Nigeri A Long, Complicated And Tragic History

I learned a plethora of information about the decades leading up to the Nigerian civil war as a result of this reading. Firstly, I never knew that the process of gaining independence was a systematized and prolonged one in the sense that there were 10-year programs established to facilitate this process, including the development and expansion of “social services, infrastructure, and local industries” (Falola and Heaton 146). I don’t know why I had always romanticized the independence of Nigeria to be an abrupt and quick toppling of the entrenched colonialist systems.

Instead of focusing on diversifying, the leaders of the country focus on gaining power and standing in the government. “Nigeria’s most daunting challenge lies in overcoming the severe divisions among its competing religious and ethnic groups” . Moreover, once they gain it, their problems do not end, since they must look over their back, never knowing how long they will hold on to the little power they have. Meanwhile, the common person suffers, as he is neglected by his government and must survive on his own. “The standard of living declined even further than before and external debts increased.” This neglect of the common man bodes ill for the government, as it is the common man who votes in the polls. However, the vote does very little, since corruption is rampant in Nigeria.

The Republic of Niger, a poor, landlocked country, located in the heart of Sub-Saharan West Africa. Niger has seen its fair share of change throughout the decades; moving away from the control of the French Parliament in 1960, Niger formally declared its independence. Despite this bold act of independence, Niger would not see its first steps towards democracy until the early 1990’s, when they held their first open election as a free state. However, even with the empowerment of the people in a democratic government, Niger has seen itself nearly torn apart as a result constant coups, that have occurred as recently as 2010. Such instability has led to incredulous amounts of corruption and poverty, within the Niger government. This lack of stability and constant turnover in government, has been a driving factor behind the lack of resources available for education in Niger.

As many other governments africa’s has corruption but this corruption is coming from game officers helping to poach

Nigeria has become the fastest growing country in Africa, its coastal ports are the heart and soul of its economy. Since its creation by the British Empire, there has been a civil breakdown and conflict among its tribal leaders. However, their religious understanding between Islam and Christianity has kept them at peace amidst themselves throughout time. The last few years, the government has developed itself into a functioning federation, the people are able to notice how outside influence has improved their daily lives.

African countries have been going through one of the worst recessions in our day in age. Some of the things that Africa lacks as a continent are food supply, water supply, shelter, a stable government to control these key aspects in each country, and many more to come in the future because of the daily issues Africa is facing because of corruption in their individual government as countries. Recent studies show that, over 70% of major corruption cases in Sub-Saharan Africa involve phantom firms, which is financial entities that are currently almost impossible to trace or track without improvements in regulatory oversight, resulting in a tax loss of about $52 billion.

A cold, dark cell, you’re isolated and imprisoned for a crime you did not commit. This is the result of Corruption. Corruption spreads through the justice system destroying lives one by one. You may think that corruption is something only occurs in third world nation’s only affecting the most underprivileged countries, but this is incorrect. Corruption is an issue that dealt with worldwide. It affects even the most power of first world nations, including the USA, a nation known for freedom and its fights for the most basic of human rights. In this essay I will focus on four main points within the topic of corruption in the justice system. Firstly I will look at and explain what corruption is, looking at all components of it. Secondly I will

The District Commissioner’s perception of justice is Britain’s legal system. He genuinely believes that England’s system of government is the best system, and that it needs to be brought to other cultures. In his mind, “civilizing” tribal cultures in Nigeria is the right thing to do, and will eventually make the people happy. We see this viewpoint when he says “We have brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so that you may be happy. If any man ill-treats you we shall come to your rescue.” This quote also demonstrates that he views these people as needing to be saved. What he fails to understand is that the people of Umuofia were happier before the British came. The Commissioner could not comprehend how people could be happy in a culture with a different system of laws and customs than his own, because in his mind, Britain’s laws are clearly good, and Igbo laws are clearly something evil to be rescued from.

The first was the weak sense of nationalism caused by all the ethnic groups where religion played a major part of the division. The main three ethnicities in Nigeria are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo; the former is Muslim while the two latter are Christians. The second cause mentioned was the “divide and rule” which was a British tactic to employ ethnic groups against one another, and thus “helped ensure that ethnicity would be the main line of political cleavage after Nigeria became an independent country.” The third cause is the personal rule system based on “big men” and what this means is that Nigerian’s who worked for the British used their personal relationships to gain power and wealth, and in a certain way it is still used today in the Nigerian government. The fourth devastating cause was the “creation of an increasingly active and interventionist state during WWII and after until its independence in 1960, but that opened the doors to patronage, which would be used to gain political power and wealth. The past reveals the problems Nigeria has had for several decades, some of which have not disappeared but seem to get progressively worse. (CITATION)

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the country and its environs. Nigeria a former British Colony, located in the western part of Africa, it shares borders with Benin, Cameroun, and Niger. A growing population of 150million, labour force of 51million (70% Agriculture, 10% industry and 20% service), urbanisation is less than 40%, GDP is over $300billion, Per capita income is $2300. Nigeria is blessed with different cultures, languages and ethnic groups (252 in total); this was due to the colonization of the British in the early 19th century (Columbia Encyclopaedia). The British amalgamated its protectorates in 1914 to enable stable control and governance which made them create one Nation of Nigeria formed from all the groups, community and empires around the Niger area under their control. Nigeria had her independence on the 1st of October 1960 and since then various civil wars, political and religious unrest in the country to share power and resources amicably.

     Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time. The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria's problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups,

Corruption in the Niger delta region of Nigeria as resulted in youths becoming militants and kidnappers which have led to killing of innocent individuals. During the past few years a lot of people have died in the Niger delta due to violent killings because of dispute over oil revenue and compensation. Most of these atrocities are carried out main by youths, who are agitated by the corrupt practice of the

Despite being one of the richest countries in Africa due to their geological advantage of supplying excessive gas and oil, Nigeria faces severe human rights challenges. This is primarily due to the inefficient and unjust response to the mass violence prevalent in that country. In this paper, I will examine two aspects of this issue. First, I will examine the nature of the post-colonial state and its impact on the legal rights of Nigerian citizens. Secondly, I will outline the two sources of human rights violations that are most significant: the response of the government to threats to its territorial integrity and the persistence of intra-ethnic violence. One source of human rights violations is the unjust government response to internal security threats from terrorist groups like Boko Haram. The government’s focus on territorial protection as opposed to protecting and aiding the Nigerian people who are experiencing the brutal attacks from Boko Haram has contributed to the deterioration of the human rights situation. For, Nigeria has been at war with Boko Haram for years. Secondly, disagreements among ethnic groups who seek “power, access to land between nomadic pastoralists and farming communities” also threatens the rights of Nigerians.

Nigeria’s heterogeneity has at some point been regarded as her strength but it currently is perceived to be the crack which may cause a predicted break-down. The religious cum cultural diversity has always threatened the continued existence of the Nigerian nation as one entity. In the past, various opinion leaders have proffered secession as the permanent solution to internal crisis and terrorism in the country. Although Nigeria, the giant of Africa, describes her heterogeneity as a situation of “Unity in Diversity”, it has become one of violence and terror (Agbiboa). The various lines of division in the country have given rise to the current situation of terrorism – Boko Haram, and the end is not in sight yet.

Ethnicity is how individuals perceive themselves, and unlike race it can be changed. There are countries in which there are several different types of ethnic groups, and in some cases that could lead to conflict within a country, but as research will show it is not the only cause, and in some cases the conflict was purposely organized. In such cases it is usually in a developing country, which is “defined according to their Gross National Income (GNI) per capita per year. Countries with GNI of US$ 11,905 and less and less are defined as developing (specified by the World Bank, 2012).” (CITATION) Developing countries that have established themselves as democracies tend to have weak institutions, where elections are more about connections and winning, rather than trying to establish and follow formal rules. Nigeria is both, a developing country and one with a weak democracy, there are many causes to this, such as problems with natural resources, and unable to maintain a strong formal government, but mainly it all could be traced back to the fact that it has a divided society where there is no sense of nationality. Divergence in a country does not mean violence, in the contrary in most cases places with a lot of different ethnicities tend to be peaceful, but Nigeria is exempt from this because it was, in a sense, programmed for all the different ethnicities and religions to have conflict amongst each other by the British.