Notes on Nigeria Politics and Government | POLI 120, Study notes of Comparative Law and Politics

Download Notes on Nigeria Politics and Government | POLI 120 and more Study notes Comparative Law and Politics in PDF only on Docsity! Nigeria I. Politics/Government The politics of Nigeria take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nigeria (Umaru Musa Yar'Adua) is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system.  Executive Branch o The president is elected by the people. He is both the chief of state and head of government and heads the Federal Executive Council. Nigeria has a rotating presidency so that the three major regions of Nigeria (the North, the East, and the West) share political control of the country. o The rest of the executive branch is divided into ministries(the system is modeled after that of the United States) o Current President: Umaru Musa Yar'Adua  2nd President of Nigeria's Fourth Republic.  He was declared the winner of the controversial Nigerian presidential election held on April 21, 2007, and was sworn in on May 29, 2007.  He is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). o Current V. President: Goodluck Jonathan  Legislative Branch o Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the legislature, the House of Representatives and the Senate. Together the two chambers make up the law-making body in Nigeria called the National Assembly. o The National Assembly of Nigeria has two chambers. The House of Representatives is presided upon by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. It has 360 members, elected for a four year term in single- seat constituencies. The Senate is presided over by the President of the Senate. It has 109 members, elected for a four year term in 36 three-seat constituencies (corresponding to the country's 36 states) and one seat in a single-seat constituency (the federal capital, Abuja). The National Assembly also serves as a watchdog to the excesses of the executive arm of government.  Judiciary Branch o The highest judiciary arm of government in Nigeria is the Supreme Court of Nigeria. Nigeria also practices Baron de Montesquieu's theory of the separation of powers. o The judicial branch consists mainly of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which is the highest court in the land. It is presided upon by the Chief Justice of Nigeria and thirteen associate justices, appointed by the President of Nigeria on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council and subject to confirmation by the Senate.  Political Parties o Nigeria has a multi-party system, with two or three strong parties and a third party that is electorally successful. o Fourth Republic (1999-present)  Alliance for Democracy (AD)  A progressive opposition political party in Nigeria. It was formed on September 9th 1998  All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)  Right-wing conservative party with mass appeal. The party draws its strength from the predominantly radical region of Northern Nigeria, and strives to maintain the status quo of radical politics in the Nigerian polity  All Progressives Grand Alliance (APG)  National Democratic Party (NDP)  People's Democratic Party (PDP) *currently in power  A centrist political party in Nigeria. It won the Presidential elections of 1999, 2003, and 2007, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic minority ethnic groups who felt they were being exploited, particularly the Ogoni and the Ijaw. o Ethnic and political unrest has continued throughout the 1990s and persists as of 2007 despite the conversion to democracy and the election of the Obasanjo government in 1999. Competition for oil wealth has fueled violence between innumerable ethnic groups, causing the militarization of nearly the entire region by ethnic militia groups as well as Nigerian military and police forces (notably the Nigerian Mobile Police). o Ogoniland is a 404-square-mile (1,050 km2) region in the southeast of the Niger Delta basin. Economically viable oil was discovered in Ogoniland in 1957, just one year after the discovery of Nigeria's first commercial petroleum deposit, with Shell and Chevron setting up shop throughout the next two decades. o The Ogonis, a minority ethnic group of about half a million people who call Ogoniland home, and other ethnic groups in the region attest that during this time, the government began forcing them to abandon their land to oil companies without consultation, and offering negligible compensation. o The 1970s and 1980s saw the government's empty promises of benefits for the Niger Delta peoples fall through, with the Ogoni growing increasing dissatisfied and their environmental, social, and economic apparatus rapidly deteriorating the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was formed in 1992. o MOSOP, spearheaded by Ogoni playwright and author Ken Saro-Wiwa, became the major campaigning organization representing the Ogoni people in their struggle for ethnic and environmental rights. Its primary targets, and at times adversaries, have been the Nigerian government and the oil company Royal Dutch Shell o Beginning in December 1992, the conflict between Ogonis and the oil infrastructure escalated to a level of greater seriousness and intensity on both sides. Both parties began carrying out acts of violence and MOSOP issued an ultimatum to the oil companies (Shell, Chevron, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) which demanded some $10 billion in accumulated royalties, damages and compensation, and "immediate stoppage of environmental degradation", and negotiations for mutual agreement on all future drilling.[5] o The Ogonis threatened to embark on mass action to disrupt their operation if the companies failed to comply. By this act, the Ogoni shifted the focus of their actions from an unresponsive federal government to the oil companies engaged in their own region. The rationale for this assignment of responsibility were the benefits accrued by the oil companies from extracting the natural wealth of the Ogoni homeland, and neglect from central government. o The government responded by banning public gatherings and declaring that disturbances of oil production were acts of treason. Military repression escalated in May 1994. On May 21, soldiers and mobile policemen appeared in most Ogoni villages. On that day, four Ogoni chiefs (all on the conservative side of a schism within MOSOP over strategy) were brutally murdered. By mid-June, 30 villages had been completely destroyed, 600 people had been detained, and at least 40 had been killed. An eventual total of around 100,000 internal refugees and an estimated 2,000 civilian deaths was recorded.[6]. o In May 1994, nine activists from the movement who would become known as 'The Ogoni Nine', among them Ken Saro-Wiwa, were arrested and accused of incitement to murder following the deaths of four Ogoni elders. Saro-Wiwa and his comrades denied the charges, but were imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death by a specially convened tribunal, hand-selected by General Sani Abacha, on 10 November 1995. The activists were denied due process and upon being found guilty, were executed via hanging by the Nigerian state. o The executions were met with an immediate international response. The trial was widely criticised by human rights organisations and the governments of other states, who condemned the Nigerian government's long history of detaining their critics, mainly pro-democracy and other political activists. The Commonwealth of Nations, which had also plead for clemency, suspended Nigeria's membership in response. The United States, the United Kingdom, and the EU all implemented sanctions, however, none of these had an impact on oil production. o As of 2006, the situation in Ogoniland has eased significantly, progressed by the transition to democratic rule in 1999. However, no attempts have been made by the government or an international body to bring about justice by investigating and prosecuting those involved in the violence and property destruction that have occurred in Ogoniland although a class action lawsuit has been brought against Shell by individual plaintiffs  S.A.P. (Structural Adjustment Program) o Term used to describe the policy changes implemented by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (the Bretton Woods Institutions) in developing countries. o These policy changes are conditions (Conditionalities) for getting new loans from the IMF or World Bank, or for obtaining lower interest rates on existing loans. Conditionalities are implemented to ensure that the money lent will be spent in accordance with the overall goals of the loan. o SAPs are created with the goal of reducing the borrowing country's fiscal imbalances. The bank from which a borrowing country receives its loan depends upon the type of necessity. In general, loans from both the World Bank and the IMF are claimed to be designed to promote economic growth, to generate income, and to pay off the debt which the countries have accumulated. o Through conditionalities, Structural Adjustment Programs generally implement "free market" programs and policy. These programs include internal changes (notably privatization and deregulation) as well as external ones, especially the reduction of trade barriers. Countries which fail to enact these programs may be subject to severe fiscal discipline. Critics argue that financial threats to poor countries amount to blackmail; that poor nations have no choice but to comply. o Since the late 1990s, some proponents of structural adjustment such as the World Bank, have spoken of "poverty reduction" as a goal. Structural Adjustment Programs were often criticized for implementing generic free market policy, as well as the lack of involvement from the country. To increase the borrowing country's involvement, developing countries are now encouraged to draw up Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). These PRSPs essentially take the place of the SAPs. Some believe that the