NIGERIA

 

Nigeria is a strategic country in Africa thus any change in government will influence a corresponding change in Africa.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with an estimated population of 120 million people. About two hundred and fifty ethnic nationalities and over five hundred languages share Nigeria’s population.

Nigeria, it is constantly argued was amalgamated by the British in 1914 without due consideration for the diverse ethnic nationalities, language, culture and the religious backgrounds of the peoples that now make up the Nigerian State. Most challenging for Nigeria it is constantly argued, is the fact that the Southern part of the country is being made to bear the financial burden of the North which it is said to be contributing little or nothing to the national wealth. In other words it is argued that the North is a liability on the Southern part of the country.

Since Nigeria’s political independence from Great Britain on October 1^st 1960, the country has under gone many transformations and restructuring. She has been changed structurally several times from being a country with Regional Governments to that made up of twelve States to nineteen States. Nigeria as at 2006 has thirty-six States plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Nigeria has re-written her Constitution several times since independence and between military regimes since 1960, supposedly to reflect the changing structure and times in the life of the Nation and her people.

It has been argued that the lack of stability in Nigeria today dates back to the military intervention in 1966, six years into Nigeria’s political independence. This military intervention effectively aborted the country’s political independence and hence hindered Nigeria’s attempt to develop her democracy.

The civil war that followed claimed over one million Nigerian lives and sewed the seed of ethnic conflict in the country. This was a major setback from which Nigeria is yet to recover.

Since the civil war Nigerians have been made to endure grave brutality and untold financial hardship, which can be associated with military dictatorship and political instability.

Since independence, Nigeria had experienced a rotation of Governance between the military and their civilian counterparts all of whom shared power under either outright military dictatorship, or, civil governments.

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