Nigerian Government: From Military Rule to Democratically Elected Governance.

Nigerian Government: From Military Rule to Democratically Elected Governance.

Nigeria’s government has recently gone under a dramatic change. For my paper I decided to write on the topic of Nigerian government. When I interviewed a student, named Arit, from Nigeria, she told me how her country was formerly under military rule and had recently changed to a democratically elected government. Arit believes this is a good change for the country and it will help fix the destruction military rule left behind and pull Nigeria out of the dark.

Military Rule

Background

The people of Nigeria suffered under the control of military rule and are now experiencing the recent change to democratically elected governance. One of the greatest problems in examining the background to military rule in Nigeria is figuring out when the seeds of the takeover and the tragedy of civil war were sown (Oyediran). When military rule first started in Nigeria, it was seen as a rescue operation and was not expected to last long. However, this was not the outcome. Nigeria gained independence in 1960 and out of the forty-three years post independence, the military ruled for twenty-nine years (Igbuzor). In January of 1966, the first military intervention occurred.

Structure

After the military gained political power the next thing they do is ‘abolish’ all political parties. The reason for this action is because the military sees such organizations as instruments of disunity, agents of strife, discord, and corruption. They also believe these organizations create the conditions that warrant the military intervening (Dudley 85). Nigeria’s military ruled government included:

(1) Increased influence by political and military leaders of minority tribes (2) replacement of political party leaders by the military as general policy makers; (3) increased policy-making role for permanent secretaries and top echelons of civil service; and (4) replacement of the four powerful regions by twelve “states” (Imer 69).

Problems

However, abolishing the political parties does not destroy the political conflict. In fact, the strife is not eliminated but a vacuum is made between the leaders and the led (Dudley 86). Under military rule, the people of Nigeria were overwhelmed with corruption, fraud, embezzlement, and political instability (Johnson). These problems were reoccurring throughout the twenty-one years of military rule.

First Elections

The 1999 Constitution provided for a democratically elected government in section seven of the constitution (Igbuzor). February 28, 1999, Nigerians voted in a presidential election to put an end to military rule.