Federal Republic of Nigeria

BY: Meghan Brophy, Greer Hampton, Mackenzie Magid, Kieran McElvaney, and Rachel Vahey

http://www.infoplease.com/atlas/country/nigeria.html

Nigeria Quick Facts• President: Goodluck Jonathan• Population: 174,507,539 (July 2013 est.)• Official Language: English• Independence-1960• Constitution-1999• Unfinished State• National Question

Quick Government Facts• Federal System • Bicameral 36 States• 774 Local Government Areas• 1970s-Centralization-Why?

Executives• HOS & HOG: President Goodluck Jonathan • Single Executive System

The President• Goodluck Jonathan • People’s Democratic Party• Commander-in-chief• Powers

The Vice President•Mohammed Namadi Sambo• Participates in all cabinet meetings• Powers

Elections• Multi-Party• Patron Client Relations• People’s Democratic Party (PDP) • Plurality System• Run offs• INEC

Final result, showing the states won by Jonathan (in green), Buhari (red), and Ribadu (blue).

The INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) • Free, fair and credible• Overseers• Autonomous• Provides transparency

The Cabinet•Appointed by President•Provides services•Parastatals

•Oversee 19 ministries•Presidential Minister•Ministers of the State

National Assembly (Legislature)• Bicameral• Symmetric• Presidential System- Separation• Upper House- Senate• Lower House-

House of Representatives

The Senate• 3 senators from 36 states• 1 senator from capital territory• Plurality System• Powers

The House of Representatives•Based on US System•Plurality System•Powers

Recent Elections in National Assembly• Senate- PDP Majority• House of Representatives- PDP Majority• Executive- PDP Control

Seats in the Senate73/ 109

Seats in the House205 / 360

Governorships18 / 36

Political Parties

• People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

• All Nigeria’s People’s Party (ANPP) • Congress for Progressive Change (CPC)

• Action Congress Nigeria (ACN)

Interest Groups

State corporatism: a political system in which interest groups become an institutionalized part of the state or dominant political party; public policy is typically the result of negotiations among representatives of the state and key interest groups

Labor Unions

•National Petroleum Employees Union (NUPENG) •Nigeria Labor Congress

Business Interests

• Collaboration with military interest• Some economic reform• Nigerian Association of

Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA)- largest group in the country

Human Rights Groups•Protested abuses of the Babangida and Abacha regimes•Remain active promotes of democratic reform •Loosely connected

Bureaucracy• Prebendalism: an extreme form

of patron-clientalism in which public offices are treated as personal fiefdoms. • “Loyalty pyramid”: network of

supports• Pyramids often reflect ethnic

and religious affiliations

Roles in Policy Making• President proposes policy which

are filtered through the “Big Men”• Policies often blocked or

significantly altered

Military

• “truly national”• Strong influence from history of

military rule • Charged with protecting the state,

promoting Nigeria’s global security interests, and supporting peacekeeping efforts• “military in government”• “military in barracks” • State Security Service• National Intelligence Agency

Judiciary• Autonomy• Judicial review • Types of law

-Common-Traditional-Shari’a

Conflict in the Courts• Shari’a law contradicts with

Nigeria’s secular constitution • Zamfara 1999

Supreme Court• Chief justice and 15 justices • Members are appointed by the

President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council• Confirmed by the Senate• Serve until age 65

Political Culture• Since 1960s more skepticism• Lack of legitimacy towards authority (elites)• Lack sense of nationhood

Political Culture • Ethnicity divisions • Patron-clientelism (prebendalism)• Modernity vs. Tradition• Poverty

Political Socialization•Family•Religion •School •Media

Political Cleavage• Ethnicity (south)• Religion (hard to differentiate up north)• Geography

Nationalities• Hausa-Fulani (Islamic)• Largest ethnic group

• Yoruba (muslim)• Igbo (one creator, Chineke, Chukwu)

Media• Controlled at federal and regional levels• About 90 million viewers, concentrated in urban• Heavily censored (journalist arrests and deaths)

Political Participation• Rural residents extremely low

-Women don’t vote in these areas• Urban areas have opinionated, proactive individuals

-mostly dissatisfied with how government handles social issues

• Incredibly slow-to-change government, values would take forever to change

Protests• Biafran Civil War • Boko Haram (militant Islamic group) • -Bombed newspaper offices in Abuja and Kaduna• 1963- Igbo census women sent to north and sparked protest• Niger Delta Violence (MEND)

Women• DO NOT vote in north, very little respect in north• 1987- Maryam Babangida became First Lady • “Better Life for Rural Women” campaign

• EW women get official positions• Still seen widely as caretakers of the family

Other Nationalities• Ijaw (involved in MEND)• Kanuri, Pidgin• Important to oil economy

Political History• 1960-Independence from Great Britain(Becomes a republic in ‘63)• 1983 Buhari Military coup• 1985 Peaceful overthrowing of Buhari and Babangida comes into

power• 1993-Coup Resulting in Abacha taking control• 1998-Abubakar takes control after Abacha dies• 2011-Goodluck Jonathan wins in a fair election• 07-11 first ever transfer from civilian government to civilian

government

Social Movements• Homosexuality• Occupy Nigeria• Work reform• Women’s rights• Rich v. Poor• REFORMS

Political Changes• Election of Goodluck Jonathan• Anticorruption• Electoral reforms• Modernization• Transformation agenda• Rift in PDP• Firing of Cabinet • Democratization • “Federal character”

Economic Change• Roadmap for power sector reforms• Youth Enterprise with innovation in

Nigeria(YOUWIN)• Focus on economic diplomacy and connect

foreign and domestic policy• Oil still is main profit source• IMF says no change in standard of living

despite global economy• Joint ventures between state and

private(Oil)

Relationships Between Changes

• Extreme corruption• Local allocation of oil funds• Oil is central to economy and government• Privatization• Denationalizing

Globalization• ¼ of US’s Oil• OPEC• Sense of fear in trade• Niger Delta

Influences on policy making

•Military•Presidency•Political elite

Supranational influences on public policy • Member of the United

Nations, the Commonwealth, The African Union, and OPEC• International Monetary

fund and the World Bank

Economic Issues• The oil dependency• Rentier state: receive

more income by exporting their oil and leasing out oil fields to foreign companies

• Poverty

Human Rights• Worse during the military rule• Developed elaborate sections

of the constitution about civil rights

Public health

•HIV/AIDS• Even more need for an

adequate health care system

Environmental

• Oil • Oil• Oil

Corruption• Oil revenues being pocketed• Causes even more

distrust in the government

Terrorism• Relatively terror free

between 1967-1970• Said to have begun in

October of 1986 (Mr. Dele Giwa)• 2010