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Essay Subject: Issues & events leading to political development & turmoil. Discovery of oil, independence, economics, population, infrastructure, leadership.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Issues & events leading to political development & turmoil. Discovery of oil, independence, economics, population, infrastructure, leadership. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION When oil was discovered in Nigeria, most people in the country thought that it was the best thing that had happened to the countryother than gaining its political independence. After several coups, a civil war, falling world oil prices, and other forms of instability, not everyone is still sure that the exploitation of the country's crude oil reserves was a total blessing. This research examines this issue. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN NIGERIA Nigeria is, in many ways, a unique country within the context of political development. The country emerged from colonial status in the postWorld War II era with a greater reservoir of administrative and political expertise than was to be found in most of the other newly emerging independent Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Due in large part to these earnings, the countryexperienced an average annual growth rate of 3.7 percent in per capita GNPfrom 196 through 1981 (The World Bank 139). CONCLUSION Certainly, it may be stated with some authority that the existence ofoil revenues created tensions, and was a significant factor in some ill-conceived decisions made in various segments of Nigerian society. The Hausa and the Yoruba weredetermined to wrest effective control of the central government from theIbo. Internal politicalinstability, however, has continued to plague the country. The only hope that the central government had of financing thenecessary job creation and infrastructure development was to exploit thecountry's newly discovered petroleum reserves, and to employ the revenuesfrom that exploitation in domestic development schemes (Nelson 162-172).Thus, when the Ibo attempted to secede in 1967, and to form an independentBiafran state in the southeast part of the country, the economic andpolitical stability of the entire country was threatened, because theNigerian petroleum reserves are located in the southeast (Zartman 197). Washington: United States Government Printing Office,1982. New York:Frederick A. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1987. Leadership, in its different aspects, contributed to the developmentof political instability in Nigeria. After several coups, a civil war,falling world oil prices, and other forms of instability, not everyone isstill sure that the exploitation of the country's crude oil reserves was atotal blessing. Therefore,the country was confronted with the problem of both providing for andfinancing its own economic development with little outside assistance andwith significantly reduced crude oil export earnings. Martin's Press, 1988. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN NIGERIA Nigeria is, in many ways, a unique country within the context ofpolitical development. New York: Frederick A.Praeger, Publishers, 1977. Ikporukpo, C. In turn, the Ibo were determined to secede from Nigeria, and formtheir own independent state in the southeast part of the country. Thus, while Nigeria still had critical developmental capital needs,the country was often perceived by others as neither needing nor deservingeconomic assistance, because of its petrochemical resources. The country's population isexpected to reach approximately 161 million by the year 2 (The WorldBank 17 ). The state-owned Nigerian National Oil Company wasformed to manage petroleum resource development. It wasparticularly important for the government to develop areas outside ofLagos, as a means of precluding a massive migration of the population tothe capital area. Hawkins, T. This strong leadership, whichwas developed through tribal structures (Crowder 29 -292), however, had itsdrawbacks with respect to the development of national unity. It was not, however, acceptable toeither the Hausa or the Yoruba, and their motivations were not altruistic:the discovery of major crude petroleum reserves in the Eastern (Ibo) Regionwould soon transform that region from Nigeria's poorest to its richest(Herskovits 25). S. Paxton, J. Yet, within seven years of independence,the country was plunged into civil war, which was followed by a series ofmilitary governments, assassinations, and changes in governmental form(Paxton 93 -932). A. W. (Ed.). Crowder, M. A major reason for this situation appears to be thatpolitical instability in the country led to policy decisions in the area ofeconomic and other spheres which, while they may have appeared to beexpedient in the short-term, did not serve well the country's long-termdevelopment needs (Ikporukpo 127-139). INTRODUCTION When oil was discovered in Nigeria, most people in the country thoughtthat it was the best thing that had happened to the country--other thangaining its political independence. Withoutthe oil revenues, however, the country would likely be in an even worseposition today than it is. Nigeria: Power and Democracy in Africa. The country has a population approaching 1 million, for whichall sorts of development needs must be provided, and, since independencewas gained from the United Kingdom, economic development in the country hasnever quite caught-up with population growth. In this somewhat chaotic situation, policy decisions made by theNigerian government have not, upon reflection, always appeared to be thebest (Hawkins 73-76). This staggering rate of population growth createdenormous economic problems for the country. D. (Ed.). The Trouble with Nigeria. Praeger, Publishers, 1983.----------------------- 7 Works Cited Achebe, C. For the 1976-1981 time periodaverage annual growth in per capita GNP was 25.4 percent. A Short History of Nigeria, Third Edition. "Managing Nigeria's Petroleum Resources," OPECBulletin XVI (December 1985/January 1986): 24-27. The country emerged from colonial status in thepost-World War II era with a greater reservoir of administrative andpolitical expertise than was to be found in most of the other newlyemerging independent countries. None of thestrong ethnic and regional leaders were willing to accept a secondaryposition to any one of the others; all desired to hold the reins of power(Achebe 11-14). Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth DimensionPublishers, 1985. "A New Realism in Lagos?" Africa Report XXXI (May/June1986): 73-76. Although the company issemi-autonomous, it operates under close scrutiny of government ministries,and Nigerian governments have used the petroleum resource as an instrumentof foreign policy, at times (Olorumfemi 24-27). Lastly, the military officers, who first seized control of governmentin Nigeria in 1966 (Niven 137), have not proved to be strong leaders.Their operation of the country and the economy proved to be no better thanthat of the civilian leaders, and, in 1985, they proved they could becomeas dissatisfied with themselves as with elected civilian governments: inAugust 1985, a military coup overthrew the military government which cameto power through a coup in December 1983, which had overthrown the civiliangovernment elected in August 1983, just as an earlier military coup in July1966 over-threw a military government which had come to power in a January1966 coup which overthrew an elected civilian government. Nigeria's population increased from approximately 46 million at thetime of independence (Nelson 9 ), to approximately 115 million in 1985(Paxton 93 -931). "Ethnic Management in the 1979 NigerianConstitution," Publius XVI (Spring 1986): 73-9 . Nelson, H. Ayoade, J. Nigeria: A Country Study, FourthEdition. The resultant disharmony led to stagnation in economic andpolitical action, which, in turn, provided the pretext for disgruntledmilitary officers to seize power from civilians who either could not orwould not lead. Zartman, I. Following twelve years of turmoil, a freely electedcivilian government returned to power in 1979. New York:Frederick A. These problems were exacerbated by the country's rapid populationgrowth--Nigeria has the largest and the fastest growing population inAfrica. First, in order to maintainany semblance of political stability, it was necessary to create enoughjobs for the burgeoning population. Thus, while ethnic friction led to political instabilityin the country, the two largest ethnic groups were not prepared to permitthe Ibo to secede with their oil. Niven, R. Nigeria, Revised Edition. O. Olorumfemi, M. NewYork: St. Praeger, Publishers, 1976. PROBLEMS RELATED, IN SOME DEGREE, TO DEVELOPMENT OFNIGERIA'S CRUDE OIL RESOURCE In part, the Biafran revolution, and the ensuing civil war in Nigeriawas the result of ethnic problems. Herskovits, J. "Politics and Regional Policy: The Issue of StateCreation in Nigeria," Political Geography V (April 1986): 127-139. This research examines this issue. The Political Economy of Nigeria. In the midst of the political turmoil, development of the country'spetroleum resources established Nigeria as a world leader in crude oilproduction and export. It mightappear that the formation of a separate Ibo state was a rational solutionto a part of Nigeria's ethnic problem. The World Bank. A. Nigeria has relied on crude oil export earnings to support itsdomestic development. World Development Report. Thus, providing for the development needs of a large andrapidly growing population is not one which will go away anytime soon inNigeria. The Statesman's Year-Book, 125th Edition. New York:Foreign Policy Association, 1982. First, the Hausa, the Yoruba, and theIbo all had strong leadership at the top. During theworldwide economic recession of the early 198 s, the Nigerian economydeclined, as the world crude oil market shrunk, and as development capitalessential for expansion of domestic activities failed to be generated. The result, of course, was a devastatingcivil war which ripped the country apart (Ayoade 73-9 ). Second, it was necessary to developthe infrastructure to accommodate the population growth. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.