The Mystery Surrounding Nigeria

Nigeria is a key country in Africa and much of the way that Nigeria will have economic and political stability in future years will determine how developed the nations in Africa become. Nigeria is a country with 126 million people and it is made up of many ethnicities. Independence was reached in 1960 and their transition to democracy has only begun in recent years in 1999. Nigeria has many problems beginning with racial and regional differences. Mulim-Christian relations have at times been at odds with each other as well as the Northern and Southern parts of Nigeria being completely opposite of each other.

In the 19th century the Fulani empire took control of Nigeria. Before that was the Oyo empire from the 13th century to the 18th century. There are two main ethnicities in Nigeria: Husas and Yorubas. The Husas formed city states between the years of 1000-1200 AD. In the 11th century the Islam arrived which put heavy influence on the region. Islam became better established by the 15th century as mass amounts of mosques and madrasses and communication with the Morrocan Empire was established. The key Fulani Empire leader at this time was Uthman dan Fodio. In 1803 the Jihad began. The Fulani and Sokoto Caliphate would rule until 1903.

The Yorubas live in the South West Kingdoms in Oyo, Ife, Benin in the 12th through the 15th centuries. Beginning in the 17th century the Oyo kingdom took on Africa’s border was democratized. In 1900 the colony of Lagos and Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were established.

Each province in Nigeria has their own lieutenant governor in charge. The North was ruled by indirect rule through sultans and Imams. The South of Nigeria was heavily influenced by the British as locals were trained by the British in government and administration. This led to two entirely different political and economic cultures. The North did not have a developed infrastructure, nor were they integrated into the British economy and they had a Muslim education. The South of Nigeria had a developed infrastructure, they were integrated into the British economy and they had a Christian education.

In 1954 3 regions were established in Africa. In 1957 the East and West were granted self governance and in 1959 the Nroth was granted self governance. Independence was achieved in 1960. Nigeria was hit hard by the British system of imperialism as the economy became too reliant on petroleum and as a result there was a lack of a diverse agriculture. This led to a dependence on the world economy and had to import heavily. Petroleum exports began in 1959 and exports grew considerably by 1970.

However when oil prices dropped on the world market in 1979 and 1986, Nigeria’s economy was hit hard and people were in poverty because of the heavy reliance on Petroleum which makes up 90% of its exports. This one industry country accumulated large amounts of debt as a result. To this day, the wealthy and elite in Nigeria have benefited from oil production while the large part of Nigeria has not. There is corruption within the government and the International Monetary Fund is thinking about doing a structural adjustment of Nigeria.

The government structure of Nigeria was a Parliamentary system in 1960. In 1980 and 1985 the constitution that was created put in place a presidential system. This created a strong president but a weak legislature and weak judiciary. In the year 1999, Nigeria was still rebuilding from military rule.