NIGERIA

CITIZEN/SOCIETY

STATE

Q U I NC Y K

R O E S C H E L L

B R E N N A WE L S H

S P E N C E R LE G E R

N I KO S O

U R O U M I DI S

INTRODUCTION• Nigeria has some big obstacles in the way for

establishing democracy • Many societal aspects of Nigeria make

democratization a challenge• These include poverty, a big gap between the

rich and the poor, health issues, and literacy

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POVERTY• 60% of ALL Nigerians live below the poverty line• Many Nigerians live in absolute poverty and

have no means of survival• 63% of Nigerians (around 100 mil. people) live

on less than $1 daily

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GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR• The distribution of wealth in Nigeria is very

unequal• Few people are very wealthy, but most are dirt

poor.• It does not look like this gap will become

smaller in the near future because Nigeria’s economy shows few signs of growth.

• Nigeria has a Gini index of .43

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HEALTH ISSUES• Nigeria has very high rates of HIV/AIDS• 1 out of every 11 HIV/AIDS sufferers in the

world lives in Nigeria• This has taken a huge toll on the Nigerian

economy and society.• The Nigerian government has done little about

this and has passed the challenge on to underfunded NGOs

• Several millions are HIV positive

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LITERACY• Nigeria’s overall literacy rate is 68%• Huge gap between male literacy rate (75.5%)

and female literacy rate (60.6%)• Nigeria has a higher literacy rate than most

African countries, but it is well below the world average of 87% for males and 77% for females.

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CLEAVAGES

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ETHNICITY

• There are 250 to 400 different ethnic groups in Nigeria.

• The three main ethnic groups are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and the Yoruba.

• These three ethnic groups each have their own language making it hard to communicate within different groups.

• These three ethnic groups also feel animosity towards one another.

ETHNICITYHausa-Fulani Yoruba Igbo• Biggest ethnic

group• Practice Islam• Found in Northern

Nigeria• It is patriarchal,

controlled by the men.

• Second largest ethnic group

• It is a diverse ethnic group.

• Some practice Islam, some practice Christianity, and some practice traditional beliefs.

• Found in the Southwest

• Third largest ethnic group

• Practice Christianity

• Found in Southeast Nigeria

• It led a secessionist movement in 1967 that became the Biafran Civil War from 1967 to 1970.

•

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEEfNbB3f6A&feature=youtu.be

RELIGION

• 50% practice Islam• 40% practice Christianity• 10% practice their native religion• This religion cleavage reinforces the ethnic cleavage

in Nigeria. • Religion has caused tension in Nigeria because

Christians were treated better than others under British rule.

• Tension has also been caused as Nigerians decide the role of Sharia law in Nigeria’s government.

REGION/NORTH VS. SOUTH

• In 1955 Nigeria was split into 3 Federated Regions divided primarily by ethnicity and religion.

• Nigeria is also split between the North and the South• The North is mostly Muslim• The South is mostly Christian

URBAN/RURAL DIFFERENCES

• Most newspapers, interest groups, and political organizations are located in urban cities.

• Most protests happen in cities rather than rural areas.

SOCIAL CLASS• In Nigeria there is a cleavage between the elites

and everyone else. • People become elites and gain wealth through

controlling the state and its natural resources. • Many of the elite are corrupt.

PUBLIC OPINION AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

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INTRO• Nigeria is trying to become a democracy, but it is not a

democracy• There used to be not much civil society in Nigeria• Citizens are told not to take part in government, but only to

be people under the government who follow what they are told•HOWEVER, recently some civil society has begun to rise in

Nigeria• Many interest groups, trade unions, and religious groups

have developed•There is military rule in Nigeria, but there is still free press

allowed

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Quincy Kroeschell

Some Nigerians protesting

PATRON-CLIENTELISM• Most political participation in Nigeria comes from the patron-

clientism system that we have seen in other countries• There is a unique kind of patron-clientism in Nigeria called

“prebendalism”• PREBENDALISM – a system different from nomenklatura

or guanxi in that instead of repaying those who helped public officers gain that office with jobs, they repay them with money

• This has caused extensive corruption in Nigeria because it is seen on all levels of government and they use government money to repay, which means that much of the government money is lost this way

• Even though there is corruption that comes with this, it is a way for Nigeria to have political participation

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Quincy Kroeschell

http://www.nairaland.com/15772/prebendalism-nigerias-unique-system-corruption

A person is running for office and is supported by people

The person who is running gets elected into the office they ran for

The person who got elected repays those who supported him by giving them money

PREBENDALISM

CIVIL SOCIETY• Since Nigeria’s colonial times have been finished, many interest groups have

come about• One group that has emerged is the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni

People (MOSOP)• Trade unions and other organizations, such as the National Union of

Petroleum and Gas Workers (NUPENG) allow for the voices of workers in the petroleum industry (which is very important in Nigeria) to be heard in government

• Organizations have been formed around specific professions, as the number of professionals in Nigeria is growing• Some professions include those in the fields of medicine, law, and

journalism• These allow for the voices of these professions to be heard so that their

political interests can be met

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Quincy Kroeschell

Some members of MOSOP protesting for the rights of

the Ogoni people

The NUPENG logo

MOSOP AND NUPENG• Movement of the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)• Founded in 1990 by Ken Saro-Wiwa• The Ogoni people are an ethnic minority in Nigeria• MOSOP encourages democratic government, the caring for the

environment of the Ogoni, and guarding of the cultural rights of the Ogoni

• National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG)• Works for the rights of the people who work in the petroleum

business• NUPENG has several aims including making sure that the people in

petroleum business are united, resolving clashes between members, sustaining good working conditions, and improving the education and training of its members

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Quincy Kroeschell

Comrade Igwe Achese, the current president of NUPENG

Ken Saro-Wiwa, founder of MOSOP

http://www.mosop.org/about_us.html

http://nupeng.org/id1.html

VOTING BEHAVIOR• There have been national elections in Nigeria since 1959• However, the military has the power to cancel or postpone elections and has

done so many times• Sometimes these national elections are fake and corrupt

• There are multiple political parties, which mostly are created based on the personality and beliefs of the candidates that they support

• Voting behavior is hard to judge in Nigeria due to all the fraud that takes place each election, but in 2003, it is estimated that about 66% of qualified voters voted

• In the 2007 election there was so much fraud involved that voter behavior is extremely difficult to assess

• The best judge of recent voter behavior is the 2011 election, and it was calculated that about 54% of voters voted• Also in this election, 3% of the votes casted were found to be fraudulent

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Quincy Kroeschell

A woman voting in Nigeria

ATTITUDES TOWARD GOVERNMENT• Most Nigerians do not trust their government. Although recently

their trust level has increased with the election of more democratic political figures, such as Goodluck Jonathan.

• Nigerians are very skeptical about the prospects for democracy, and they are certain that elections in Nigeria are not fair nor honest.

• For example, General Abacha was widely disliked among everyone in Nigeria, when he died unexpectedly people went out on the streets and started celebrating his death calling it “coup of heaven”.

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General Sani Achaba

THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION• Nigerians have a negative view of their government based on solid

evidence that many government officials are corrupt.• Transparency International, an organization that generates

statistics on how corrupt a country is, has ranked Nigeria 139th out of 174 countries. With number 1st being the most clean country and 174th being the most corrupt.

• Based on data in 2012 Nigeria is ranked to be more corrupt than Russia and Iran.

• In recent years though the corruption has decreased because of the election of Yar’ Adua, who was the first president who was not a military general, and Goodluck Jonathan who is also a civilian.

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Table with Iran ranking lower than Russia and Iran Yar’ Adua

Goodluck Jonathan

http://www.transparency.org/

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (EFCC)

• The EFCC is an organization in Nigeria to fight corruption in Nigeria’s government.

• The head of the organization Nuhu Ribadu, had gained positive reputation for charging and prosecuting corrupt government officials. Unfortunately he was removed by Yar’ Adua.

• Once he prosecuted James Ibori of the oil-rich Delta States and a leader of the ruling People’s Democratic Party and a major funder of Yar’ Adua’s election campaign.

• Ribadu was “resigned” in order to be “re-educated” in a special training program.

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The symbol of EFCC

Nuhu RibaduSupporters of Nuhu

Ribadu

PROTESTS AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

• Since democracy was established in 1999, many ethnic-based and religious movements have pressured the federal government to address their grievances.

• Internatioanl oil companies have been targeted many times. One protests was in 2002 when a group of unarmed Ijaw women occupied Chevron Texaco’s Nigerian operations. The occupation ended when the Chevron officials agreed to give jobs to the women’s sons.

• Many oil companies have left Nigeria blaming the government for its inability to control the protests and problems of the country.

• These protests have affected energy markets, higher prices for oil and tighter international oil supply, because Nigeria is the 8th largest oil supplier in the world.

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Protesting about Jonathan’s policies about the oil companies.

Pie chart showing the exports of Nigerian oil.

PROTESTS AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, CONT.

• When Goodluck Jonathan got elected many people thought the informal rule of altering presidents from the North and South had been violated.

• Boko Haram, a protest group from the North, carried out daily attacks and bombings. They are trying to undermine Jonathan’s authority.

• Their goal is to widen the application of sharia law in Nigeria, and their name means “Western education is sinful”.

• Amnesty international criticizes Nigerian military’s retaliation to attacks, claiming unlawful arrests, extra-judicial killings and unexplained disappearances have occurred.

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Region of main Boko Haram influence.

The logo of Boko Haram

The leader of Boko Haram