Nigeria Citizen/Society State

Nigeria Citizen/Society State Quincy Kroeschell Brenna Welsh Spencer Leger Nikos Ouroumidis

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 I LOVE QUINCY

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 I LOVE QUINCY

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 I LOVE QUINCY

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 I LOVE QUINCY

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. I LOVE QUINCY

Cleavages I LOVE QUINCY

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.

ETHNICITY 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 I LOVE QUINCY

Quincy Kroeschell 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 Some Nigerians protesting I LOVE QUINCY

http://www.nairaland.com/15772/prebendalism-nigerias-unique-system-corruptionhttp://www.nairaland.com/15772/prebendalism-nigerias-unique-system-corruption Quincy Kroeschell 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 PREBENDALISM The person who is running gets elected into the office they ran for A person is running for office and is supported by people The person who got elected repays those who supported him by giving them money I LOVE QUINCY

Quincy Kroeschell 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 The NUPENG logo Some members of MOSOP protesting for the rights of the Ogoni people I LOVE QUINCY

http://www.mosop.org/about_us.html http://nupeng.org/id1.html Quincy Kroeschell 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 Comrade IgweAchese, the current president of NUPENG Ken Saro-Wiwa, founder of MOSOP I LOVE QUINCY

Quincy Kroeschell 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 A woman voting in Nigeria I LOVE QUINCY

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”. General SaniAchaba I LOVE QUINCY

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. Table with Iran ranking lower than Russia and Iran Yar’ AduaGoodluck Jonathan http://www.transparency.org/ I LOVE QUINCY

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 NuhuRibadu, 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. NuhuRibadu Supporters of NuhuRibadu The symbol of EFCC I LOVE QUINCY

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. Pie chart showing the exports of Nigerian oil. Protesting about Jonathan’s policies about the oil companies. I LOVE QUINCY

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. Region of main Boko Haram influence. The logo of Boko Haram The leader of Boko Haram I LOVE QUINCY

Nigeria Citizen/Society State