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Nigeria guide
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| © New Internationalist |
Nigeria is a country of vast human and natural capital, greatly enriched by cultural diversity; yet the majority of its people suffer in the midst of this plenty. Blessed with the curse of black gold, Nigeria has been ridden with corruption and conflict over the control of oil and its operations. As economic prospects improve in parallel with the price of oil, the country has greatly damaged its democratic credentials through the conduct of elections held in April 2007.
updated October 2007
Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria
The Nigerian Ministry of Finance boasts of impressive 5% economic growth in 2006; but this is growth without a human face, as it is not reflected in the life of the ordinary citizen. The world’s 8th largest oil exporter continues to languish in the bottom quartile of the Human Development Index, with over 70 percent of its population surviving on less than $1 a day. The international agency, ActionAid, estimates that one third of the population is hungry, in spite of adequate food production. Given that the population of about 140 million is the largest in Africa, Nigeria’s failure to make inroads into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) significantly influenced the conclusion reached in the 2007 UN mid-term progress report that the Goals are very unlikely to be achieved in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Health figures reveal the most serious problem with indicators for infant and child mortality worse than they were in the baseline year of 1990. - one in five children is expected to die before age five. Maternal mortality is also extremely high. A contributory factor is undoubtedly the corresponding failure to provide access to improved sources of drinking water, another statistic which at 48% has moved in reverse since 1990. Although 7 million children remain out of school, enrolment is rising slowly and there is a slightly more positive outlook on the Goal for universal primary education.
Whilst there is considerable regional variation in human development, indicators are generally more favourable in the south than in the north. For example, school enrolment for girls in northern Nigeria lags significantly behind the south and rates of illiteracy are over 50%. Gender issues are however by no means confined to the north; in a patriarchal society, the country's 67 million women are currently represented by only 9 of the 109 elected senators in parliament and affirmative legislation to correct the imbalance is under consideration.
Nigeria’s medium term strategy for poverty reduction is set out in its National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and each of the 36 States has a subsidiary version of the strategy. Poor coordination of development plans within the Federal government together with incompetent delivery of services at State and local government levels have greatly hampered progress towards the MDGs. An unusual government post of Special Adviser to the President on Millennium Development Goals has been established to address these administrative bottlenecks and to be accountable for directing proceeds of debt relief to MDG sectors. The holder of the post, Mrs Amina Ibrahim, has estimated that the cost of achieving the Goals in Nigeria exceeds $5 billion pa, a figure far above current resources.
Health and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
Budget shortfalls unquestionably contribute to the alarming health statistics. Per capita government spending on health in Nigeria is believed to be the lowest in Africa. As a result, there are severe shortages of health workers in Nigeria, with most trained staff emigrating for economic and social reasons. There are less than 20 physicians available per 100,000 people in Nigeria; 21,000 Nigerian doctors work in the United States.
This shortage is also relevant in the context of addressing the AIDS pandemic. Although prevalence has fallen to just below 4%, Nigeria still has about one million AIDS orphans and three million people living with HIV. The stigma attached to the disease has for so many years made public acknowledgement of infection very difficult. However the relevant government body, the National Action Committee on AIDS (NACA), is coordinating the construction of specialist centres providing free testing, care and treatment. By the end of 2006, over 200 centres provided free anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs to 135,000 patients, about a quarter of those in need.
Misunderstandings of health treatments also led to a high profile problem for international efforts to eradicate polio. The Muslim authorities in Kano province suspended treatment for 10 months in 2003/4 over suspicion that the vaccination had side-effects. This resulted in fresh outbreaks of the disease in many countries and a setback for the global programme. The difficulty was eventually resolved and a succession of emergency vaccination programmes in 5 northern states has enabled the authorities to contemplate once again the eradication of polio in Nigeria, now one of only 4 countries regarded as harbouring the virus.
Politics in Nigeria
Post-colonial Nigerian politics has been dominated by years of brutal military rule sustained by corruption so pervasive that Nigeria became synonymous with the spectre of bad governance in Africa. The government body set up to tackle financial crime, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), has recently estimated that over $400 billion of oil revenues has been stolen since 1960. Efforts of the Commission, led by Mr Nuhu Ribadu, have focused on the 36 State governors, many of whom control budgets larger than individual African countries but who are immune from prosecution whilst in office. Many ex-governors are currently on the run from international police. The EFCC has succeeded in bringing a number of cases to court, recovering about $5 billion.
After several aborted attempts, transitional moves towards democracy organized by military leader General Abubakar came to fruition in April 1999 when Olusegun Obasanjo was elected President, with appropriate powers relinquished to the civilian government. Then in 2003, Obasanjo gained a second term in a poll conducted free of military interference. The Nigerian Constitution has established three arms of government - the executive (president and cabinet), legislature (upper and lower house) and judiciary.
Hopes that the political structure was maturing were decisively dashed by the April 2007 presidential, parliamentary and state governor elections. First the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tabled a constitutional change to permit the president to serve a third term. This was thrown out by the Senate, but Obasanjo remains party chairman with an iron grip over proceedings. His choice as successor, Umaru Yar'Adua, was plucked from obscurity, perhaps to respect tradition that it was the turn of a northern state to provide the president or perhaps that Yar’Adua was one of the few state governors to escape investigation for corruption. The natural successor, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar quarrelled with Obasanjo over the proposed third term and was promptly charged with diverting government funds, disqualifying his candidacy. Abubakar was restored by the supreme court a week before the election, too late for him or his Action Congress party to make any impact.
Secondly, the administration of the election itself was characterized by presidential interference with the Independent National Electoral Commission and the use of security forces and other hired thugs to intimidate voters and polling station workers. The scale of rewards to be made through graft in political office simply overwhelmed concern for the principles of democracy. Yar’Adua was duly elected with 70% of the vote and 29 state governors are drawn from the PDP. Amongst universal condemnation by official election observers, the International Crisis Group described the election as “the most poorly organised and massively rigged in the country’s history”.
President Yar-Adua has attempted to defuse criticism by including opposition politicians in his cabinet and by setting up an electoral reform committee to make recommendations for future conduct of elections.
Civil Society in Nigeria
Despite evident sympathy from the international community, civil society and human rights activists were unsuccessful in galvanising people’s protests against the conduct of the elections. This failure may have been through fear of the security forces or through a pervasive disgust with politicians of any persuasion. Certainly, civil society has been actively involved in the struggle of the Nigerian people to provide a more humane society even before independence. Many groups work together in umbrella coalitions to address major national issues with one voice - one of the most prominent umbrella bodies is the National Democratic Coalition.
Conflict in Nigeria
The three main ethnic groups are the Yoruba in the West, Igbo in the East and Hausa in the North, with their own languages and religions. At a deeper level, there are over 250 ethnic groups to be found in Nigeria, many suffering poverty and exclusion from land and other rights with perceived grievances against their neighbours and the higher authorities. Inter-ethnic strife in Nigeria does not lend itself to easy analysis and sensitivities were reflected in the decision to omit questions about ethnicity or religion in the population census taken in early 2006, the first in over 15 years.
Political freedom has allowed ethnic and religious groups to express their frustrations but on many occasions this has been done violently, causing as many as 14,000 deaths since 1999. The introduction of Shari'a law in 12 northern states is the source of great friction with Christian communities who live there. Serious violence between Christian and Muslim communities occurred in Plateau and Kano states in 2004. The government lacks the means and motive to investigate criminal acts and root out the perpetrators of violence.
Legislation dating from the period of military rule underpins the current high profile conflict in the oil-producing Niger Delta region - all land and oil rights are deemed to belong to the national government. Nevertheless, a Human Rights Watch report discloses that local government revenues in Rivers State (the major oil centre) have quadrupled, yet these have not been converted into improved services for millions of increasingly angry poor people. Through a spate of kidnappings and damage to installations, rebel groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) apply pressure on the Federal government for fair development and environmental justice.
The Environment in Nigeria
Whatever the complexities of ethnic violence, there is no question that, ever since the discovery of oil in Nigeria in the 1950s, the country and its people have been suffering the negative environmental consequences. In recent years, local people - often supported by the government - have been far more active in seeking environmental justice from the oil companies.
Gas flaring in Nigeria is the most significant contributor to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, simultaneously creating a hellfire environment for people living in the oil delta. Nigerian communities have brought a successful legal action against the government, the state petroleum company, and foreign oil corporations--including Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Total, and Agip - for violating environmental
regulations and putting local citizens at risk from toxic chemicals in gas flares. Shell has refused to comply with the court order.
Ironically, the Niger Delta could itself become the victim of climate change as rising sea levels threaten the coastline – the threat to Lagos has been cited in a high level report to the Nairobi climate change conference in November 2006, suggesting that as many as 1.3 million people could be affected.
The Economy in Nigeria
Violence in the Delta region has cut back oil production by about 25%, a serious problem for a country so dependent on this source of earnings which accounts for 95% of foreign exchange and 80% of government revenues. The struggle to diversify export markets is a constant refrain in economic plans.
A programme of privatisation in line with IMF and World Bank conditionalities has helped to change attitudes of employees within the public sector, but there is little evidence that privatisation has brought short term benefits to ordinary people. A $200 million World Bank loan agreed in 2005 for provision of water and sanitation in Lagos has met with criticism that the private sector is inappropriate for dealing with such an important public service. Neo-liberal philosophy continued into 2006 when it was announced that over 30,000 civil servants would lose their jobs. Another critical challenge for the private sector will be Nigeria’s abysmal electricity supply, identified as a priority for action by the new president. Nigeria’s capacity is about 20% of that of Egypt, for double the population – the ambitious target is to increase capacity ten-fold by 2010.
Recent events have combined to create a rosier outlook for Nigeria’s economy. The massive hike in world oil prices provides obvious comfort whilst the G7 Edinburgh summit of 2005 went out of its way to negotiate a special debt relief package for Nigeria, The country’s external debt has as a result reduced from 60% to barely 5% of GDP, although at a cost of much popular unrest as subsidies for essential goods such as fuel are removed.
Human Rights in Nigeria
Nigeria has a bad human rights record, dating from the long years of military dictatorship when numerous violations went unchallenged. The transition to civilian rule has reduced but not eliminated these human rights abuses; for example the use of torture by police has been labelled as “systemic” by the UN Special Rapporteur for Torture. Although there are indications that the government is showing respect for the rule of law in its adherence to decisions made by the courts even when these are unfavourable, there remains reluctance on the part of the federal government to bring to justice the perpetrators of past abuses.
The domestic environment also gives rise to much concern – violence against women being pervasive and under-reported. There is increasing evidence that millions of children are engaged in illegal labour in Nigeria, closely tied to the poor figures for school enrolment and completion. The problem is also linked to the trafficking of girls and boys to and from neighbouring countries. International observers are also highly critical of Nigerian proposals to legislate against same sex marriages and any associations linked to gay activities.
A very different issue has arisen in the northern states following the introduction of Shari'a law. High profile cases featuring its more extreme interpretation have led to calls for an end to the severe sentences handed down by some courts and the adoption of internationally-recognised standards of legal procedure.
Akande Adebowale studied international development at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the UK. He is currently carrying out a PhD research in London in the same field. He also worked as an Education Consultant with Genesis Consult Ltd
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| Nigerian woman © Giacomo Pirozzi / Panos Pictures |
Health figures reveal the most serious problem with indicators for infant and child mortality worse than they were in the baseline year of 1990. - one in five children is expected to die before age five. Maternal mortality is also extremely high. A contributory factor is undoubtedly the corresponding failure to provide access to improved sources of drinking water, another statistic which at 48% has moved in reverse since 1990. Although 7 million children remain out of school, enrolment is rising slowly and there is a slightly more positive outlook on the Goal for universal primary education.
Whilst there is considerable regional variation in human development, indicators are generally more favourable in the south than in the north. For example, school enrolment for girls in northern Nigeria lags significantly behind the south and rates of illiteracy are over 50%. Gender issues are however by no means confined to the north; in a patriarchal society, the country's 67 million women are currently represented by only 9 of the 109 elected senators in parliament and affirmative legislation to correct the imbalance is under consideration.
Nigeria’s medium term strategy for poverty reduction is set out in its National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and each of the 36 States has a subsidiary version of the strategy. Poor coordination of development plans within the Federal government together with incompetent delivery of services at State and local government levels have greatly hampered progress towards the MDGs. An unusual government post of Special Adviser to the President on Millennium Development Goals has been established to address these administrative bottlenecks and to be accountable for directing proceeds of debt relief to MDG sectors. The holder of the post, Mrs Amina Ibrahim, has estimated that the cost of achieving the Goals in Nigeria exceeds $5 billion pa, a figure far above current resources.
Health and HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
Budget shortfalls unquestionably contribute to the alarming health statistics. Per capita government spending on health in Nigeria is believed to be the lowest in Africa. As a result, there are severe shortages of health workers in Nigeria, with most trained staff emigrating for economic and social reasons. There are less than 20 physicians available per 100,000 people in Nigeria; 21,000 Nigerian doctors work in the United States.
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| © Centre for Development and Population Activities |
Misunderstandings of health treatments also led to a high profile problem for international efforts to eradicate polio. The Muslim authorities in Kano province suspended treatment for 10 months in 2003/4 over suspicion that the vaccination had side-effects. This resulted in fresh outbreaks of the disease in many countries and a setback for the global programme. The difficulty was eventually resolved and a succession of emergency vaccination programmes in 5 northern states has enabled the authorities to contemplate once again the eradication of polio in Nigeria, now one of only 4 countries regarded as harbouring the virus.
Politics in Nigeria
Post-colonial Nigerian politics has been dominated by years of brutal military rule sustained by corruption so pervasive that Nigeria became synonymous with the spectre of bad governance in Africa. The government body set up to tackle financial crime, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), has recently estimated that over $400 billion of oil revenues has been stolen since 1960. Efforts of the Commission, led by Mr Nuhu Ribadu, have focused on the 36 State governors, many of whom control budgets larger than individual African countries but who are immune from prosecution whilst in office. Many ex-governors are currently on the run from international police. The EFCC has succeeded in bringing a number of cases to court, recovering about $5 billion.
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| President Obasanjo © Radio Netherlands |
Hopes that the political structure was maturing were decisively dashed by the April 2007 presidential, parliamentary and state governor elections. First the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tabled a constitutional change to permit the president to serve a third term. This was thrown out by the Senate, but Obasanjo remains party chairman with an iron grip over proceedings. His choice as successor, Umaru Yar'Adua, was plucked from obscurity, perhaps to respect tradition that it was the turn of a northern state to provide the president or perhaps that Yar’Adua was one of the few state governors to escape investigation for corruption. The natural successor, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar quarrelled with Obasanjo over the proposed third term and was promptly charged with diverting government funds, disqualifying his candidacy. Abubakar was restored by the supreme court a week before the election, too late for him or his Action Congress party to make any impact.
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| Elections in Nigeria |
President Yar-Adua has attempted to defuse criticism by including opposition politicians in his cabinet and by setting up an electoral reform committee to make recommendations for future conduct of elections.
Civil Society in Nigeria
Despite evident sympathy from the international community, civil society and human rights activists were unsuccessful in galvanising people’s protests against the conduct of the elections. This failure may have been through fear of the security forces or through a pervasive disgust with politicians of any persuasion. Certainly, civil society has been actively involved in the struggle of the Nigerian people to provide a more humane society even before independence. Many groups work together in umbrella coalitions to address major national issues with one voice - one of the most prominent umbrella bodies is the National Democratic Coalition.
Conflict in Nigeria
|
| Muslim and Christian leaders at CEDPA workshop |
Political freedom has allowed ethnic and religious groups to express their frustrations but on many occasions this has been done violently, causing as many as 14,000 deaths since 1999. The introduction of Shari'a law in 12 northern states is the source of great friction with Christian communities who live there. Serious violence between Christian and Muslim communities occurred in Plateau and Kano states in 2004. The government lacks the means and motive to investigate criminal acts and root out the perpetrators of violence.
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| MEND militants with hostages in the Niger Delta region © United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network |
The Environment in Nigeria
|
| Nigerian wetlands are under threat © WWF-Canon/Meg Gawler / WWF International |
Gas flaring in Nigeria is the most significant contributor to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, simultaneously creating a hellfire environment for people living in the oil delta. Nigerian communities have brought a successful legal action against the government, the state petroleum company, and foreign oil corporations--including Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Total, and Agip - for violating environmental
|
| Gas flared from oil wells, Nigeria © Project Underground |
Ironically, the Niger Delta could itself become the victim of climate change as rising sea levels threaten the coastline – the threat to Lagos has been cited in a high level report to the Nairobi climate change conference in November 2006, suggesting that as many as 1.3 million people could be affected.
The Economy in Nigeria
Violence in the Delta region has cut back oil production by about 25%, a serious problem for a country so dependent on this source of earnings which accounts for 95% of foreign exchange and 80% of government revenues. The struggle to diversify export markets is a constant refrain in economic plans.
A programme of privatisation in line with IMF and World Bank conditionalities has helped to change attitudes of employees within the public sector, but there is little evidence that privatisation has brought short term benefits to ordinary people. A $200 million World Bank loan agreed in 2005 for provision of water and sanitation in Lagos has met with criticism that the private sector is inappropriate for dealing with such an important public service. Neo-liberal philosophy continued into 2006 when it was announced that over 30,000 civil servants would lose their jobs. Another critical challenge for the private sector will be Nigeria’s abysmal electricity supply, identified as a priority for action by the new president. Nigeria’s capacity is about 20% of that of Egypt, for double the population – the ambitious target is to increase capacity ten-fold by 2010.
Recent events have combined to create a rosier outlook for Nigeria’s economy. The massive hike in world oil prices provides obvious comfort whilst the G7 Edinburgh summit of 2005 went out of its way to negotiate a special debt relief package for Nigeria, The country’s external debt has as a result reduced from 60% to barely 5% of GDP, although at a cost of much popular unrest as subsidies for essential goods such as fuel are removed.
Human Rights in Nigeria
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| Human rights campaigner Oronto Douglas © CorpWatch |
The domestic environment also gives rise to much concern – violence against women being pervasive and under-reported. There is increasing evidence that millions of children are engaged in illegal labour in Nigeria, closely tied to the poor figures for school enrolment and completion. The problem is also linked to the trafficking of girls and boys to and from neighbouring countries. International observers are also highly critical of Nigerian proposals to legislate against same sex marriages and any associations linked to gay activities.
A very different issue has arisen in the northern states following the introduction of Shari'a law. High profile cases featuring its more extreme interpretation have led to calls for an end to the severe sentences handed down by some courts and the adoption of internationally-recognised standards of legal procedure.
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