Nigeria Political Terms

Ife:

s an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria.

Para-Statals:

state owned corporations created to undertake a broad range of activities such as transportation facilities and public utilities.

Hausa-Fulani:

term used to refer collectively to the Hausa and Fulani people of West Africa. The two are grouped together because since the Fulani War their histories have been largely intertwined.

Corporatism:

the control of a state or organization by large interest groups

Cultural Diffusion

the process through which the idea(s) of a particular cultural are spread (diffused) through an area beyond the culture who came up with the idea(s).

Muhammadu Buhari:

was a Major General in the Nigerian Army and a former military ruler of Nigeria from December 31, 1983 to August 27, 1985. The term Buharism is ascribed to the Buhari military government.

Biafra

was a secessionist state in south-eastern Nigeria that existed from 30 May 1967 to 15 January 1970. The inhabitants were mostly the Igbo people who led the secession due to economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria.

Jihad

(among Muslims) a war or struggle against unbelievers.

Olusegun Obasanjo:

1st president of the 4th Republic 1999-2007, he is a Christian Yoruba, he was military dictator from 76-79, he is part of the People's Democratic Party, he was the first to voluntary step down to new democracy. He wanted Privatization, free market, and to fight corruption.

Rule of Law

: Concept that holds that government and its officers are always subject to the law.

Igbo

: a member of a people of southeastern Nigeria.

Revenue Sharing

: distribution of part of the federal tax income to states and municipalities.

Constitutionalism

A constitutional government.

Accountability

A government's responsibility to its population, usually by periodic popular elections and by parliament having the power to dismiss the government by passing a motion of no-confidence.

SAP

Economic policies imposed on less developed countries by international agencies to create conditions encouraging international trade, such as raising taxes, reducing government spending, controlling inflation, selling publicly owned utilities to private corporations, and charging citizens more for services.

: Good Luck Johnathon

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, GCFR, BNER, GCON is the 14th Head of State and current President of Nigeria.

Moshood Abiola

He wins the presidential elections in 1993, but Babangida annuals the election 11 days later.

Sani Abacha

In November of 1993 he seized power in a coup. He disbanded all elective institutions and suppressed opposition forces

Patrimonial:

Political system in which state officers appropriate their offices for personal benefits and those of their supporters.

"Loyalty Pyramid":

President appointing governor to work under him who supports him, that governor appointing someone who supports him, ect.

"The National Question":

Questions of: Who should run Nigeria's government? How should country be governed?

Prebendalism

Relations in which "Patron" gains support of "Client" through mutual exchange of benefits and obligations.

ANPP

The All Nigeria Peoples Party, conservative, In the 2007 legislative elections, the party won 27.0% of the popular vote and 92 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 27 out of 109 seats in the Senate.

Kanuri

The Kanuri are the dominant ethnic group of Bornu Province in northeastern Nigeria. They are called Beri-beri by the Hausa, but seldom use the term themselves.

PDP

The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every Presidential election since 1999, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic amidst controversial circumstances.

State Corporatism

a political system in which the state requires all members of a particular economic sector to join an officially designated interest group, with the result that the state gains substantial control over interest groups and interest groups channel or control their members' political and economic advocacy.

Indirect Rule

a system of government of one nation by another in which the governed people retain certain administrative, legal, and other powers.

Oyo

an inland state in south-western Nigeria, with its capital at Ibadan. It is bounded in the north by Kwara State, in the east by Osun State, in the south by Ogun State and in the west partly by Ogun State and partly by the Republic of Benin.

Ibrahim Babangida

is a retired Nigerian Army officer who was the military ruler of Nigeria. He ruled Nigeria from 27 August 1985, when he overthrew Major General Muhammadu Buhari in a coup, until his departure from office on 27 August 1993, having annulled the elections held on June 12 that year.

Civil Society

is a term that's increasingly popular with government ministers, academics, diplomats, aid-workers, international agencies, teachers and a host of other professions. It's an idea that affects everyone in every nation.

"Federal Character":

is the peculiar character of a peculiar country.

Sokoto Caliphate

large Muslim state founded in 1809 in what is now northern Nigeria.

"True Federalism" movement

Called for by the Igbo Youth movement.Promotes accelerated economic development, it unifies and binds people together, it triggers intellectual dialogue and provokes a healthy rivalry in revenue generation. These laudable goals are only achieved where the federating units are allowed free access in decision making and inputs into governance.

"Military in Barracks

Military NOT holding high political position, being just the military.

Kinship-Based Politics

Nigerian leaders at the village level generally conducted business through kinship ties.

Ken Saro-Wiwa

Nigerian poet and environmentalist trying to do things legally to make the oil companies environmentally aware.

Plurality Vote

The most votes among those running; Ex. Multi-party systems.

INEC

The origin of the INEC goes back to the period before Independence when the Electoral Commission of Nigeria was established to conduct 1959 elections. The Federal Electoral Commission (FEC), established in 1960 conducted the immediate post-independence federal and regional elections of 1964 and 1965.

Yoruba

a West African people who formed several kingdoms in what is now Benin and southern Nigeria.