NIGERIA IN CULTURAL LIFE
Daily life and social customs
By Toyin O. Falola, J.F. Ade Ajayi
Culled from Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nigeria, country
located on the western coast of Africa.
Nigeria has a diverse geography, with climates ranging from arid to humid
equatorial. However, Nigeria’s most diverse feature is its people. Hundreds of
languages are spoken in the country, including Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, Hausa, Edo,
Ibibio, Tiv, and English. The country has abundant natural resources, notably
large deposits of petroleum and natural gas.
The national capital is Abuja, in the Federal Capital Territory, which was created by decree in 1976. Lagos, the former capital, retains its standing as the country’s leading commercial and industrial city.
Modern Nigeria dates from 1914, when the British Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were joined. The country became independent on October 1, 1960, and in 1963 adopted a republican constitution but elected to stay a member of the Commonwealth.
Land
Nigeria is bordered to the north by Niger, to the east by Chad and Cameroon, to the south by the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west by Benin. Nigeria is not only large in area—larger than the U.S. state of Texas—but also Africa’s most populous country.
Relief
In general, the topography of Nigeria consists of plains in the north and south interrupted by plateaus and hills in the centre of the country. The Sokoto Plains lie in the northwestern corner of the country, while the Borno Plains in the northeastern corner extend as far as the Lake Chad basin. The Lake Chad basin and the coastal areas, including the Niger River delta and the western parts of the Sokoto region in the far northwest, are underlain by soft, geologically young sedimentary rocks. Gently undulating plains, which become waterlogged during the rainy season, are found in these areas. The characteristic land forms of the plateaus are high plains with broad, shallow valleys dotted with numerous hills or isolated mountains, called inselbergs; the underlying rocks are crystalline, although sand stones appear in river areas. The Jos Plateau rises almost in the centre of the country; it consists of extensive lava surfaces dotted with numerous extinct volcanoes. Other eroded surfaces, such as the Udi-Nsukka escarpment (see Udi-Nsukka Plateau), rise abruptly above the plains at elevations of at least 1,000 feet (300 metres). The most mountainous area is along the southeastern border with Cameroon, where the Cameroon Highlands rise to the highest points in the country, Chappal Waddi(7,936 feet [2,419 metres]) in the Gotel Mountains and Mount Dimlang (6,699 feet [2,042 metres]) in the Shebshi Mountains.
Drainage
The major drainage
areas in Nigeria are the Niger-Benue basin, the Lake Chad basin, and the Gulf
of Guinea basin. The Niger River, for
which the country is named, and the Benue,
its largest tributary, are the principal rivers. The Niger has many rapids and
waterfalls, but the Benue is not interrupted by either and is navigable
throughout its length, except during the dry season. Rivers draining the area
north of the Niger-Benue trough include the Sokoto, the Kaduna, the Gongola, and the rivers draining into Lake Chad. The coastal areas are drained
by short rivers that flow into the Gulf of Guinea. River basin development
projects have created many large man-made lakes, including Lake Kainji on the Niger and Lake Bakolorion the Rima River.
The Niger delta is a
vast low-lying region through which the waters of the Niger River drain into
the Gulf of Guinea. Characteristic landforms in this region include oxbow lakes, river meander belts (see meander), and prominent levees. Large
freshwater swamps give way to brackish mangrove thickets near the seacoast.
Soils
Soils in Nigeria, and in
Africa generally, are usually of a poorer quality than those in other regions
of the world. However, over the centuries Nigerians have utilized agricultural
techniques such as slash and burn, intercropping, and the use of shallow
planting implements to cope with the shortcomings of the soil. In the
precolonial period the country normally produced enough agricultural
commodities to feed its population, and it even maintained a surplus for
export.
Nigeria’s major soil
zones conform to geographic location. Loose sandy soils consisting of
wind-borne deposits and riverine sands are found in the northern regions,
although, in areas where there is a marked dry season, a dense surface layer of
laterite develops, making these soils difficult to cultivate. The soils in the
northern states of Kano and Sokoto, however, are not subject to
leaching and are therefore easily farmed. South of Kano the mixed soils contain
locally derived granite and loess (wind-borne deposits). The middle two-thirds
of the country, the savannah regions, contain reddish, laterite soils; they are
somewhat less fertile than those of the north because they are not subject to
as much seasonal drying, nor do they receive the greater rainfall that occurs
in the more southerly regions. The forest soils represent the third zone. There
the vegetation provides humus and protects it from erosion by heavy rainfall.
Although these soils can readily be leached and lose their fertility, they are
the most productive agriculturally. Hydromorphic and organic soils, confined
largely to areas underlain by sedimentary rocks along the coast and river
floodplains, are the youngest soil types.
Climate
Nigeria has a tropical
climate with variable rainy and dry seasons, depending on location. It is hot
and wet most of the year in the southeast but dry in the southwest and farther
inland. A savannah climate, with marked wet and dry seasons, prevails in the
north and west, while a steppe climate with little precipitation is found in
the far north.
In general, the length
of the rainy season decreases from south to north. In the south the rainy
season lasts from March to November, whereas in the far north it lasts only
from mid-May to September. A marked interruption in the rains occurs during
August in the south, resulting in a short dry season often referred to as the
“August break.” Precipitation is heavier in the south, especially in the
southeast, which receives more than 120 inches (3,000 mm) of rain a year,
compared with about 70 inches (1,800 mm) in the southwest. Rainfall decreases
progressively away from the coast; the far north receives no more than 20
inches (500 mm) a year.
Temperature and
humidity remain relatively constant throughout the year in the south, while the
seasons vary considerably in the north; during the northern dry season the
daily temperature range becomes great as well. On the coast the mean monthly
maximum temperatures are steady throughout the year, remaining about 90 °F (32
°C) at Lagos and about 91 °F (33 °C)
at Port Harcourt; the mean monthly
minimum temperatures are approximately 72 °F (22 °C) for Lagos and 68 °F (20
°C) for Port Harcourt. In general, mean maximum temperatures are higher in the
north, while mean minimum temperatures are lower. In the northeastern city of Maiduguri, for example, the mean monthly
maximum temperature may exceed 100 °F (38 °C) during the hot months of April and
May, while in the same season frosts may occur at night. The humidity generally
is high in the north, but it falls during the harmattan (the hot, dry northeast
trade wind), which blows for more than three months in the north but rarely for
more than two weeks along the coast.
Plant and animal life
The main vegetation
patterns run in broad east-west belts, parallel to the Equator. Mangrove and
freshwater swamps occur along the coast and in the Niger delta. A short way
inland, the swamps give way to dense tropical rainforests. Economically
valuable, the oil palm grows wild and is usually preserved when forest is
cleared for cultivation. In the more densely populated parts of the southeast,
the original forest vegetation has been replaced by open palm bush. In the
southwest large areas of forest have been replaced by cacao and rubber
plantations. Tropical grassland occupies the area north of the forest belt and
is studded with baobab, tamarind, and locust bean trees. The savannah becomes
more open in the far north and is characterized by scattered stunted trees and
short grasses. Semi desert conditions exist in the Lake Chad region, where
various species of acacia and the doum species of palm are common. Gallery
forests (narrow forest zones along rivers) are also characteristic of the open savannah
in the north. In densely populated areas of the savannah, such as those around
the towns of Sokoto, Kano, and Katsina, the vegetation has been removed
by continuous cropping, overgrazing, and bush burning. In the far northern
areas the nearly total disappearance of plant life has facilitated a gradual southward
advance of the Sahara.
Camels, antelopes, hyenas, lions, baboons, and giraffes once inhabited the entire savannah region, and red river hogs, forest elephants, and chimpanzees lived in the rainforest belt. Animals found in both forest and savannah included leopards, golden cats, monkeys, gorillas, and wild pigs. Today these animals can be found only in such protected places as the YankariNationalPark in Bauchi state, Gashaka Gumti National Park in Taraba state, Kainji Lake National Park in Kwara state (see KainjiLake), and Cross River National Park in Cross River state. Rodents such as squirrels, porcupines, and cane rats constitute the largest family of mammals. The northern savannah abounds in guinea fowl. Other common birds include quail, vultures, kites, bustards, and gray parrots. The rivers contain crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and a great variety of fishes.
People Ethnic groups
There are an estimated
250 ethnic groups in Nigeria. Each inhabits a territory that it considers to be
its own by right of first occupancy and inheritance. Individuals who are not
members of a dominant group but who have lived and worked for several decades
in the territory of the group are still considered to be aliens. In most rural
areas, such aliens may not acquire outright title to land, yet considerable
numbers of people have migrated from one ethnic territory to another in search
of farmland. There are three major ethnic groups in the country: the Hausa-Fulani, the Yoruba, and the Igbo.
The northern-dwelling
Hausa, one of th e most numerous groups in the country, have become integrated
with the smaller Fulani group, whose members conquered Hausa land in the early
19th century; the great majority of both are Muslims. Town-dwelling Fulani intermarry
freely with the Hausa and other groups, and they continue to control the
administration of the Hausa towns. The cattle-herding rural Fulani, who
generally do not intermarry, speak the Fulani language, Fula, rather than Hausa
Another large and politically dominant group is the Yoruba of southwestern
Nigeria. They consider the city of Ile-Ife
their ancestral home and the deity Oduduwa their progenitor. MostYoruba are
farmers but live in urban areas away from their rural farmland. Each Yoruba
subgroup is ruled by a paramount chief, or oba, who is usually supported by a council
of chiefs. The ooni (oni) of Ile-Ife, who is the spiritual leader of the
Yoruba, and the alaafin (alafin) of Oyo, who is their traditional political leader,
are the most powerful rulers, and their influence is still acknowledged
throughout the Yoruba area.
The third major ethnic
group, the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria, lives in small decentralized and
democratic settlements. The largest political unit is the village, which is
ruled by a council of elders (chosen by merit, not heredity) rather than by a
chief. A smaller proportion live in large towns and are culturally much closer
to the Edo of neighbouring Benin City (in Edo state) than to the Igbo east of the
lower Niger valley.
Less numerous are the Ibibio, who live near the Igbo and share
many of their cultural traits, and the Edo, who created the important
precolonial kingdom of Benin. In the
middle belt, where the greatest concentration of ethnic groups (more than 180)
occurs, the Tiv and the Nupe are the largest groups. Both are
settled cultivators, but, while Nupe society is hierarchical, that of
the Tiv tends to be decentralized.
Languages
The languages of
Nigeria are classified into three broad linguistic groups: Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afro-Asiatic. The huge Niger-Congo group
is further subdivided into nine major branches, including the Kwa subgroup, spoken in the extreme
southwestern corner of the country; the Ijoid
branch, spoken in the Niger Delta region; the Atlantic subgroup, which most notably
includes Fula; the extensive Benue-Congo subgroup,
which includes Tiv, Jukun, Edo, Igbo, Igala, Idoma, Nupe, Gwari, Yoruba, and several languages of the
Cross River basin such as Efik, Ibibio,Anang, and Ekoi; and the Adamawa-Ubangilanguages, such as Awak,
Waja, Waka, and Tula, spoken in northern Nigeria. The Nilo-Saharan group is
represented in Nigeria principally by Kanuri,
although speakers of Bagirmi and Zerma are also present in the country. Afro-Asiatic is a much larger linguistic
group and comprises Hausa, Margi, and
Bade, among others. Some peoples (such as the Fulani and the Tiv) are
relatively recent immigrants, but, on the basis of modern linguistic research,
it is thought that the great majority of Nigerian languages—specifically the
Kwa subgroup—have been spoken in roughly the same locations for some 4,000
years.
Hausa was an official
language of the northern states from 1951 to 1967. It is the most widely spoken
language, although English is the official language of Nigeria. In addition to
English, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, and English Creole are widely spoken. Many
of the languages exist in written form.
Religion
At the beginning of the
20th century, most Nigerians were followers of traditional religions, but
British colonial policies discouraged this to such an extent that by the time
of independence in 1960 the great majority of the people were classified as
Muslims or Christians. At the beginning of the 21st century, about half of the
population was Muslim, slightly less than that was Christian, and only a small
number claimed to follow traditional religions. However, many of those
professing to be Muslims and Christians also openly performed certain rites or
rituals of traditional religions that were no longer condemned as they had been
during the colonial period. While a supreme god (called Olorun Olodumare
inYoruba, Chukwu in Igbo, Osalobua in Edo, and AbasiIbom in Ibibio) is central to
many of the traditional religions, the deity is worshipped through a number of
intermediaries or lesser gods.
Religious freedom is
guaranteed by the constitution, and Muslims and Christians live and work
together, although there is continuing conflict between the two groups and
between them and adherents of traditional religions. The greatest concentration
of Muslims is in the northern states. There three-fourths of the people profess
the religion of Islam, which also is the dominant faith in a few of the
southern states. Christians make up more than three-fourths of the population
in the eastern states.
The main established
Christian groups are Roman Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, and Baptists. A
growing number of breakaway Christian churches, which embrace indigenous cultural
traditions, are gaining popularity—a development perceived as a threat by the
older established churches. The breakaway Christian churches often include
drumming and dancing in their services, a practice since adopted by the
established churches in an attempt to avoid losing members. Another issue has
been how Islam and Christianity have chosen to incorporate the traditional
practice of polygamy. Christianity has officially disallowed it, while Islam
has allowed men to have up to four wives; however, breakaway Christian churches
often have placed no limits on the practice.
Geographic regions
Marked differences
exist between north and south, not only in physical and scape, climate, and
vegetation but also in the social organization, religion, literacy, and
agricultural practices of the people. These differences form the basis of the
division of Nigeria into three geographic regions: the south, or Guinea coast lands; the central region; and the north, or Nigerian Sudan.
South
The south is the most
economically developed part of Nigeria. Its forest resources are intensively
exploited, and its tree crops are harvested on peasant farms and commercial
plantations. All of the country’s major industrial centres and oilfields, as
well as its seaports, are concentrated in the region. Important cultural
centres are also found in the south, such as those of the Yoruba in the western
part of the region, the Edo in the region’s Midwestern section, and the
Igbo-Ibibio in the east. Parts of the country’s Igbo and Ibibio-inhabited areas
are the most densely settled areas in sub-Saharan Africa. The Yoruba-inhabited
areas where cacao is grown are also densely settled and attract many migrants
from the congested Igbo and Ibibio-inhabited areas. The eastern Cross River
area is virtually uninhabited owing to the poor soil and climate.
Central region
The central region is
the most sparsely settled and least developed part of Nigeria, comprising about
two-fifths of the country’s land area but supporting less than one-fifth of the
total population. Small pockets of dense population occur in the tin fields of
the Jos Plateau and in the southern
Tiv-inhabited area. The remaining, and by far the greater, part of this region
is virtually uninhabited owing to the poor soil and climate.
Before 1970, large-scale
development in this region, often referred to as the middle belt, was
restricted to a few government-supported projects, such as the Kainji Dam and
the Bacita sugar project (both in the northwestern part of the region) and a
few industries in the towns of Jos and
Kaduna (now the capitals of Plateau and Kaduna states, respectively). After the
national administrative reorganization of 1975, this central region gained
importance because 7 of the then 19 (now 36) state capitals, as wellas the
approximately 2,800-square-mile (7,250-square-km) Federal Capital Territory were
located there. In addition, during the early 1980s a giant iron and steel
complex was built at Ajaokuta, near Lokoja.
North
The north, or Nigerian
Sudan, underwent significant change in the beginning of the 20th century, when
a new economic pattern was created by the construction of a railroad that
connected the region to the country’s coastal ports. Before then, the Nigerian
Sudan was more outward oriented through regular trans-Saharan contacts with
North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Except in the Lake Chad
basin, where the Kanuri people established the state of Borno, the Nigerian Sudan has been
dominated by a blend of the cultures of the Fulani and Hausa. The former are
traditionally nomadic cattle herders, the latter settled cultivators; both
groups are predominantly Muslim.
Two regions of dense
population are found in the extreme north: the Sokoto area and the Kano-Katsina area. The Kano concentration is
based on intensive agriculture in an area of relatively fertile soils, but the
densely settled areas around nearby Katsina have impoverished soils and do not
produce enough food for the local population.
Settlement patterns
Rural settlement
About half of the
people live in rural areas. Densely populated settlements occur along the
coast, in the Yoruba-inhabited area in the southwest, and in the Hausa- and
Kanuri-inhabited areas of the far north. In parts of the Igbo and the
Anang-Ibibio-inhabited areas in the southeast and the Tiv-inhabited areas in
the central region, settlements consist of dispersed homesteads called
compounds. Each compound houses a man, his immediate family, and some
relatives. A number of compounds make up the village, usually inhabited by
people claiming a common ancestor—often the founder of the village.
In the eastern states,
each village has a chief, or headman, who, as one of the oldest and most
prosperous men in the community, rules by the consent of the people. In the
Yoruba- and Edo-inhabited areas and in most parts of the northern states, the
chief is chosen by, or with the consent of, the region’s traditional ruler. A
characteristic feature of village life is the age-grade system, in which people
are grouped together with others of a similar age. This system was more
important traditionally—serving to separate males into three-year groupings for
purposes of labour andinitiation—but its use has diminished.
Urban settlement
Only the Yoruba, Hausa,
Edo, Kanuri, and coastal peoples were town dwellers before the 20th century.
The Yoruba long have been the most urbanized people in tropical Africa. Their
towns, most of them several hundred years old, were originally administrative
and trading centres, a function many have retained. About half the Yoruba now
live in towns of more than 5,000, notably Ibadan,
Ogbomosho,Abeokuta, Ile-Ife, and Oyo. Benin City, like Ibadan and Oyo, is a
political as well as a cultural capital; its history dates back several centuries
to when it was the centre of the historic state of Benin.
The towns of Bonny, Opobo Town, Okrika, Buguma, Brass, Forcados, Creek Town, and Calabar grew from coastal fishing and
salt-trading villages into towns as trade (first in slaves and later in
agricultural goods) increased between the coastal peoples and Europeans. At the
beginning of colonial rule, these port towns had a more cosmopolitan population
than the Yoruba towns and the far north, but they were much smaller.
Kano, Zaria, and Katsina, northern towns of the Nigerian Sudan,
are much older than the Yoruba towns. Owing their existence to the
trans-Saharan trade as well as to the agricultural wealth of the surrounding
region, they were once walled cities. Today Kano, the most important of the
ancient towns, contains separate quarters for Hausa-Fulani, southern Nigerians,
and Europeans.
Lagos, a cosmopolitan city consisting of
islands and mainland areas, is the former capital of and the largest urban
region in Nigeria. It was founded (probably through the expansion of the kingdom of Benin) before the 15th
century and had a population of about 250,000 when it was declared a British
colony in 1861; that number increased to some 8,000,000 in the early 21st
century. The creation of many states since 1967 diverted some of the industries
and job-seeking migrants from Lagos to the new state capitals, especially the
older and larger ones such as Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, and Enugu. Some small towns, notably Minna, Uyo, Makurdi, Maiduguri, and Bauchi, experienced remarkable growth in
population and economy after becoming state capitals.
Abuja, a planned city in the centre of
the country, has been the official capital of Nigeria since 1991, although some
government offices remain in Lagos, the former capital. The decision to create
a new capital was made in the mid-1970s, and work on it began in the 1980s. The
location was chosen so that no single ethnic group would be favoured over
another, although one such group, the Gwari, was displaced by the construction.
Demographic trends
Nigeria, like other
developing countries, has birth and mortality rates that are higher than the world
average. Since the mid-20th century, however, infant mortality has declined
drastically, and life expectancy has increased; as a consequence, population
growth has been rapid. Almost three-fourths of the population was younger than
age 30.
There is considerable migration in Nigeria, especially between the north and the south. Large numbers of southern migrants have settled in the northern cities of Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna, and Jos, while seasonal migrants have often moved from the northern Sokoto and Kano areas to southern areas where cacao is grown. A more significant number of people have migrated from the southeast to the more industrialized and urbanized western states of Lagos, Oyo, and Ogun or to the agricultural western states of Ondo and Edo.
Before the end of the country’s civil war in 1970, many Nigerians emigrated to work in Benin, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone. African migration into Nigeria began about 1972 and was officially encouraged in 1978 by the establishment of the Economic Community of WestAfrican States (ECOWAS), under which the citizens of member states were guaranteed free movement. In the early 1980s a downturn in the Nigerian economy and the alleged involvement of foreigners in religious riots prompted the government to reverse its immigration policy. By 1985 some 2.7 million aliens had been expelled; such measures, however, have not been
repeated. The actions of the series of military governments in the 1980s and ’90s caused many Nigerian citizens to immigrate to Europe and the United States.
Economy
The Nigerian economy is
one of the largest in Africa. Since the late 1960s it has been based primarily
on the petroleum industry. A series of world oil price increases from 1973
produced rapid economic growth in transportation, construction, manufacturing,
and government services. Because this led to a great influx of rural people
into the larger urban centres, agricultural production stagnated to such an
extent that cash crops such as palm oil, peanuts (groundnuts), and cotton were
no longer significant export commodities. In addition, from about 1975 Nigeria
was forced to import such basic commodities as rice and cassava for domestic
consumption. This system worked well as long as revenues from petroleum
remained constant, but since the late 1970s the agricultural sector has been in
continuing crisis because of the fluctuating world oil market and the country’s
rapid population growth. Although much of the population remained engaged in
farming, too little food was produced, requiring increasingly costly imports.
The various governments (most of them military-run) have dealt with this
problem by banning agricultural imports and by focusing, albeit briefly, on
various agricultural and indigenization plans.
In the late 1990s the
government began to privatize many state-run enterprises—especially in
communications, power, and transportation—in order to enhance the quality of
service and reduce dependence on the government. Most of the enterprises had
been successfully privatized by the beginning of the 21st century, but a few
remained in government hands.
At the turn of the 21st
century, Nigeria continued to face an unsteady revenue flow, which the
government attempted to counter by borrowing from international sources,
introducing various austerity measures, or doing both at the same time. As a result,
an ever-increasing share of the national budget was needed for debt repayment,
which, with corruption dominating government operations, meant that very little
of Nigeria’s income was being spent on the people and their needs. The country
benefited from a 2005 debt-relief plan by which the majority of its debt to a
group of creditor countries known as the Paris Club would be forgiven once it
had repaid a certain amount. Nigeria successfully met this condition in 2006,
becoming the first African country to settle its debt with the group. Nigeria
entered a recession in 2016, partly because of falling global oil prices, but
saw progress with recovery within the next couple of years. (For information on
the role women have played in Nigeria’s economy and culture, see Sidebar:The Role of Nigerian Women.)
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
Nigeria has no shortage
of arable land overall, but there is an extreme shortage of farmland in the
most densely settled areas of the southeastern states and around Kano, Katsina,
and Sokoto. This has forced large numbers of Igbo, Ibibio, and Hausa people to
migrate to other parts of the country. Often, however, cultural traditions,
such as the prohibition against selling family land, have restricted access to
farmland in some localities that appear to have abundant cultivable land, and,
in the far north, desertification has severely limited the land area available
for cultivation.
Roughly between
one-fifth to one-half of all Nigerians obtain a living from agricultural production.
Most are small-scale subsistence farmers who produce only a little surplus for
sale and who derive additional income from one or more cash crops and from the
sale of local crafts. Because the soil is not totally amenable to mechanized
equipment, the hoe and matchet (machete) continue to be the dominant farm
implements. The shortage of farmland in some localities and limited access to
land in others are among the factors that restrict the size of farmland cultivated
per family. Environmental deterioration, inferior storage facilities, a poor
transport system, and a lack of investment capital contribute to low
productivity and general stagnation in agriculture. With the population growing
rapidly and urbanization accelerating, the food deficit continues to worsen
despite government efforts to rectify the situation.
Root crops—notably
yams, taro, and cassava—are the main food crops in the south, while grains and
legumes—such as sorghum, millet, cowpeas, and corn (maize)—are the staple crops
of the drier north. Rice is also an important domestic crop. Trees—notably oil
palm, cacao, and rubber trees—are the principal industrial crops of the south,
while peanuts (groundnuts) and cotton are produced in the north. Small-scale
farmers dominate the production of industrial crops, as they do with staple
food crops. Cocoa beans, from the cacao tree, are the major agricultural
export; production of other industrial crops has declined, owing to the
generals tag nation in agriculture.
In 1982, in the first
major step taken to halt the decline in industrial crop production, the
government disbanded the produce marketing boards, which paid prices set by the
government. Many farmers have since been motivated to cultivate tree crops, and
the federal and state governments have established plantations of oil palm,
rubber, and cacao. Programs to alleviate the food shortage have featured the
direct purchase and distribution of foodstuffs by government agencies and the
production by government parastatals of various staples on large commercial
farms. The Operation Feed the Nation program of 1976–80 sought to increase
local food production and thereby reduce imports. Citizens were encouraged to
cultivate any empty plot of land, urban dwellers being encouraged to garden
undeveloped building plots.
The raising of sheep,
pigs, and goats was underdeveloped at the beginning of the 21st century. The
cattle-herding Fulaniare still the main beef producers, although some of the
cattle under the care of these nomads belong to settled farmers and city
dwellers. However, the level of meat consumption in Nigeria, as in most African
countries, does not approach that of the West.
Nigeria’s permanent
forest reserves occupy less than one-tenth of the total and area. Outside these
reserves, much of the forest cover has been destroyed through regular burning
to prepare land for farming or to facilitate hunting. Forest destruction is
most extensive in the more densely settled areas, such as the Niger delta, and in
the drier savanna, where overgrazing, bush fires, and the great demand for
fuelwood prevent normal regeneration of plants on fallow land. There are many
large plantations of exotic species, such as
gmelina and teak, established by the government to provide electric and
telegraph poles and fuelwood. In the arid zone of Sokoto, Kano, and Borno states, forest belts have been
established to help arrest the southward advance of the Sahara. Forest
plantations have been established in many watersheds to protect water catchment
areas of rivers and to reduce the incidence of soil erosion.
Fishing has assumed
greater importance as a food source following the loss of thousands of head of
livestock during the recurring drought in the Sahel since the early 1970s. The
domestic catch supplies more than half of the fish demand. Lake Chad and the
southern coastal waters are the main sources of fish, but large quantities are
caught every year in pools in seasonal rivers of the northern states.
Resources and power
Nigeria has a variety
of both renewable and non-renewable resources, some of which have not yet been
effectively tapped. Solar energy, probably the most extensive of the
underutilized renewable resources, is likely to remain untapped for some time.
Resource extraction is
the most important sector of the economy. The most economically valuable
minerals are crude oil, natural gas, coal, tin, and columbite (an iron-bearing
mineral that accompanies tin). Petroleum, first discovered in 1956, is the most
important source of government revenue and foreign exchange. Most of the oil output
comes from onshore fields in the Niger delta, although an increasing proportion
of the crude is produced at offshore locations. There are oil refineries at Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna. Nigeria has been a member of OPEC since 1971.
There are vast reserves
of natural gas, but most of the gas produced is a by-product of crude oil. In the
past this was burned off, as there was no market for it, but production has since
increased, and Nigeria became a globally ranked exporter of this commodity. Production
has often been interrupted by protests, as the inhabitants of the oil-producing
regions have demanded a larger share of the revenues.
Nigeria possesses
significant reserves of coal, but these deposits are being developed gradually.
Coal is used by the railroad, by traditional metal industries, and by power
plants to generate electricity. Coalmining, initially concentrated around the
city of Enugu and its environs, began
in 1915. It declined after the late 1950s with the discovery of oil but
subsequently increased. Substantial coal reserves of varying quality can be
found in south-central states in a band that stretches from Benin to Cameroon.
Deposits discovered more recently in the southwestern part of the country at
Lafia-Obiare being developed for the Ajaokuta steel complex.
The Jos Plateau, where tin mining began in
1905, also contains columbite. By the early 21st century, the country’s
tin-smelting capacity had not been reached, a result of diminished world demand
in the late 1980s; production of columbite has also declined since the
mid-1970s. There are iron ore deposits in the Lokoja area, and limestone occurs in
many areas, where it is widely exploited for manufacturing cement and for use
in the steel industry. Extensive iron ore deposits found in Kwara state have been exploited since
1984. Other mined minerals include gypsum, kaolin, barite, gold, sapphires,
topazes, and aquamarines. There are also uranium deposits in the country.
About one-fifth of the
country’s power is provided by hydroelectricity, although this source has the
potential to provide an even greater amount of power. The main sources of
hydroelectric power are the dams at Kainji,
Shiroro (Niger state), and Jebba (Kwara state). Thermal plants
fired with natural as and coal supply about four-fifths of the country’s power
and include those at Afam, Sapele,
and Lagos and on the Oji River.
Demand, however, always exceeds supply. Fuelwood (firewood and charcoal) is
still an important energy source for domestic use.
Manufacturing
The federal government
has established such capital-intensive industries as steel mills, pulp and
paper mills, petrochemical plants, and an aluminium smelter. In the past,
large-scale manufacturing—dominated by the production of textiles, tobacco,
beverages, and cement—was controlled by foreign investors. The government’s
indigenization efforts have altered the ownership situation, although the
management and effective control of most large factories have remained in the
hands of expatriate representatives of multinational corporations. The greatest
weakness of this sector has been its dependence on imported raw materials. That
situation changed in 1987, when the import of a wide range of raw materials was
prohibited, although the ban was later rescinded. Even so, imports were subject
to some restrictions at the beginning of the 21st century, and manufacturers
were encouraged to use raw materials from local sources. The highest
concentration of large factories is in the Greater Lagos area. Each state
capital has a number of large manufacturing industries, but a few major
industries, such as paper mills and steel mills, are located in remote areas
where new towns have grown up to serve the factories.
Traditional industries
carried out in homes or in makeshift workshops include the making of iron
implements such as hoes and hatchets, door hinges, bolts, and dane guns
(firearms of obsolete design, originally of European manufacture). Traditional soap-
and salt-making workshops appeared in large numbers after the near collapse of
the Nigerian economy in 1983, when most wage earners were unable to pay for
factory-made soap and imported table salt. These industries continued after the
economy recovered, but they were concentrated in rural areas. Pottery making
and wood carving are widespread, as are cane work and the making of bags and
mats from raffia.
Finance
The Central Bank of
Nigeria issues the national currency, the naira,
which has been devalued several times since 1980. The Central Bank has branches
in all the state capitals and provides guidelines to all commercial and
merchant banks in the country. In 1976 all foreign banks were compelled to
sell60 percent of their shares to Nigerians. Banks proliferated in the 1980s,
after the financial sector was liberalized. Many of these banks proved
unstable, however, and in 1995 the government was forced to rescue some of
them. Soon after, the government began privatizing banks and closing those that
had violated banking regulations. By the beginning of the 21st century, the
country had some 100 banks and financial institutions, and branch locations
were widespread. There are a stock exchange and a securities exchange
commission in Lagos.
Trade
The direction of
domestic trade in staple foods is largely north-south between different
ecological zones but also between major urban centres in the southeast and
southwest. The southern states supply plantains, cassava, kola nuts, and fruit
to the northern states, which in turn supply beans, onions, and livestock to
the southern states. Yams from the central region are traded in the southern
and far northern cities. Most of the food items and manufactured goods are sold
in open market stalls, in small neighbourhood shops, and on the streets.
The main markets for Nigerian
exports—consisting mostly of crude oil, cocoa beans, and rubber—include India, the
United States, and the countries of the European
Union (EU). The main imports are machinery
and transport equipment, manufactured goods (iron and steelproducts, textiles, and
paper products), chemicals, and food, most of which come from the EU, China, and
the United States.
At independence Nigeria had accumulated a trade deficit, which resulted from the importation of large quantities of machinery and equipment. By the late 1960s it had a trade surplus, as revenue from crude oil exports allowed the country to import capital goods and industrial raw materials. Trade deficits returned in the mid-1970s. Since then Nigeria’s balance of trade has alternated between periods of deficits and of surpluses, driven by fluctuations in the global oil market and government decisions on how to spend its money. A trade surplus in 1980, for example, allowed work to continue on the new federal capital-designate, Abuja, but by 1982 the surplus had become a deficit, and at the end of 1983 the country was virtually bankrupt. At the beginning of the 21st century, exports were greater than imports, but the interest on the country’s external debt was so high that a truly favourable balance of trade (as opposed to one that existed on paper only) hinged at least partly on the effectiveness of debt relief.
Services Nigeria has many attractions of interest to tourists. There are miles of coastal beaches, wildlife reserves, a variety of cultures, and many museums that house artistic treasures. However, the many decades Nigeria spent under military rule created a repressive environment not well-suited to the tourist. Since the installation of the democratically elected government in 1999, the country has faced periods of ethnic violence, also not conducive to attracting a tourist clientele. Nevertheless, more than two million people visited the country annually in the first decade of the 21st century; within the next decade, that figure increased to more than four million.
Labour and taxation
Nigeria has a long history of labour movements and contains numerous unions. Under the various military governments, labour activity was sharply
curtailed.
After
the democratic elections in 1999, however, labour movements were once again able to express their
discontent, and various strikes
took place at the end of the 20th century and into the beginning of the 21st.
In the southern part of Nigeria, women perform the majority of the agriculturallabour, and, in cities such as Lagos, women dominate the market activity as well. No legalbarriers exclude women from
universities and professions,
particularly
in the south. However, women in northern states,
especially those following
Islamic law (Sharīʿah), have their activities more tightly controlled.
The main sources of government
finance consist of petroleum royalties and rents, import duties, and corporate income
and value-added taxes.
Transportation and telecommunications Roads
Roads are the most
important means of transportation in Nigeria, carrying more than four-fifths of
all passenger and freight traffic. The general pattern of road transport, from
north to south and from the interior to the southern seaports, dates to the colonial
period, when raw materials were shipped to Britain and other western European
countries, which returned them as finished goods. More roads were added,
particularly in the 1970s and early ’80s.
Road traffic is
heaviest in densely settled areas and where there is greater economic activity,
such as in the cacao belt of southwestern Nigeria, the peanut and cotton belt
of the Kano-Katsina region, the Jos Plateau tin fields, and the palm
belt of southeastern Nigeria. These areas are served by a dense network of
all-weather roads. Areas that are more sparsely settled or not as economically
productive tend to have a less-developed road network.
Because the
well-developed road system of the 1970s and ’80s was not maintained, road
conditions have deteriorated, leading to dangerous conditions and longer travel
times. Road safety standards also are poor; the accident rate is high. The
government created a Road Sector Development Team in 2009 to coordinate repairs
and improvements to the country’s road network.
Lagos and other large
cities have notorious traffic problems; streets are packed with both
pedestrians and vehicles that create traffic tie-ups called “go slows.” To ease
the traffic problems, people often share taxis or ride in trucks.
Railroads
Now surpassed by roads,
railroads were once the dominant transport system. The railroad system has two
single-track trunk lines: the eastern line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and the western line from
Lagos to Kano. Branch lines connect the western trunk line to Kaura Namoda, Nguru, and Baro on the Niger. Since 1960 tracks
have been relaid with heavier rails to permit greater loads and higher speeds,
signals have been improved to speed rail movements, and steam engines have been
replaced by diesel locomotives. Beginning in the 1990s, there was expansion of
the railway system, including the laying of new track between Warri and Ajaokuta and the addition of
mass transit lines between Lagos and several cities to the west. An ambitious
25-year plan unveiled in the 2000s saw continued efforts to improve and expand
the railway system, including a new line from Abuja to Kaduna that was
inaugurated in 2016. A light rail system began operating in Abuja in 2018.
Roads are the most
important means of transportation in Nigeria, carrying more than four-fifths of
all passenger and freight traffic. The general pattern of road transport, from
north to south and from the interior to the southern seaports, dates to the colonial
period, when raw materials were shipped to Britain and other western European
countries, which returned them as finished goods. More roads were added,
particularly in the 1970s and early ’80s.
Road traffic is
heaviest in densely settled areas and where there is greater economic activity,
such as in the cacao belt of south western Nigeria, the peanut and cotton belt
of the Kano-Katsina region, the Jos Plateau tin fields, and the palm
belt of south eastern Nigeria. These areas are served by a dense network of
all-weather roads. Areas that are more sparsely settled or not as economically productive
tend to have a less-developed road network.
Because the
well-developed road system of the 1970s and ’80s was not maintained, road
conditions have deteriorated, leading to dangerous conditions and longer travel
times. Road safety standards also are poor; the accident rate is high. The
government created a Road Sector Development Team in 2009 to coordinate repairs
and improvements to the country’s road network.
Lagos and other large
cities have notorious traffic problems; streets are packed with both
pedestrians and vehicles that create traffic tie-ups called “go slows.” To ease
the traffic problems, people often share taxis or ride in trucks.
Railroads
Now surpassed by roads,
railroads were once the dominant transport system. The railroad system has two
single-track trunk lines: the eastern line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and
the western line from Lagos to Kano. Branch lines connect the western trunk
line to Kaura Namoda, Nguru, and Baro on the Niger. Since 1960 tracks
have been relaid with heavier rails to permit greater loads and higher speeds,
signals have been improved to speed rail movements, and steam engines have been
replaced by diesel locomotives. Beginning in the 1990s, there was expansion of
the railway system, including the laying of new track between Warri and Ajaokuta and the addition of
mass transit lines between Lagos and several cities to the west. An ambitious
25-year plan unveiled in the 2000s saw continued efforts to improve and expand
the railway system, including a new line from Abuja to Kaduna that was
inaugurated in 2016. A light rail system began operating in Abuja in 2018.
Shipping and air transport
Creeks and rivers were
historically the primary avenue of transportation. The most important
waterways, the Niger and Benue, were dredged in the 1990s because
they were drying up; they still carry substantial quantities of goods. The Cross River is used to ship exports to
the port at Calabar, but, like other
rivers in Nigeria, it is not navigable during the dry season. Passenger and
cargo boats operate on the lagoons and on the many creeks along the Nigerian
coast from Lagos to the Cross River. Delta Ports (in Warri), Calabar, and Port
Harcourt, administered by the Nigerian Ports Authority, are the main
international seaports. The Lagos port complex (including the Apapa port) and
nearby Tin Can Island port complex are also important. Bonny and Burutu are the
major ports for shipment of petroleum.
Almost all the state
capitals are served by air transport. Lagos, Kano, Abuja, and Port Harcourt
handle most of the international air traffic. At the beginning of the 21st
century, Nigeria had a notoriously poor aviation safety record, but it has
since improved.
Telecommunications
Mobile phone service
has expanded considerably more quickly than landline telephone service.
Although telephone lines have existed in the major cities since the late 1970s,
service was expensive and inadequate and was often cut off for no apparent
reason; their use has declined. Use of cellular phones, on the other hand, has
spread steadily since the late
1990s. Internet service began to expand rapidly at the beginning of the 21st
century. Government and society.
Constitutional framework
Under the 1999 constitution, executive power is vested in a president who serves as both the head of state and the chief executive, is directly elected to a four-year term, and nominates the vice president
and members of the cabinet. The constitution provides for
a bicameral National Assembly, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Each state
elects 10 members to the House of Representatives for
four-year terms;
members of the Senate—three from
each state and one from the Federal Capital Territory—also are elected to four-year
terms.
Local government
There are two tiers of
government—state and local—below the federal level. The functions of the
government at the local levelwere usurped by the state government until1988,
when the federal government decided to fund local government organizations
directly and allowed them for the first time to function effectively.
Nigeria is divided into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the country’s capital, Abuja, is located; the constitution also includes a provision
that more states can be created as needed. At independence the country was divided into three regions: Northern, Eastern, and Western. The Mid-West region was created out of the Western region in 1963. In
1967 Col.
Yakubu Gowon, then the military leader, turned the regions into 12 states:6 in the north, 3 in the east, and 3 in the west. Gen. Murtala Mohammed created
an additional7 states
in 1976. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida created 11 more states—2 in 1987 and 9 in 1991—for a total of 30. In 1996 Gen. Sani Abacha added 6 more states.
Justice
The Nigerian legal and judicial
system contains three codes of law: customary law, Nigerian statute law
(following English law), and Sharīʿah (Islamic
law). Customary laws, administered by native, or customary, courts, are usually
presided over by traditional rulers, who generally hear cases about family
problems such as divorce. Kadis (judges) apply Sharīʿah based on the Maliki
Islamic code. Since 1999, several states have instituted Sharīʿah law. Although
the states claim that the law applies only to Muslims, the minority non-Muslim
population argues that it is affected by the law as well. Christian women, for
example, must ride on female-only buses, and some states have banned females from
participating in sports.
Nigerian statute law
includes much of the British colonial legislation, most of which has been
revised. State legislatures may pass laws on matters that are not part of the
Exclusive Legislative List, which includes such areas as defense, foreign
policy, and mining—all of which are the province of the federal government. Federal
law prevails whenever federal legislation conflicts with state legislation. In
addition to Nigerian statutes, English law is used in the magistrates’ and all
higher courts. Each state has a High Court, which is presided over by a chief
judge. The Supreme Court, headed by the chief justice of Nigeria, is the
highest court.
Political process
The constitution grants
all citizens at least 18 years of age the right to vote. The Action Group (AG)
and the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) were the major Nigerian parties when
the country became independent in 1960. However, their regional rather than
national focus—the AG represented the west, the NPC the north, and the National
Council for Nigeria and the Cameroons the east—ultimately contributed to the
outbreak of civil war by the mid-1960s and more than 20 years of military rule.
Political parties were allowed briefly in 1993 and again starting from 1998,
but only parties with national rather than regional representation were legal,
such as the newly
created People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the
Alliance for Democracy, and the All Nigeria People’s Party. Since then, many
other parties have been created, most notably the All Progressives Congress (APC),
the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the Labour Party.
Women have participated
in the government since the colonial period, especially in the south. Their
political strength is rooted in the precolonial traditions among particular
ethnic groups, such as the Igbo,
which gave women the power to correct excessive male behaviour (known as “sitting
on a man”). Igbo women, showing their strength, rioted in 1929 when they
believed colonial officials were going to levy taxes on women. Yoruba market women exercised
significant economic power, controlling the markets in such Yoruba cities as
Lagos and Ibadan. Some ethnic groups, such as the Edo who constituted the kingdom of Benin, also gave important political power
to women; the mother of the oba (king) played an important part in the
precolonial state. Women such as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti(the mother of the
musician Fela and human rights activist and physician Beko) actively
participated in the colonial struggle, and several women have held ministerial positions
in the government. Although Nigerian women may wield influence and political power,
particularly at the familial and local level, this has not always been
reflected at the federal level: in the early 21st century, women made up about
5 percent of the House of Representatives and the Senate. (For more information
on the historical role of women in Nigerian politics and culture, see Sidebar: Nigerian Women.)
Security
The Nigeria Police
Force, established by the federal constitution, is headed by the inspector
general of police, who is appointed by the president. The general inefficiency
of the force is attributable in part to the low level of education and the low
morale of police recruits, who are poorly housed and very poorly paid, and to
the lack of modern equipment. Corruption is widespread.
The federal military
includes army, navy, and air force contingents. Nigerian troops have
participated in missions sponsored by the Economic
Community of WestAfrican States (ECOWAS)
Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) and by the United
Nations (UN).
Health and welfare
The concentration of
people in the cities has created enormous sanitary problems, particularly
improper sewage disposal, water shortages, and poor drainage. Large heaps of
domestic refuse spill across narrow streets, causing traffic delays, while the
dumping of garbage along streambeds constitutes a major health hazard and has
contributed to the floods that have often plagued Ibadan, Lagos, and other
cities during the rainy season. Lower respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, malaria, and HIV/AIDS
are among the leading causes of death. The Nigeria Centre for Disease
Control was established in 2011 to support public health.
Health conditions are
particularly poor in the shantytown suburbs of Greater Lagos and other large
cities, where domestic water supplies are obtained from wells that are often
polluted by seepage from pit latrines. Rural communities also suffer from
inadequate or impure water supplies. Some villagers have to walk as far as 6
miles (10 km) to the nearest water point—usually a stream. Because people wash
clothes, bathe, and fish (sometimes using fish poison) in the same streams, the
water drawn by people in villages farther downstream is often polluted. During
the rainy season, wayside pits containing rainwater, often dug close to
residential areas, are the main source of domestic water supplies. Cattle are
often watered in the shallower pools, and this contributes to the high
incidence of intestinal diseases and guinea worm in many rural areas.
Medical and health
services are the responsibility of all levels of government. There are
hospitals in the large cities and towns. Most of the state capitals have
specialized hospitals, and many are home to a university teaching hospital.
There are numerous private hospitals, clinics, and maternity centres. Medical services
are inadequate in many parts of the country, however, because of shortages of
medical personnel, modern equipment, and supplies.
Housing
Overcrowding in the
cities has caused slums to spread and shantytown suburbs to emerge in most of
the larger urban centres. Most houses are built by individuals, and, because
banks do not normally lend money for home construction, most of these
individuals must rely on their savings. A federal housing program provides
funds for the construction of low-cost housing for low- and middle-income
workers in the state capitals, local government headquarters, and other large
towns House types vary by geographic location. In the coastal areas the walls
and roofs are made from the raffia palm, which abounds in the region.
Rectangular mud houses with mat roofs are found in the forest belt, although
the houses of the more prosperous have corrugated iron roofs. In the savannah
areas of the central region and in parts of the north, houses are round mud
buildings roofed with sloping grass thatch, but flat mud roofs appear in the
drier areas of the extreme north. Some mud houses are also covered with a layer
of cement. Larger houses are designed around an open courtyard and
traditionally contained barrels or cisterns in which rainwater could be
collected.
During the colonial period,
British officials lived in segregated housing known as Government Reserve Areas
(GRA). After independence GRA housing became very desirable among the African
population.
Education
Great Britain did
little to promote education during the colonial period. Until1950 most schools
were operated by Christian missionary bodies, which introduced Western-style
education into Nigeria beginning in the mid-19th century. The British colonial government
funded a few schools, although its policy was to give grants to mission schools
rather than to expand its own system. In the northern, predominantly Muslim
area, Western-style education was prohibited because the religious leaders did
not want Christian missionaries interfering with Islam, and Islamic education
was provided in traditional Islamic schools.
Today primary
education, free and compulsory, begins at age six and lasts for six years.
Secondary education consists of two three-year cycles, the first cycle of which
is free and compulsory. Although federal and state governments have the major
responsibility for education, other organizations, such as local governments
and religious groups, may establish and administer primary and secondary
schools. Most secondary schools, trade centres, technical institutes,
teacher-training colleges, and colleges of education and of technology are
controlled by the state governments.
Nigeria has more than
400 universities and colleges widely dispersed throughout the country in an
attempt to make higher education easily accessible. Many of the universities
are federally controlled, and the language of instruction is English at all the
universities and colleges. At the time of Nigeria’s independence in 1960, there
were only two established postsecondary institutions, both of which were
located in the south western part of the country: University College at Ibadan
(founded in 1948, now the University of Ibadan) and Yaba Higher College
(founded in 1934, now Yaba College of Technology). Four more
government-operated universities were established in the 1960s:University of
Nigeria, Nsukka (1960), in the east; University of Ife (founded in 1961, now
Obafemi Awolowo University) in the west; University of Northern Nigeria
(founded in 1962, now Ahmadu Bello University) in the north; and University of
Lagos (1962) in the south. In the 1970s and ’80s the government attempted to
found a university in every state, but, with the ever-increasing number of
states, this practice was abandoned. Numerous federal and state universities
have since been established, especially during the 21st century. Attempts by individuals
and private organizations, including various Christian churches, to establish
universities did not receive the approval of the federal Ministry of Education
until the 1990s. Since then, dozens of private postsecondary institutions have
been established.
Cultural Life Cultual milieu
Nigeria’s rich and
varied cultural heritage derives from the mixture of its ethnic groups with
Arabic and western European influences. The country combines traditional culture
with international urban sophistication. Secret societies, such as Ekpo and
Ekpe among the Igbo, were formerly
used as instruments of government, while other institutions were associated
with matrimony. According to the Fulani
custom of sharo (test of young manhood), rival suitors underwent the ordeal of
caning as a means of eliminating those who were less persistent. In Ibibio territory, girls approaching
marriageable age were confined for several years in bride-fattening rooms
before they were given to their husbands. A girl was well-fed during this
confinement, with the intent of making her plump and therefore more attractive
to her future husband; she would also receive instruction from older women on
how to be a good wife. These and other customs were discouraged by colonial
administrators and missionaries. Some of the more adaptable cultural
institutions have been revived since independence; these include Ekpo and Ekong
societies for young boys in parts of the southeast and the Ogboni society found
in the Yoruba and Edo areas of southern Nigeria. (For
information on the historical role of women in Nigerian society, see Sidebar: Nigerian Women.)
Daily life and social customs
Nigeria’s vibrant
popular culture reflects great changes in inherited traditions and adaptations
of imported ones. Establishments serving alcoholic beverages are found
everywhere except where Islamic laws prohibit them. Hotels and nightclubs are
part of the landscape of the larger cities. Movie theatres, showing mostly
Indian and American films, are popular among the urban middle- and low-income
groups. Radio, television, and other forms of home entertainment (e.g.,
recorded music and movies) have also grown in popularity, though their use is
dependent on the availability of electricity.
Whether in urban or
rural areas, the family is the central institution. Families gather to
celebrate births and weddings. Funerals are also times when the family gathers.
Because so many Nigerians live outside the country, funerals for non-Muslims
are often delayed for a month or more to allow all the family members to make
plans to return home.
Food is an important
part of Nigerian life. Seafood, beef, poultry, and goat are the primary sources
of protein. With so many different cultures and regions, food can vary greatly.
In the southern areas a variety of soups containing a base of tomatoes, onions,
red pepper, and palm oil are prepared with vegetables such as okra and meat or
fish. Soups can be thickened by adding ground egusi (melon) seeds. Gari (ground
cassava), iyan (yam paste), or plantains accompany the soup. Rice is eaten
throughout the country, and in the north grains such as millet and wheat are a
large part of the diet. Beans and root vegetables are ubiquitous. Many dishes
are flavoured with onions, palm oil, and chilies.
Nigerians celebrate
several holidays throughout the year, including Independence Day (October 1),
Workers Day (May 1), and various Christian and Islamic holidays.
The arts
Nigeria has a rich
artistic heritage, including both traditional and contemporary art forms. From
the naturalistic statues produced at Ife to
the bronzes made for the king of Benin, Nigerian artists have crafted art that
is world famous. The terra-cotta figurines of the Nok are some of the earliest statues in
existence from sub-Saharan Africa. Ekpe masks and ikenga (personal shrines)
from the Igbo in eastern Nigeria and ibeji (twin) sculptures from the Yoruba in
western Nigeria are just three examples of the art produced in pre-colonial
Nigeria. While many artists still work in these traditions, more-contemporary
artists, who combine African and Western traditions, also abound. One of the earliest
of these was Ben Ewonwu, who painted in oils as well as producing sculptures;
to commemorate the visit to Nigeria of Queen Elizabeth II of England in 1956,
Ewonwu made a bronze statue of her, later displayed at the Nigerian House of
Representatives in Lagos. Other Nigerian artists include the Nsukka group,
formed at the University of Nigeria at Nsukka in the early 1970s, consisting of
Uche Okeke, Chike Aniakor, Obiora Udechukwu, ElAnatsui, TayoAdenaike,Ada
Udechukwu, and Olu Oguibe. The Oshogbo movement, founded in the early 1960s,
includes the artists Muraina Oyelami, Twins Seven-Seven (Prince Taiwo
Osuntoki), Bisi Fabunmi, Tijani Mayakiri, Rufus Ogundele, and Ademola
Onibonokuta.
Music and dance are
integralto Nigerian culture, and each ethnic group has its own specialties.
Traditional instruments include various types of flutes, trumpets, musical
bows, xylophones, and wooden clappers, as well as many varieties of drums.
Music is used to celebrate rulers and to accompany public assemblies, weddings
and funerals, festivals, and storytelling. At one time the Edo of the kingdom
of Benin distinguished between urban
music that was performed at the palace and less complex music that was played
in rural areas. Dance also has many varieties: Ishan stilt dancers in colourful
costumes twist themselves in the air; one Tiv
dance, called ajo, features male dancers who work in pairs, and another
involves teams of women who perform a dance called icough while composing songs
about current events. Dance for the Ubakala shows their value system, helps
resolve conflicts, and also institutes change. Ekiti Yoruba dancers wear head
masks so heavy that they can do only processional dances. The Hausa, who do not consider dancing to be
an art, divide their dances into the categories of social dancing and
ceremonial bòorii dances.
Nigerian playwright and
musician Hubert Ogunde, founder of
Nigeria’s first professional theatrical company (the Ogunde Concert Party),
incorporated traditional instruments into his musical dramas of the 1940s in an
effort to revive interest in indigenous culture. After radio and television
stations were established in all the state capitals, they began broadcasting
programs featuring traditional music and dance, folk operas, and storytelling;
these programs are now available in some 25 languages.
Nigerian contemporary
music, which combines Western popular music with indigenous forms, has been
exported throughout the world and has had wide influence (see also African popular music). Notable
musicians include King Sunny Ade, who performed in a style called juju that combines the sounds of several
guitars, vocals, and talking drums; and the politically charged Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti, whose music is characterized by short songs and extended
instrumental pieces. Each musician organized a large band with a horn section,
a variety of drummers, and many guitar players.
Nigerian literature is
known throughout the world. Wole Soyinka,
who won the 1986 NobelPrize for Literature, was the first BlackAfrican to
receive the award. Other Nigerian writers with a worldwide audience include Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa,Amos Tutuola, GabrielOkara, Kole Omotoso, John Pepper Clark, Ben Okri, and Chimamanda NgoziAdichie.
Cultural institutions
Nigeria has many
national museums, generally found in large cities and state capitals. The
National Library of Nigeria is located in Lagos, as is the National Theatre.
The Institutes of African Studies, at the Universities of Ibadan and Nigeria
(Nsukka), have done much to reawaken interest in traditional folk dancing and
poetry.
Physical features with
cultural significance include the Sukur cultural landscape in Adamawa state,
which provides a glimpse into the past of the Sukur people, and the Osun-Osogbo
Sacred Grove in Osun state, a forest that contains several shrines and artwork
in honour of the Yoruba deity Osun. These places were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1999 and 2005,
respectively.
Sports and recreation
In precolonial times
the sport of wrestling was a vehicle for expressing individual and social
identity, status, and prestige. British colonizers introduced other sports to
Nigeria in the early 20th century; football(soccer), boxing, athletics (track
and field), and tennis were spread through mission schools, railroad companies,
the armed forces, and the colonial bureaucracy. After independence in 1960, the
Nigerian government used domestic and international sporting events to foster a
sense of national identity among the various ethnic groups and to gain global
recognition.
Football is a national
obsession in Nigeria. The national team, the Super Eagles, led by such
outstanding players as Nwanko Kanu and Jay-Jay Okocha, reached the World Cup
finals in 1994, 1998, and 2002 and won the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.
Likewise, the national women’s team has repeatedly reached the Women’s World
Cup finals. The acclaim won by many Nigerian footballers playing abroad was
mirrored by Hakeem Olajuwon, who became a superstar in the National Basketball.
Association in the United States, sparking widespread interest in the sport in
Nigeria by the end of the 20th century. Nigerian boxers have also achieved
international success, most notably middleweight and light-heavyweight world
champion Richard Ihetu, who fought as “Dick Tiger.” Nigerians have excelled in
boxing and athletics in the Olympic Games, to which the country sent its first
team in 1952, in Helsinki.
Media and publishing
There are many dozens
of daily, Sunday, and weekly newspapers in Nigeria, most of which are in
English. The Nigerian Television Authority operates stations throughout the
country, and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria broadcasts in English as
well as several African languages; there are also many privately owned
television and radio stations.
Reuben Kenrick Udo
Toyin O. Falola History
Early Nigerian cultures
The Nok culture
Evidence of human
occupation in Nigeria dates back thousands of years. The oldest fossil remains
found by archaeologists in the south western area of Iwo Eleru, near Akure, have been dated to about 9000
BCE. There are isolated collections of ancient tools and artifacts of different
periods of the Stone Age, but the
oldest recognizable evidence of an organized society belongs to the Nok culture (c. 500 BCE–c. 200 CE).
Named for the village
of Nok, site of some of the finds, the ancient culture produced fine
terra-cotta figurines, which were accidentally discovered by tin miners on the
Jos Plateau in the 1930s. Initially Neolithic
(New Stone Age), the Nok culture made the transition to the IronAge. Its people raised crops and
cattle and seem to have paid particular attention to personal adornment,
especially of the hair. Distinctive features of Nok art include naturalism,
stylized treatment of the mouth and eyes, relative proportions of the human
head, body, and feet, distortions of the human facial features, and treatment
of animal forms. The spread of Nok-type figures in a wide area south of the Jos Plateau, covering southern Kaduna state south eastward to Katsina
Ala, south of the Benue River,
suggests a well-established culture that left traces still identifiable in the
lives of the peoples of the area today. Many of the distinctive features of Nok
art can also be traced in later developments of Nigerian art produced in such
places as Igbo Ukwu, Ife, Esie, and Benin City.
Igbo Ukwu
Bronzes, which have
been dated to about the 9th century CE, were discovered in the 1930s and ’40s
at Igbo Ukwu, near the southwestern city of Onitsha. (See also African art.) They reveal not only a
high artistic tradition but also a well-structured society with wide-ranging
economic relationships. Of particular interest is the source of the copper and
lead used to make the bronzes, which may have been Tadmekka in the Sahara, and
of the coloured glass beads, some of which may have come from Venice and India,
the latter via trade routes through Egypt, the Nile valley, and the Chad basin.
It is believed that the bronzes were part of the furniture in the burial
chamber of a high personage, possibly a forerunner of the eze nri, a
priest-king, who held religious but not political power over large parts of the
Igbo-inhabited region wellinto the
20th century.
Kingdoms and empires of precolonial Nigeria
Many indigenous
polities emerged in Nigeria before the British took controlin the late 19th
century. In the north there were several large and developed systems, including
the Hausa states of Kano, Katsina, Zaria, and Gobir; Kanem-Borno; and the Jukun states of Kwararafa, Kona,
Pinduga, and Wukari. Smaller kingdoms included those of the Igala, Nupe, and Ebira. Notable in the south
were the Yoruba states of Ife and Oyo, the Edo state of Benin, the Itsekiristate of Warri, the Efik state of Calabar, and the Ijo (Ijaw) city-states of Nembe, Elem
Kalabari, Bonny, and Okrika.
Kanem-Borno
The history of Borno
antedates the 9th century, when Arabic writers in NorthAfrica first noted the
kingdom of Kanem, east of Lake Chad.
The lake was then much larger than the present-day body of water, and its basin
attracted settlements and encouraged exchange. A pastoral group, ancestors of
the Kanuri, established a centralized
state over those referred to collectively as the Sao. Initially, trading links
extended to the Nile valley of Egypt.
There is some evidence that Kanem had made contact with the Christian kingdoms
of Nubia before it was overrun by
Muslims, who gained a foothold in the ruling family of Kanem in the 11th
century. From Kanem the rulers tried to dominate the areas south and west of
the lake as well. By the 12th century they had been compelled by attacks from
the Sao to move their capitalto the region west of Lake Chad, and they
gradually lost controlof most of the original Kanem.
For a long time, Borno
was the dominant power in the central Sudan,
including much of Hausa land. The Bayajidda legend, concerning a mythical
Middle Eastern ancestor of the Hausa, seems to suggest that the rise of a
centralized political system in Hausa land was influenced from Borno. Though
the rulers of Borno embraced Islam, the structure of the monarchy remained
traditional, with the queen mother and other female officials exercising
considerable power. The selection of the monarch, the coronation rites, and
other bases of royal authority were dictated by pre-Islamic beliefs. The
princes and other members of the royal family were granted fiefs and posted
away from the capital to govern frontier zones, while people of slave origin
were preferred for the royal guard and palace officials.
Hausaland
For centuries the Hausa have occupied the northern plains
beyond the Jos Plateau, which were a crossroads open not only to Borno but also
to the states of Maliand Songhaiin the western Sudan, the
trans-Saharan routes to northern Africa, and various trade routes to the forest
areas of Borgu, Oyo, and Benin.
Perhaps because of this strategic location, the Hausa developed a number of
centralized states—such as Daura,
Katsina, Kano, Zaria, Gobir, and, later, Kebbi—each with a walled city, a
market centre, and a monarchical system
of government. Islam, which was introduced from the Mali empire in the 14th
century, strengthened both the monarchical system and the commercial contacts,
but it remained predominantly an urban religion until the beginning of the 19th
century. Even within the walled cities, however, some pre-Islamic rites
remained part of the ceremonies that sustained monarchical authority. A
considerable rivalry existed between the different states over agricultural
land and the control of trade and trade routes, and Hausa land was periodically
conquered by powerful neighbours such as Borno and Songhai.
Yorubaland and Benin
Ife sculpture Brass figure of an oni (“king”) of Ife, Antiquities, Lagos, Nigeria. Height: 46.7 cm.
|
Ife, which flourished
between the 11th and 15th centuries, emerged as a major power in the forested
areas west of the Niger and south of
Hausa land. Some of the characteristic features of Yoruba culture emerged
during that time: a monarchical system based on city-states and nucleated
villages; a pantheon of gods, a few of which were recognized widely but with
several local variations; and divination centred on the deity Ifa, with its
corpus of sacred chants. Ife is best known for its potsherd pavements and for
the great artistry of its terra-cottas and bronzes, especially the naturalism
of many of its bronze figures. (See also African
art.) Ife’s influence on surrounding states is evident in the fact that all
the monarchies of Yoruba states claim descent from Ife as a way of establishing
legitimacy, sometimes borrowing regalia from Ife to use in coronation rites and
sometimes sending remains of deceased rulers to Ife for burial.
Oyo, founded in the 14th century and
located in the savanna to the north of the forest, gradually supplanted the
older kingdom of Ife. After more than a century of struggle with nearby Borgu
and Nupe, it established itself strategically as the emporium for exchanging
goods from the north—rock salt, copper, textiles, leather goods, and
horses—with products from the south—kola nuts, indigo, parrots, and cowries. By
the 17th century it had built up a cavalry force with which it dominated people
in western orubaland and in the dry gap to the coast; to the south,
infestations of tsetse flies prevented kingdoms there from effectively
utilizing horses.
When the Portuguese arrived in the kingdom of Benin in the 15th century, they found a monarchy, dating back many centuries, with a complex structure of chiefs and palace officials presiding over a kingdom that was expanding in all directions. In time, Benin dominated not only the Edo-speaking peoples to the north and south but also the area eastward to the Niger and, along the coast, to Lagos (which the Edo now claim to have founded) and even into present-day Ghana. It also exerted considerable influence on easternYorubaland and maintained trading connections with Oyo. Benin art, which began to flourish in the 15th century, was characterized by naturalistic bronze sculptures and bronze door panels that covered the outside of the royalpalace.
Igboland and the delta city-states
Many Nigerian peoples
did not develop centralized monarchical states. Of these, the Igbo were probably the most remarkable
because of the size of their territory and the density of population. The Igbo
characteristic decentralized society seems to have been a deliberate departure
from the earlier traditions of Nri; monarchical institutions in such outlying
cities as Asaba, Onitsha, and Aboh probably arose through the influence of the
kingdoms of Igala and Benin. Igbo lineages were organized in self-contained
villages or federations of village communities, with societies of elders and
age grade associations sharing various governmental functions. The same was
true of the Ijo of the Niger delta and peoples of the Cross River area, where secret societies
also played a prominent role in administration. Monarchical structures began to
emerge by the 18th century in response to the needs of the overseas trade.
Initially, Portuguese contacts focused on Benin and Warri. By the 17th and 18th centuries, at the height of the slave trade, the delta city-states had become the principal outlets of that activity. Various coastal communities organized themselves as entrepôts of the slave trade, so that they would not also become its victims. Similarly, the Igbo, like the Benin and Yoruba kingdoms, supplied slaves to the coast, although Benin had largely ended its involvement in the Atlantic slave trade by the 18th century.
The deleterious effect
of the slave trade on the society and the economy was felt everywhere, but, in
terms of loss of population, those who suffered most appear to have been the non-centralized
peoples of the middle belt. The trade also caused severe economic and political
dislocations, intercommunal rivalries, and the forced migrations of millions of
people out of Nigeria.
The Sokoto jihad
At the beginning of the
19th century, Islam was well established at all the major centres of the Hausa
states and Borno. The etsu (ruler) of Nupe
had accepted Islam, and a few
teachers and itinerant preachers were also known in parts of the Oyo empire. A
group of Muslim intellectuals, most of them Fulani led by Usman dan Fodio, were unhappy that in
all these places the rulers allowed the practice of Islam to be mixed with
aspects of traditional religion and that nowhere was Islamic law (the Sharīʿah)
observed in full. After 20 years of writing, teaching, and preaching in Gobir
and surrounding states, Shehu (meaning “chief” or “senior”) Usman (as he was
now called) withdrew his followers to Gudu, where they formally proclaimed him
amīr al-muʾminīn (“commander of the faithful”), pledged their loyalty, and
prepared for war. In 1804 he called on his followers and all overs of true
Islam to rise up and overthrow the unjust rulers. He appealed to the masses of
slaves and to the pastoral Fulanias oppressed people to join the revolt.
The high degree of
communication that existed at this time among the different peoples in the area
that would become Nigeria was evidenced when the call to jihad (“struggle” or “battle”)—made in
Gudu, in the northwest—had repercussions throughout the entire area comprising
the present-day country. As a result of the considerable interaction along
trade routes and rivers draining the northern plains to the Niger-Benue valley,
through the delta, and across the coastal lagoons, the call to jihad was
answered not only in the Hausa states, such as Kano, Katsina, and Zaria, but
also in Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, and Adamawa and eventually in Nupe, Ilorin, and other places where there
were pockets of Fulani scholars.
Thus was created a caliphate, with its seat at the newly established town of Sokoto. Each emirate enjoyed autonomy
but pledged loyalty to the amīr al-muʾminīn and made contributions for the
upkeep of Sokoto. Disputes within or between emirates were referred to Sokoto
for settlement by officials who traveled as often as possible to oversee
developments. Usman himself retired in 1811 to concentrate on the intellectual
direction of the movement, which followed the teachings of the Qadiri
brotherhood and strict adherence to the Maliki code of laws. His brother
Abdullahi and his son Muhammad Bello carried on the jihad and laid the basis of
administration. When Usman died in 1817, Muhammad Bello succeeded him as amīr
al-muʾminīn, while Abdullahi, as emir of Gwandu,
was given charge of the western emirates, notably Nupe and Ilorin. In this way,
all the Hausa states, parts of Borno, Nupe, Ilorin, and Fulani outposts in Bauchi
and Adamawa were drawn into a single politico-religious system. The rulers of
Borno invited Shehu (Sheikh) Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Kānemī, a distinguished
scholar and statesman who disagreed with the Fulani view that jihad was an
acceptable tool against backsliding Muslims, to lead their defense of Borno
against the Fulani jihad. In the process Islam was revived in Borno, and the
old Seyfawa dynasty was eventually replaced by that of Shehu Muḥammad
al-Kānemī.
The collapse of Oyo
Although the Fulani
intrusion into Ilorin largely contributed to the collapse of the Oyo empire, it
was not the only cause. Deep-seated conflicts arose between the alafin, or
ruler, and his chiefs, including both provincial rulers and lineage chiefs and
councillors at the capital. In spite of the external threat from the Fulani and
others, the conflicts could not be resolved. Fulani ascendancy at Ilorin cut
off the supply of horses to Oyo and made the defense of the capital untenable.
Large groups of people from Oyo had to migrate southward, where they
established a new capital(at present-day Oyo) and other centres such as Ibadan and Ijaye. This pressure, in
turn, pushed the Egba farther south, where they founded the town of Abeokuta about 1830. The collapse of the
Oyo empire unleashed a major redistribution of the Yoruba people and
precipitated a series of Yoruba wars that lasted until1886.
The arrival of the British
The Sokoto jihad and the
Yoruba wars stimulated the slave trade at a time when the British were actively
trying to stop it. Slaves formerly had been traded for European goods,
especially guns and gunpowder, but now the British encouraged trade in palm oil
in the Niger delta states, ostensibly to replace the trade in slaves. They
later discovered that the demand for palm oil was in fact stimulating an
internal slave trade, because slaves were largely responsible for collecting
palm fruits, manufacturing palm oil, and transporting it to the coast, whether
by canoe or by human porterage. The palm oil trade was also linked to the
Sokoto jihad and the Yoruba wars, because many warriors recognized the
importance of slaves not only as soldiers and producers of food to feed
soldiers but additionally as producers of palm oilto trade for European dane
guns and other goods.
Many of the slaves exported in the 1820s and ’30s were intercepted by the ships
of the Royal Navy, emancipated, and
deposited in Sierra Leone under
missionary tutelage. Some of them began to migrate back from Sierra Leone in
search of home and trade. They invited missionaries to follow them and, in the
1840s, made themselves available as agents who allowed missionaries and British
traders to gain access to such places as Lagos, Abeokuta, Calabar, Lokoja,
Onitsha, Brass, and Bonny. In 1841 the British tried to
settle some Egba on a model farm in Lokoja, but the plan was aborted because
the mortality rate among European officials was so high. It was also partly to
protect the Egba that the British shelled Lagos
in 1851, expelled Kosoko, the reigning oba, and restored his uncle,
Akitoye, who appeared more willing to join in a campaign to abolish the slave
trade. The British annexed Lagos in 1861 in order to protect Akitoye’s son and
successor, foil Kosoko’s bid to return, and secure a base for further
activities.
The British were not yet willing to assume the expense of maintaining an
administration in Nigeria. To reduce costs, Lagos was administered first from Freetown in Sierra Leone, along with
Gold Coast forts such as Elmina, and later fromAccra (in present-day Ghana); only in
1886 did Lagos become a separate colony. A consul was maintained at Fernando Po
to oversee the lucrative palm oil trade in the region called the Oil Rivers. Missionaries were active:
Presbyterians in Calabar and the Church
Missionary Society (CMS), Methodists,
and Baptists in Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, Oyo, and Ogbomoso. The CMS pioneered
trade on the Niger by encouraging Scottish explorer and merchant Macgregor Laird to run a monthly
steamboat, which provided transportation for missionary agents and Sierra
Leonean traders going up the Niger. In this way Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther—born in the
Yoruba-inhabited area of Oshogbo and
the first African ordained by the CMS—was able to establish mission stations at
Onitsha, Lokoja, and Eggan and later at Brass and Bonny.
By the 1870s the Niger
trade was becoming profitable, and a few French companies took notice. French
Roman Catholic missionaries, established in Ouidah (Whydah), arrived in Lagos and
considered missionary work on the Niger. The British responded to such evidence
of rivalry by defending their right to free navigation on the river at the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884–85. At the same time,
George Dashwood Goldie, a British
businessman, bought out all French rivals and created the Royal Niger Company (chartered 1886) in
order to control trade on the Niger and administer the immense territories of
the Sokoto caliphate and Borno. In addition, two other protectorates were
declared, one over the Oil Rivers and the other over the hinterland of Lagos,
to establish a claim that these areas were also British “spheres of interest.”
The boundaries of the
two protectorates and the territories of the Royal Niger Company were difficult to
define, but the tension was eased in 1894 when both entities were merged into
the Niger Coast Protectorate. Rivalry between the Royal Niger Company and the
Lagos Protectorate over the boundary between the emirate of Ilorin and the
empire of Ibadan was resolved with the abrogation of the charter of the Royal
Niger Company on January 1, 1900, in return for wide mineral concessions.
In the north Frederick Lugard, the first high
commissioner of Northern Nigeria, was instrumental in subjugating the Fulani
emirs. Some were deposed, some were defeated in battle, and others
collaborated. By 1903 the conquest of the emirates was complete. The mud-walled
city of Kano was captured in
February, and, after a vigorous skirmish at Kotorkwashi, the sultan’s capital,
Sokoto, fell the next month. All the territories were now under British control,
and the search for an identity began, first as Northern and Southern Nigeria
and then with eventual amalgamation.
The British penetration of Nigeria met with various forms of resistance
throughout the country. In the south the British had to fight many wars, in
particular the wars against the Ijebu (a Yoruba group) in 1892, the Aro of
eastern Igboland, and, until1914, the Aniocha of western Igboland. In the north
many emirates did not take military action, but the deposed caliph, Atahiru I,
rebelled in 1903. Many Muslims resorted to migration as a form of resistance, a
tactic known as the hejira, in which those perceived as infidels are avoided.
Resistance was strong in western Igboland, where a series of wars were waged
against the British. The Ekumeku, who were well organized and whose leaders
were joined in secrecy oaths, effectively utilized guerrilla tactics to attack
the British. Their forces, which were drawn from hundreds of Igbo youth from
all parts of the region, created many problems for the British, but the British
used forceful tactics and heavy armaments (destroying homes, farms, and roads)
to prevail. The Ekumeku, however, became a great source of Igbo nationalism.
J.F. Ade AjayiToyin O.
Falola
Nigeria as a colony
Nigerian protectorates, c. 1902 ap of northwest Africa showing Northern
|
After the British
government assumed direct control f the Royal Niger Company’s territories, the
northern areas were renamed the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, and the land
in the Niger delta and along the lower reaches of the river was added to the
Niger Coast Protectorate, which was renamed the Protectorate of Southern
Nigeria. Lagos remained the capital
of the south, with Zungeru the new capital of the north. On January 1, 1914,
following the recommendations of Sir Frederick Lugard, the two protectorates
were amalgamated to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria under a single
governor-general resident in Lagos. Between 1919 and 1954 the title reverted to
governor.
Following Lugard’s success in the north, he set out the principles of the
administrative system subsequently institutionalized as “indirect rule.”
Essentially, local government was to be left in the hands of the traditional
chiefs, subject to the guidance of European officers. Native institutions were
utilized and interference with local customs kept to a minimum, although the
British did not always understand the local customs. While this system had
built-in contradictions, over the years the Nigerian system developed into a
sophisticated form of local government, especially in the emirates and under
the banner of “native administration,” which became the hallmark of British
colonial rule in Africa.
Many changes
accompanied British rule: Western education, the English language, and
Christianity spread during the period; new forms of money, transportation, and
communication were developed; and the Nigerian economy became based on the
export of cash crops. Areas with lucrative crops such as cacao and peanuts
(groundnuts) profited, while many people in different parts of the country had
to migrate to work elsewhere as tenant farmers or use their newly acquired
education and skills to work in cities as wage earners, traders, and artisans.
Two tiers of government emerged, central and local. The central government,
presided over by the governor-general and accountable to the secretary for the
colonies in London, was more powerful but distant from the people. Local
administration, where the colonial citizens typically experienced colonial
authority, was based on the policy of indirect rule first developed in the
north.
To prevent any united
opposition to its authority, the British adopted a divide-and-rule policy,
keeping Nigerian groups separate from one another as much as possible.
Traditional authorities were co-opted in the north, where the spread of Western
education by Christian missionaries was strongly resisted by Muslim leaders. In
the south the British occasionally created a political hierarchy where there
had been none before; in most cases they ruled through those who were most
malleable, whether these people had held traditional positions of authority or
not. Because Western education and Christianity spread rapidly in the south and
not in the north, development was much slower in the north, and the growing
disparity between north and south later caused political tensions.
Further dislocation
accompanied the outbreak of World War I.
Locally this involved the immediate invasion of the German-held Kamerun (Cameroon) by Nigerian forces, followed
by a costly campaign that lasted until1916. Later Nigerian troops were sent to East
Africa. (During World War II they
again served in East Africa, as well as in Burma [now Myanmar].) In 1922 Kamerun was divided
under a League of Nations mandate
between France and Britain, Britain
administering its area within the government of Nigeria; after 1946 the
mandated areas were redesignated as a United
Nations (UN) trust territory.
Although colonial rule appeared secure in the first two decades of the 20th
century, the British struggled to keep control of their Nigerian colony and
continued to do so until Nigeria became independent in 1960. The British, when
faced with dissent, tended to grant political reforms in an effort to dispelth
e attractiveness of more-radical suggestions. Early on in colonial rule, for
example, Nigerians protested the manner in which water rates and head taxes
were collected. Nigerians also requested more political representation. The
Nigerian Legislative Council was established in 1914 and was given limited
jurisdiction; it was replaced in 1922 by a larger one that included elected
members from Lagos and Calabar, although its powers also were limited and the
northern provinces remained outside its control. A more representative system
did not appear until1946, when each geographic group of provinces had its own
House of Assembly, with a majority of non-official (though not yet all elected)
members; there were also a House of Chiefs and, in Lagos, a central Legislative
Council. By 1919 the National Council of British West Africa, an organization
consisting of elites across West Africa, was demanding that half the members of
the Legislative Council be Africans; they also wanted a university in West
Africa and more senior positions for Africans in the colonial civil service.
Beginning in the 1920s,
a number of Nigerians joined other Blacks in various parts of the world to
embark on the wider project of Pan-Africanism, which sought to liberate Black
people from racism and European domination. In 1923 Herbert Macaulay, the
grandson of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, established the first Nigerian political
party, the Nigerian National Democratic Party, which successfully contested
three Lagos seats in the Legislative Council. Macaulay was despised by the
British, but he came to be regarded as the “father of modern Nigerian
nationalism.”
NnamdiAzikiwe Nnamdi Azikiwe, 1953. |
After the 1930s,
political activities focused primarily on ways to end British rule. A national
party, the Nigerian Youth Movement, emerged in 1934, and its members won
elections to the Legislative Council. After 1940, political activities were
broadened to include more people. In 1944 Macaulay and Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo who had been
educated in the United States, united more than 40 different groups to
establish the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). The forces
unleashed against the British were now diverse, including soldiers who had
served in World War II, the media, restless youth, market women, educated
people, and farmers, all of whom became committed to the anticolonial movement.
Political leaders resorted to the use of political parties and the media to
mobilize millions of Nigerians against the continuation of British rule.
The British answered
this activity by attempting to create a more representational colonial system.
The Macpherson constitution, promulgated in 1951, provided for a central House
of Representatives, but friction between the central and regional legislatures,
related to the question of where supreme party authority lay, soon caused a
breakdown. In response to Azikiwe and other nationalists, the Lyttelton
constitution of 1954 created a fully federal system, comprising the three
geographic regions of Nigeria, the Southern Cameroons, and the Federal
Territory of Lagos. Each region had a governor, premier, cabinet, legislature,
and civil service, with the significantly weaker federal government represented
in Lagos by a governor-general, bureaucracy, House of Representatives, and
Senate.
Obafemi Awolowo |
The southern
protectorate was divided into two provinces in 1939—Western and Eastern—and in
1954 they, along with the northern protectorate, were renamed the Western,
Eastern, and Northern regions as part of Nigeria’s reconstruction into a
federal state. Internal self-government was granted to the Western and Eastern
regions in 1957. The Eastern region was dominated by Azikiwe and the Western
one by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, a
Yoruba lawyer who in 1950 founded the Action Group. Demanding immediate
self-government, the Action Group was opposed by the Northern People’s Congress
(NPC), which was composed largely of northerners and headed by several leaders,
including Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. At
its own request the Northern region was not given internal self-government
until1959, because northerners feared that their region might lose its claim to
an equal share in the operation and opportunities of the federal government if
it was not given time to catch up with the educationally advanced south. Among
the problems needing attention before the British would grant full independence
was the minorities’ fear of discrimination by a future government based on
majority ethnic groups. After the Willink Commission examined and reported on
this issue in 1958, independence was granted.
Independent Nigeria
Nigeria in 1960 Nigeria's administrative boundaries in 1960.
|
Nigeria was granted
independence on October 1, 1960. A new constitution established a federal system
with an elected prime minister and a ceremonial head of state. The NCNC, now
headed by Azikiwe (who had taken control after Macaulay’s death in 1946),
formed a coalition with Balewa’s NPC after neither party won a majority in the
1959 elections. Balewa continued to serve as the prime minister, a position he
had held since 1957, while Azikiwe took the largely ceremonial position of
president of the Senate. Following a UN-supervised referendum, the northern
part of the Trust Territory of the Cameroons joined the Northern region in June
1961, while in October the Southern Cameroons united with Cameroun to form the
Federal Republic of Cameroon. On October 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic.
Azikiwe became president of the country, although as prime minister Balewa was
still more powerful.
Yakubu Gowan |
After a brief honeymoon period, Nigeria’s long-standing regional stresses,
caused by ethnic competitiveness, educational inequality, and economic
imbalance, again came to the fore in the controversial census of 1962–63. In an
attempt to stave off ethnic conflict, the Mid-West region was created in August
1963 by dividing the Western region. Despite this division, the country still was
segmented into three large geographic regions, each of which was essentially
controlled by an ethnic group: the west by the Yoruba, the east by the Igbo,
and the north by the Hausa-Fulani. Conflicts were endemic, as regional leaders
protected their privileges; the south complained of northern domination, and
the north feared that the southern elite was bent on capturing power. In the
west the government had fallen apart in 1962, and a boycott of the federal election
of December 1964 brought the country to the brink of breakdown. The point of no
return was reached in January 1966, when, after the collapse of order in the
west following the fraudulent election of October 1965, a group of army
officers attempted to overthrow the federal government, and Prime Minister
Balewa and two of the regional premiers were murdered. A military
administration was set up under Maj. Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, but his plan
to abolish the regions and impose a unitary government met with anti-Igbo riots
in the north. The military intervention worsened the political situation, as
the army itself split along ethnic lines, its officers clashed over power, and
the instigators and leaders of the January coup were accused of favouring Igbo
domination. In July 1966 northern officers staged a countercoup, Aguiyi- Ironsi
was assassinated, and Lieut. Col. (later Gen.) Yakubu Gowon came to power. The crisis
was compounded by intercommunal clashes in the north and threats of secession
in the south.
Gowon’s attempt to hold a conference to settle the constitutional future of Nigeria was abandoned after a series of ethnic massacres in October. A last-ditch effort to save the country was made in January 1967, when the Eastern delegation, led by Lieut. Col. (later Gen.) Odumegwu Ojukwu, agreed to meet the others on neutralground at Aburi, Ghana, but the situation deteriorated after differences developed over the interpretation of the accord. In May the Eastern region’s consultative assembly authorized Ojukwu to establish a sovereign republic, while, at the same time, the federal military government promulgated a decree dividing the four regions into 12 states, including 6 in the north and 3 in the east, in an attempt to break the power of the regions.
The civil war
Biafra (1967–70) |
On May 30, 1967, Ojukwu
declared the secession of the three states of the Eastern region under the name
of the Republic of Biafra, which the
federal government interpreted as an act of rebellion. Fighting broke out in
early July and within weeks had escalated into a full-scale civilwar. In August Biafran
troops crossed the Niger, seized Benin City, and were well on their way
to Lagos before they were checked at
Ore, a small town in Western state (now Ondo
state). Shortly thereafter, federal troops entered Enugu, the provisional capital of
Biafra, and penetrated the Igbo heartland. The next two years were marked by
stiff resistance in the shrinking Biafran enclave and by heavy casualties among
civilians as well as in both armies, all set within what threatened to be a
military stalemate. Peacemaking attempts by the Organization of African Unity
(now the African Union) remained
ineffective, while Biafra began earning recognition from African states and
securing aid from international organizations for what was by then a starving
population.
The final Biafran collapse began on December 24, 1969, when federal troops
launched a massive effort at a time when Biafra was short on ammunition, its
people were desperate for food, and its leaders controlled only one-sixth of
the territory that had formed the Biafran republic in 1967. Ojukwu fled to Côte d’Ivoire on January 11, 1970, and a
Biafran deputation formally surrendered in Lagos four days later.
General Gowon was able, through his own personal magnetism, to reconcile the
two sides so that the former Biafran states were integrated into the country
once again and were not blamed for the war. The oil boom that followed the war
allowed the federal government to finance development programs and consolidate
its power. In 1974 Gowon postponed until1976 the target date for a return to
civilian rule, but he was overthrown in July 1975 and fled to Great Britain. The new head of state,
Brig. Gen. Murtala Ramat Mohammed, initiated many changes during his brief time
in office: he began the process of moving the federal capital to Abuja, addressed the issue of government
inefficiency, and, most important, initiated the process for a return to
civilian rule. He was assassinated in February 1976 during an unsuccessful coup
attempt, and his top aide, Lieut. Gen. Olusegun
Obasanjo, became head of the government.
Anthony Hamilton
Millard Kirk-Greene Toyin O. Falola
The Second Republic
Obasanjo pursued
Mohammed’s desire to return the country to civilian rule. As a first step, a
new constitution was promulgated that replaced the British-style parliamentary
system with a presidentialone. The president was invested with greater power
but could assume office only after winning one-fourth of the votes in
two-thirds of the states in the federation.
Many political parties
emerged, but only five were registered: the National Party of Nigeria (NPN),
the Unity Party of Nigeria, the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), the Great
Nigeria People’s Party, and the Nigeria People’s Party. All promised to improve
education and social services, provide welfare, rebuild the economy and support
private industry, and pursue a radical, anti-imperialist foreign policy. The
PRP was notable for expressing socialist ideas and rhetoric. Shehu Shagari, the candidate of the
dominant party, the right-wing NPN, narrowly won the 1979 presidential
election, defeating Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
The NPN’s party leaders
used political power as an opportunity to gain access to public treasuries and
distribute privileges to their followers. Members of the public were angry, and
many openly challenged the relevance of a democracy that could not produce
leaders who would improve their lives and provide moral authority. Even in this
climate, however, Shagari was reelected president in August–September 1983,
although his landslide victory was attributed to gross voting irregularities.
Shagari was not able to manage the political crisis that followed or to end
Nigeria’s continuing economic decline, and the military seized the opportunity
to stage a coup on December 31, 1983, that brought Maj. Gen. Muhammad Buhari to power.
Military regimes, 1983–99
Buhari justified his
coup and subsequent actions by citing the troubles of the Second Republic and
the declining economy. The regime declared a “War Against Indiscipline” (WAI),
which resulted in the arrest, detention, and jailing of a number of
politicians. When the WAI was extended to journalists and others not
responsible for the socialdecay and economic problems, the government’s popularity began to wane. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida assumed power following a bloodless coup in August 1985.
Babangida at first presented to the public and the media the image of an affectionate and considerate leader. He released political detainees and promised that public opinion would influence his decisions and those of the Armed
Forces Ruling
Council,
the supreme
governing body. The public, however, demanded an end to military rule.
Babangida outwardly supported
a return to civilian government
but worked
to undermine the process in order to retain power.
A transition program was announced in 1986 that was to terminate in 1990 (later extended to 1993), and the military controlled the process. The government created two political parties, the Social Democratic
Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC), and produced
their agendas for them; freely formed parties were not registered, and many politicians were banned from politics. The 1979 constitution was modified
by a Constituent Assembly, and a series of elections were then held for
local government
councillors, state governors, and legislatures.
Although Babangida voided presidential primary elections held in 1992, and all the candidates were banned from politics, a presidential election was slated for June 1993 between
two pro-government candidates: Chief M.K.O. Abiola of the SDP and Alhaji Bashir
Tofa of the NRC. The Babangida government
believed that the elections would never take place and felt
that, even if they did, the north-south divide would lead to a stalemate, as Abiola came from
the south and Tofa from the north.
Contrary
to government
expectation, however, the election
was held on schedule, and it was free, fair, and peaceful. Chief
Abiola won, but Babangida
annulled the results before they became official. This turned
out to be a serious miscalculation that forced him out of power inAugust 1993, and an Interim
National Government
(ING)
was instituted,
led byYoruba
businessman
Ernest Shonekan. The ING faced opposition from
all sides, and Gen. Sani Abacha, the defense minister under Babangida, overthrew it in November, reinstating
military rule. Like Babangida,
he promised a transition
to civilian rule
while pursuing
the means to maintain power, but, unlike Babangida, he used excessive force
to attain his ambition.
Gen. Sani Abacha Nigerian head of state Gen. |
If the political future of Nigeria appeared bright with the victory of Chief Abiola in June 1993, Abacha’s seizure of power and subsequent rule reversed most of the gains that the country had made since 1960. At no time since the mid-1960s did so many question the existence of Nigeria as a political entity. When leading politicians did not call for the breakup
of the country, they advocated a confederacy with a weakened centre and even a divided army and police force. Opposition forces called for a national conference
to renegotiate
the basis of Nigerian unity. The country’s international image
was damaged, as it suffered
serious condemnation and isolation.
The Abacha regime ignored due process of law, press freedom, individual liberty, and human rights. The government used violence as a weapon against its opponents and critics; when Abiola proclaimed himself president, he was arrested in June 1994 and died in jail in 1998. Trade union movements were suspended and protesters were killed, yet opposition to the government, particularly outside of the country, did not abate. Abacha and his loyalists again used the state as an instrument of personal gain.
The decisive turning point in military disengagement came with Abacha’s sudden death in June 1998. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, appointed to replace him, promised to transfer power to civilians. He freed political prisoners, ended the harassment of political opponents, and set forth a timetable for the transition to civilian rule. The country’s international image improved, but economic performance remained sluggish.
Return to civilian rule
The 1999 elections
After Abacha’s death, political activity blossomed as numerous parties were formed. Of these, three emerged that were able to contest elections: the People’s Democratic Party (PDP),
the Alliance for Democracy,
and the All People’s Party. A series of elections were held in January–March 1999 in which councillors for local governments, legislatures
for state and federal assemblies, and state governors were selected. The presidential election took place in February and was carefully
monitored by an international
team of observers. Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP, who as head of state in 1976–79 had overseen the last transition
from military rule, was declared the winner.
Nigeria under Olusegun Obasanjo
Olusegun Obasanjo |
Obasanjo was sworn in on May 29, 1999. A new constitution was also promulgated that month. Nigerians, tired of prolonged and crisis-prone military regimes, welcomed the change of government, as did the international community. In the first
civilian-administered
elections since the country achieved independence in 1960, Obasanjo was reelected in 2003, although there were widespread reports of voting irregularities.
Domestic unrest and insecurity
Although conditions in
Nigeria were generally improved under Obasanjo, there was stillconsiderable
strife within the country. Ethnic conflict—previously kept in check during the
periods of military rule—now erupted in various parts of Nigeria, and friction
increased between Muslims and Christians when some of the northern and central
states chose to adopt Islamic law (the Sharīʿah).
Demonstrations were held to protest the government’s oil policies and high fuel
prices.
Residents of the Niger delta also protested the operations of petroleum companies in their area, asserting that the companies exploited their land while not providing a reasonable share of the petroleum profits in return. Their protests evolved into coordinated militant action in 2006. Petroleum companies were targeted: their employees were kidnapped, and refineries and pipelines were damaged as militants attempted to disrupt oil production and inflict economic loss. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) was the most active of such militant groups, although its activity decreased after the group declared a unilateral ceasefire, and the government introduced an amnesty program in 2009.
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