comp gov: nigeria

All Progressive Congress

formed as an alliance of four opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change, the All Nigeria’s People’s Party, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance. Muhammadu Buhari won election as a member of this party.

Biafran Civil War

a fight that raged from 1967 to 1970 when the Igbo ruler Agiyi Ironsi was killed in a coup, leading the Igbo to fight for independence for their land – called Biafra.

Boko Haram

a jihadist terrorist organization based in northeastern Nigeria. It was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 and its main goal was to purify Islam in northern Nigeria.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

a supranational organization of fifteen West African countries, including Nigeria, that have agreed to free trade and economic integration

Fourth Republic

the regime of Nigeria since the adoption of the Constitution of 1999, which created a federal republic with a presidential system of government

National Assembly

replaced a parliamentary system in 1979 as a presidential system with a bicameral legislature (composed of the Senate and a House of Representatives)

National question

reference to an issue of how Nigeria should be governed or even if Nigeria should remain as one nation; the issue is magnified by regional disagreements and hostilities and by the tendency to solve problems by military force and authoritarian leaders

Para-statals

corporations owned by the state and designated to provide commercial and social welfare services; while the para-statals are privately owned, their boards are appointed by government officials. The commonly provide public utilities, such as water, electricity, public transportation, and agricultural subsidies.

People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

one of the better-established parties in Nigeria, having run candidates for office as early as 1998; Goodluck Jonathan was elected president as a member of this party

Prebendalism

a term borrowed from Max Weber’s concept of an extremely personalized system of rule in which all public offices are treated as personal fiefdoms; used to describe Nigeria’s special brand of clientelism, where local government officials gain support from villagers through dispensing favors, and they in turn receive favors for supporting patron bosses.

Resource Curse

when a single resource brings both a blessing of massive wealth, but the curse of concentration of economic control in the hands of the state, corruption, and the lack of development in other sectors of the economy

Sokoto Caliphate

A Muslim state established by the Fulani in 1808 that encompassed the entire northwest, north, mid-section, and part of the northeast.

West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ)

a monetary union of six West African states seeking to create a unified central bank and transnational currency called the eco