937 by Shell and British Petroleum. Exploration
was intensified in 1946, but the first commercial discovery did not occur until 1956, at Olobiri in
the Niger Delta. In 1958 exportation of Nigerian oil was initiated at facilities constructed at Port
Harcourt. Oil income was still marginal, but the prospects for continued economic expansion
appeared bright and further accentuated political rivalries on the eve of independence.
The election of the House of Representatives after the adoption of the 1954 constitution gave the
NPC a total of seventy-nine seats, all from the Northern Region. Among the other major parties,
the NCNC took fifty-six seats, winning a majority in both the Eastern and the Western regions,
while the Action Group captured only twenty-seven seats. The NPC was called on to form a
government, but the NCNC received six of the ten ministerial posts. Three of these posts were
assigned to representatives from each region, and one was reserved for a delegate from the
Northern Cameroons.
As a further step toward independence, the governor's Executive Council was merged with the
Council of Ministers in 1957 to form the all-Nigerian Federal Executive Council. NPC federal
parliamentary leader Balewa was appointed prime minister. Balewa formed a coalition
government that included the Action Group as well as the NCNC to prepare the country for the
final British withdrawal. His government guided the country for the next three years, operating
with almost complete autonomy in internal affairs.
The preparation of a new federal constitution for an independent Nigeria was carried out at
conferences held at Lancaster House in London in 1957 and 1958 and presided over by the
Secretary of State for the Colonies|British Colonial Secretary]]. Nigerian delegates were selected
to represent each region and to reflect various shades of opinion. The delegation was led by
Balewa of the NPC and included party leaders Awolowo of the Action Group, Azikiwe of the
NCNC, and Bello of the NPC; they were also the premiers of the Western, Eastern, and Northern
regions, respectively. Independence was achieved on October 1, 1960.
Elections were held for a new and greatly enlarged House of Representatives in December 1959;
174 of the 312 seats were allocated to the Northern Region on the basis of its larger population.
The NPC, entering candidates only in the Northern Region, confined campaigning largely to
local issues but opposed the addition of new regimes. The NCNC backed creation of a midwest
state and proposed federal control of education and health services. The Action Group, which
staged a lively campaign, favored stronger government and the establishment of three new states,
while advocating creation of a West Africa Federation that would unite Nigeria with Ghana and
Sierra Leone. The NPC captured 142 seats in the new legislature. Balewa was called on to head a
NPC-NCNC coalition government, and Awolowo became official leader of the opposition.
Independent Nigeria
By an act of the British Parliament, Nigeria became an independent country within the
Commonwealth on October 1, 1960. Azikiwe was installed as governor general of the federation
and Balewa continued to serve as head of a democratically elected parliamentary, but now
completely sovereign, government. The governor general represented the British monarch as
head of state and was appointed by the crown on the advice of the Nigerian prime minister in
consultation with the regional premiers. The governor general, in turn, was responsible for
appointing the prime minister and for choosing a candidate from among contending leaders when
there was no parliamentary majority. Otherwise, the governor general's office was essentially
ceremonial.
The government was responsible to a parliament composed of the popularly elected 312-member
House of Representatives and the 44-member Senate, chosen by the regional legislatures.
In general, the regional constitutions followed the federal model, both structurally and
functionally. The most striking departure was in the Northern Region, where special provisions
brought the regional constitution into consonance with Islamic law and custom. The similarity
between the federal and regional constitutions was deceptive, however, and the conduct of public
affairs reflected wide differences among the regions.
In February 1961, a plebiscite was conducted to determine the disposition of the Southern
Cameroons and Northern Cameroons, which were administered by Britain as United Nations
Trust Territories. By an overwhelming majority, voters in the Southern Cameroons opted to join
formerly French-administered Cameroon over integration with Nigeria as a separate federated
region. In the Northern Cameroons, however, the largely Muslim electorate chose to merge with
Nigeria's Northern Region.