Nigeria

NIGERIA HAS EARNED a reputation as a rogue state, a status blamed by left-wing opposition politicians on the right-wing laissez-faire policies of the national government. Millions of internet subscribers worldwide have received email offers of fraudulent riches from a Nigerian cottage industry that rakes in millions of dollars annually—and has become a sore point between the Nigerian government and the U.S. State Department.

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa, and like its third-world neighbors, the country's leftist politics are involved in the rise of Islamic extremism, as well as the effects of globalization and multinational corporations.

Believers in a strong centralized form of government are quick to blame this national embarrassment on Nigeria's 1999 constitution, which ordains a weak national government with limited authority in the nation's 36 autonomous states. The national government's policies are also blamed for Nigeria's international role as a major criminal center, specializing in financial fraud, money laundering, and drug trafficking. Nigeria is a major transit point for heroin and cocaine intended for European, East Asian, and North American markets and appears on the Financial Action Task Force's Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories List for its continued failure to address deficiencies in money laundering.

Nigeria's president has been widely criticized by opponents on the left for the way he has handled problems of racial and religious strife as well as widespread [Page 332]criminal activity. He has adhered to the national constitution's mandate, which gives each province autonomy and a free hand in dealing with local issues. As a result, 12 of the predominantly Muslim provinces in 2004 had embraced Muslim shari'a religious law, which includes stern penalties for moral offenses, including beheading for blaspheming against the Muslim holy text or libeling Islam's founder, the Prophet Mohammed, and stoning to death for adultery.

What has been different about the rise of Islamist radicalism in Nigeria than in other countries in Africa or the Middle East is that it all happened in a period of democracy, which some critics say is perhaps better described as chaotic, free-for-all politics. Since the collapse of the latest military junta in 1999, Nigeria has had a weak, but elected government, led by a former military dictator, retired general and friend of Jimmy Carter, Olusegun Obasanjo.

The weak central government is also blamed for Nigeria's widespread corruption and the mismanagement of its petroleum industry. In 2003, some voting irregularities were reported in the first successful elections under civilian rule since independence from Britain in 1960, but the national balloting resulted in the leftist-centrist People's Democratic Party winning a 53.6 percent majority in the 107-seat national Senate and a 54.5 percent majority in the 346-seat House of Representatives. The left-leaning All-Nigeria People's Party took the next-highest margin—27.9 percent in the Senate and 27.4 percent in the House.

Although Nigeria is rich with oil, it has long been troubled by widespread poverty, years of political instability, and institutional corruption—all seemingly ignored by the national government due to its “hands-off” policies. Redistribution of vast oil riches is not on the agenda, although oil production provides 20 percent of the nation's GDP, 95 percent of foreign exchange earnings, and 65 percent of the government budget. The per capita income is only $800 with the majority of citizens subsistence farmers.

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