GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA

Government of Nigeria

Form of government Federal republic
Head of state President
Head of government President
Legislature Bicameral legislature:
House of Representatives, 360 members
Senate, 109 senators
Voting qualifications Universal at age 18
Constitution 5 May 1999
Highest court Supreme Court

Nigeria emerged from 16 years of military rule in 1999, when a new
constitution was adopted. Under this document, Nigeria is a federal
republic with a democratically elected government made of separate executive,
legislative, and judicial branches. The constitution guarantees
Nigerians freedom of expression and religion, and prohibits discrimination
based on ethnicity, religion, sex, or place of origin.



A. Executive

The president is elected to a four-year term by receiving a plurality
of the total vote and at least one-fourth of the vote in at least
two-thirds of the states. The president’s running mate becomes vice president
for the same term. Cabinet appointments, made by the president and
approved by the Senate, are constitutionally required to reflect Nigeria’s
“federal character,” that is, the country’s cultural diversitY.


B. Legislature

The constitution calls for a two-chamber National Assembly with members
elected to four-year terms. The upper chamber, or Senate, contains 109
seats: three for each of Nigeria’s 36 states and one seat for the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The lower chamber, or House of
Representatives, contains 360 seats.


C. Judiciary

Nigeria’s highest court of appeal is the Supreme Court, which comprises
a chief justice and up to 15 associate justices. Below the Supreme
Court sits a Federal Court of Appeal. Each state has a High Court, with
judges appointed by the federal government. The Federal Capital Territory
and states with large Islamic populations have the right to establish
Sharia Courts of Appeal to administer Islamic civil law.


D. Political Parties

Since independence, political parties have been variously banned and
allowed, according to the whim of the leaders in power. Since the death
of Sani Abacha, the last military ruler, several new political parties
have emerged. The largest party in the legislature is the People’s
Democratic Party. The largest opposition parties are the All Nigeria
People’s Party and the Alliance for Democracy.



E. State and Local Governments

Nigeria is divided into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
State governments consist of an elected governor, a deputy governor
chosen by the governor, and a directly elected state assembly. The governor
also nominates commissioners, who are confirmed by the assembly. The
Federal Capital Territory is headed by a minister, who is appointed by
the president.

The creation of new states has been a periodic feature of Nigerian life
since 1967, when 12 states replaced the previous 4 regions. The
creation of new states was immensely popular in previously neglected areas,
which were given a greater share of oil wealth and other development. As
a result, Nigerians routinely call for more states, using arguments
about the ethnic and population balance to bolster their economic
motivations. The federal government has responded by creating seven new states
plus the Federal Capital Territory in 1976, two more in 1987, nine in
1991, and six in 1996. As the states have become smaller, they have
become less viable and more dependent on federal government transfers.

As in the case of the states, there has been continuous lobbying for
new local government areas, which in 1997 numbered more than 700. Until
1976, traditional authorities controlled local governments, but reforms
have since relegated traditional rulers to a mostly ceremonial role. In
their place are democratically elected government councils with
responsibility for things such as primary health care and primary education.




F. Defense

Nigeria’s defense forces, which peaked at 300,000 at the end of the
civil war in 1970, had 78,500 personnel in 2003, which was still large and
expensive compared to the region’s other countries. The army numbered
62,000 with major divisions based in Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Kaduna, and
Jos. The air force consisted of 9,500 personnel in four air commands,
in Ikeja (near Lagos), Kaduna, Ibadan, and Makurdi. The 7,000-person
navy is centered in Lagos and Calabar and has been strengthened in recent
years to provide security for oil installations. The Nigerian Defence
Academy is located at Kaduna. Nigeria has participated in peacekeeping
operations of the United Nations (UN). It has also provided the majority
of soldiers for the joint West African peacekeeping force in Liberia
(since 1990) and Sierra Leone (from 1997 until 2000, when a UN
peacekeeping force that included many Nigerian troops took over). Military
service is voluntary






G. Social Services

Nigeria has no state-supported social welfare system. Instead, most
people rely on their extended families in difficult times and in old age.
Medical care is provided to government employees and to most workers in
large industrial and commercial enterprises, but it is wanting among
the rest of the population. Despite several attempts at reform, many
Nigerians lack access to primary health care, in large part because the
great majority of treatment centers are located in large cities.
Facilities are often understaffed, underequipped, and low on medications and
other medical supplies. Patients must generally pay user fees and buy
their own supplies and medications, which they often cannot afford.

The result has been an infant mortality rate of 99 per 1,000 live
births and a life expectancy of 47 years. Malaria is the leading cause of
death and is likely to remain so, due to the growing resistance both of
the malarial parasite to drugs as well as of the mosquito, which
transmits malaria, to insecticides. Other preventable ills that the government
has been unable to halt include measles, whooping cough, polio,
cerebrospinal meningitis, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, tuberculosis,
bronchitis, waterborne infectious diseases such as schistosomiasis, and sexually
transmitted infections. Infection with the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is
becoming more and more prevalent. In 2003 3.6 million Nigerians were estimated
to be infected with HIV and 170,000 Nigerians died of AIDS.




H. International Organizations


Commonwealth of Nations

At independence in 1960 Nigeria joined the United Nations (UN) and its
affiliated agencies. It also joined the British Commonwealth of
Nations. Its membership in the Commonwealth was suspended from 1995 to 1999 to
protest human rights abuses and the slow rate of democratization by
the Abacha government. Nigeria is also a member of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO),
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Nonaligned Movement
(NAM). A founding member of the African Union (AU), Nigeria took the lead
in opposing the apartheid regime in South Africa. It is also the
dominant partner in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
and a member of the African Development Bank and the Lake Chad Basin
Commission.



VII. HISTORY

People have lived in what is now known as Nigeria since at least 9000
bc, and evidence indicates that since at least 5000 bc some of them have
practiced settled agriculture. In the early centuries ad, kingdoms
emerged in the drier, northern savanna, prospering from trade ties with
North Africa. At roughly the same time, the wetter, southern forested
areas yielded city-states and looser federations sustained by agriculture
and coastal trade. These systems changed radically with the arrival of
Europeans in the late 15th century, the rise of the slave trade from
the 16th through the 19th century, and formal colonization by Britain at
the end of 19th century. Nigeria achieved independence in 1960 but has
since been plagued by unequal distribution of wealth and ineffective,
often corrupt governments.