Concepts and Vocabulary Nigeria

All Progressives Congress (APC)

Opposition political party formed in 2013 by merger of largest opposition parties and defections from the ruling People’s Democratic Party.

Boko Haram

Islamic terrorist group based in northeastern Nigeria that since 2009 has launched a violent insurgency.

Derivation Formula

Formula for distributing percentage of oil revenues between national and local government in Nigeria.

Federal Character Principle

Nigerian quota system designed to ease ethnic tension by requiring the president to appoint ministers and civil servants from each Nigerian state.

First Republic

Nigerian parliamentary democratic regime that followed independence (1960-66).

Fourth Republic

Nigeria’s current presidential democratic regime, established in 1999.

Fulani

Predominantly Muslim ethnic group located in northern Nigeria.

Hausa

Predominantly Muslim ethnic group concentrated in northern Nigeria.

House of Representatives

Lower house of Nigerian parliament.

Igbo (IBO)

Predominantly Christian ethnic group concentrated in southeast Nigeria.

Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)

Militant separatist group from the Niger Delta.

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)

Ethnic association founded by Ken Saro-Wiwa to promote the interests of ethnic Ogoni in the Niger Delta.

National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS)

A wide-ranging Nigerian reform program designed to stem government corruption and enhance economic infrastructure.

Niger Delta

World’s third-largest wetland and source of Nigerian oil and economic and ethnic conflict.

Patrimonialism

An arrangement whereby a ruler depends on a collection of supporters within the state who gain direct benefits in return for enforcing the ruler’s will.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

Political party that has dominated Nigerian politics since its formation in 1998; its base was originally the Hausa Muslim ethnic group of northern Nigeria.

Republic of Biafra

Igbo-dominated Eastern Region that tried, and failed, to secede from Nigeria in 1967.

Resource Curse

Affliction caused by abundant natural resources distorting an economy by preventing diversification.

Rape of Africa (Scramble for Africa)

Late nineteenth-century race by European countries to expand influence and establish imperial control over the majority of African territory.

Second Republic

Short-lived Nigerian democratic regime, from 1979-1983, in which the former parliamentary system was replaced by a presidential system.

Sharia

Religious law of Islam.

Sokoto Caliphate

Caliphate Islamic empire founded in 1809 and centered in northern Nigeria.

Third Republic

Democratic regime proposed by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1993; precluded by General Sani Abacha’s military coup in the same year; following annulled elections.

Yoruba

Ethnic group largely confined to southwest Nigeria whose members are divided among Christian, Muslim, and local animist faiths.

Zoning

A PDP system of presidential rotation; the party would alternate every two terms in nominating candidates from Nigeria’s north and south.