Timeline of Nigerian history.
This is a timeline of Nigerian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Nigeria and its predecessor states from Pre-colonial times to the 4th Republic.
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness.
8000 B.C. – Creation of oldest currently known artifacts and stone shelters. Igboland mostly occupied by foragers, including Bantu ancestors.
3000–500 B.C. – Development of agriculture (probably including yam cultivation) and animal husbandry.
500 B.C. – A.D. 200 – Nok culture flourishes in Northern Nigeria.
400–100 B.C. – Ironworking develops around Opi, Nsukka
Rise of Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, and Muslim civilisations
770 A.D. – Early Ijaw settlement.
800 – Mega-state at Igbo-Ukwu has complex social structure, produces copious artifacts including bronzes. Yoruba civilization already well established, based on thirteen farming villages centered at Ilé-Ifẹ̀.
900 – The reign of the Kingdom of Nri began.
1100 – The Islamic state of Borno was established.
1200 – Ilé-Ifẹ̀ becomes Yoruba metropolis.
1255 – Oba Ewedo comes to power in Benin Empire.
1450 – Beginning of European contact on the Atlantic coast. The European slave trade era was ushered in.
1500 – The nominally Muslim Hausa Kingdoms were established in Northern Nigeria.
Political map of West Africa in 1625. Modern Nigeria includes parts of Oyo, Borgu, Nupe, and Benin areas, as well as Igbo states.
Oyo Empire invades Kingdom of Dahomey.
British slave traders facilitate massacre on the Calabar River.
The Fulani and Sokoto: 1804-1903
Living among the Hausa in the northern regions of Nigeria are a tribe, the Fulani, whose leaders in the early 19th century become passionate advocates of strict Islam.
From 1804 sheikh Usman dan Fodio and his two sons lead the Fulani in an immensely successful holy war against the lax Muslim rulers of the Hausa kingdoms.
The result is the establishment in 1809 of a Fulani capital at Sokoto, from which the centre and north of Nigeria is effectively ruled for the rest of the 19th century. But during this same period there has been steady encroachment on the region by British interests.
Sokoto Caliphate established through jihad; goes to war against the Yoruba states.
After the abolition of the Slave trade in Britain in 1807 and in south of Equator in 1834, there followed the growth of legitimate trade stimulated by the penetration of European merchant capital into Nigeria, essential to the development of capitalism. Export of cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc. to the world market was a means by which the resources of natural economy of pre-colonial Nigeria hitherto slumbering in dormant inaction were released into the sphere of circulation and utilised for the further augmentation or expansion of capital – a worldwide process of “accumulation of capital”.
The result of this was a shift from European settlement on the coast to European penetration into the hinterland.
This was facilitated by the exploration of the River Niger and was followed by missionary activities, conquest and colonisation.
Escape to Igbo Landing in Georgia, USA.
1807 25 March
Slave Trade Act 1807: Britain prohibits subjects from trafficking in slaves.
British explorers: 1806-1830
From the death of Mungo Park near Bussa in 1806 to the end of the century, there is continuing interest in Nigeria on the part of British explorers, anti-slavery activists, missionaries and traders.
In 1821 the British government sponsors an expedition south through the Sahara to reach the kingdom of Bornu. Its members become the first Europeans to reach Lake Chad, in 1823.
One of the group, Hugh Clapperton, explores further west through Kano and the Hausa territory to reach Sokoto.
Clapperton is only back in England for a few months, in 1825, before he sets off again for the Nigerian coast at Lagos.
On this expedition, with his servant Richard Lander, he travels on trade routes north from the coast to Kano and then west again to Sokoto. Here Clapperton dies. But Lander makes his way back to London, where he is commissioned by the government to explore the lower reaches of the Niger.
Accompanied in 1830 by his brother John, Lander makes his way north from the coast near Lagos to reach the great river at Bussa – the furthest point of Mungo Park’s journey downstream. With considerable difficulty the brothers make a canoe trip downstream, among hostile Ibo tribesmen, to reach the sea at the Niger delta. This region has long been familiar to European traders, but its link to the interior is now charted. All seems set for serious trade.
SS Alburkah: 1832-1834
After Lander’s second return to England a company is formed by a group of Liverpool merchants, including Macgregor Laird, to trade on the lower Niger. Laird is also a pioneer in the shipping industry. For the present purpose, an expedition to the Niger, he designs an iron paddle-steamer, the 55-ton Alburkah. Laird himself leads the expedition, with Richard Lander as his expert guide.
The Alburkah steams south from Milford Haven in July 1832 with forty-eight on board. She reaches the mouth of the Niger three months later, entering history as the first ocean-going iron ship.
After making her way up one of the many streams of the Niger delta, the Alburkah progresses upstream on the main river as far as Lokoja, the junction with the Benue. The expedition demonstrates that the Niger offers a highway into the continent for ocean vessels. And the performance of the iron steamer is a triumph. But medicine is not yet as far advanced as technology. When the Alburkah returns to Liverpool, in 1834, only nine of the original crew of forty-eight are alive. They include a much weakened Macgregor Laird.
End of Oyo empire.
Niger Expedition of Christian missionaries.
Trade and anti-slavery: 1841-1900
The next British expedition to the Niger is almost equally disastrous in terms of loss of life. Four ships under naval command are sent out in 1841, with instructions to steam up the Niger and make treaties with local kings to prevent the slave trade. The enterprise is abandoned when 48 of the 145 Europeans in the crews die of fever. Malaria is the cause of the trouble.
Church Missionary Society sets up mission at Abeokuta.
From 1849 the British government accepts a more direct involvement. A consul, based in Fernando Po, is appointed to take responsibility for the Bights of Biafra and Benin. He undertakes direct negotiations with the king of Lagos, the principal port from which slaves are shipped.
When these break down, in 1851, Lagos is attacked and captured by a British force.
Another member of the Lagos royal family is placed on the throne, after guaranteeing to put an end to the slave trade and to human sacrifice (a feature of this region).
(December 26-27): Royal Navy warship bombards Lagos. Oba of Lagos (Oba Kosoko) is wounded and flees to Epe.
On board the ship was Lt. Labulo Davies, probably the first Nigerian to be commisioned in a naval force.
1 January 1852
Treaty Between Great Britain and Lagos.
Major progress on fighting malaria is made when a doctor, William Baikie, leads an expedition up the Niger in 1854. He administers quinine to his men and suffers no loss of life. Extracted from the bark of the cinchona tree, quinine has long been used in medicine. But its proven efficacy against malaria is a turning point in the European penetration of Africa.
The British anti-slavery policy in the region involves boosting the trade in palm oil (a valuable product which gives the name Oil Rivers to the Niger delta) to replace the dependence on income from the slave trade. It transpires later that this is somewhat counter-productive, causing the upriver chieftains to acquire more slaves to meet the increased demand for palm oil. But it is nevertheless the philanthropic principle behind much of the effort to set up trading stations.
At the same time the British navy patrols the coast to liberate captives from slave ships of other nations and to settle them at Freetown in Sierra Leone.
The Nigerian Nation-state in Gestation: Conquests, Treaties and Amalgamations,
Chronologically, the conquest of Nigeria through military campaign was inaugurated by the annexation of Lagos in 1861.
When the king and his successor fail to fulfil these terms, Lagos is annexed in 1861 as a British colony.
During the remainder of the century the consolidation of British trade and British political control goes hand in hand.
1861 6 August
Lagos Treaty of Cession: British annexes Lagos, with status of Crown Colony.
1862 (January 22): Mr H.S Freeman is appointed as the first Governor of Lagos Colony.
1862 (January 1): Lagos Island is annexed as a colony of Britain
1862 (January 22): Mr H.S Freeman is appointed as the first Governor of Lagos Colony.
Samuel Ajayi Crowther becomes first African Anglican Bishop.
1877: George Taubman Goldie arrived in the Niger Delta in 1877
In 1878, Onitsha was sacked and Asaba bombarded.
George Taubman Goldie amalgamated various British ventures to form the United African Company (later known as the Royal Niger Company).
The conquest of Southern Nigeria by the British began.
Similarly, by 1884, the National African Company had concluded about thirty seven treaties at the Niger territories including Atani, Onitsha, Abo, Osomala, Ndoni, Oko, Odekpe. Internal wars among the Yoruba, caused mainly by the decline of Oyo Empire and rivalry over the control of trade, gave the British the opportunities to gain political control further inside.
Given the existing degree of British involvement, this entire area has been readily accepted at the Berlin conference in 1884 as falling to Britain in the scramble for Africa
1885: Oil Rivers Protectorate proclaimed by the British after they had defeated of King Jaja of Opobo, the Oba of Benin and subdued all prominent oil merchants of the Niger Delta.
In 1886, through efforts of British Prince of Peace Mission, led by Rev. Samuel Johnson, a treaty was signed to conclude the Ibadan/Ekiti Parapo War.
King Ja Ja of Opobo exiled to West Indies by British.
With the exile of Jaja of Opobo in 1887 his territory became part of Niger Protectorate.
1890’s: British Journalist Flora Shaw, later wife of Lord Frederick Lugard, suggests the name “Nigeria” after the great Niger River. in the late 1890s there remains dangerous tension between Britain and France, the colonial power in neighbouring Dahomey, over drawing Nigeria’s western boundary.
John Payne Jackson becomes publisher of Lagos Weekly Record.
In 1892, the United African Company fought Aguleri.
In 1893 the delta region is organized as the Niger Coast Protectorate.
1892 (19 May): At the Battle of the (sacred) Yemoja River the British wreak havoc amongst the Ijebu infantry with a British Maxim (capable of firing 2000 rounds in three minutes) thereby moving towards complete dominance in the southwest area surrounding Lagos.
On 18 January 1893
the Governor of Lagos Gilbert Thomas Carter signed, at Abeokuta, a “Treaty of Friendship and Commerce” with Oba Osokalu, the Alake of Egbaland.
Again, on 3 February 1893,
Carter concluded a similar treaty with Oba Adeyemi, the Alafin of Oyo. These treaties opened up the Yoruba country to European penetration.
1893: Oil Rivers Protectorate renamed Niger Coast Protectorate with its capital at Calabar.
British incorporate Yoruba lands in southwest into new protectorate.
Brassmen revolt against Royal Niger Company.
In 1894, Ebrohimi, the strong- hold of Nana the Itsekiri was bombarded and Nana exiled on the accusation of slave trade and interference with free market.
King Koko leads successful attack on Royal Niger Company headquarters in Akassa.
Consul-general Claude Maxwell MacDonald receives letter from King Koko offering to release hostages in exchange for redress of grievances against the Company. This request is declined.
Royal Navy counter-attacks against King Koko, razes Nembe.
In 1896, an expedition was sent against Brass and the community was sacked.
The British discovery of the use of rubber for the production of pneumatic tyre made entry into Benin forest imperative.
In a major expedition mounted against Benin in 1897, the city was sacked and its treasury looted.
1897 4 January
Covert foray of the Niger Coast Protectorate Force against Benin City is discovered and destroyed by the Kingdom of Benin.
Retaliatory Benin Expedition of 1897 leads to capture of Benin City.
The difficulty of administering the vast and complex region of Nigeria persuades the government that the upriver territories, thus far entrusted to the Royal Niger Company, also need to be brought under central control.
Beginning of Ekumeku Movement against British rule.
The Salbourn Committee on amalgamation recommended in August 1898 that the British “Niger Territories” be ultimately Amalgamated.
The British overthrow Oba Ovonramwen of Benin. One of the last independent West African kings.
British colonial rule: 1900-1960
The sixty years of Britain’s colonial rule in Nigeria are characterized by frequent reclassifying of different regions for administrative purposes. They are symptomatic of the problem of uniting the country as a single state.
In the early years the Niger Coast Protectorate is expanded to become Southern Nigeria, with its seat of government at Lagos. At this time the rulers in the north (the emir of Kano and the sultan of Sokoto) are very far from accepting British rule. To deal with the situation Frederick Lugard is appointed high commissioner and commander-in-chief of the protectorate of northern Nigeria.
Shortly after the revocation of the Charter of the United African Company, and shortly after his appointment as a British High Commissioner to establish British control over Northern Nigeria, Lugard, at a ceremony in Lokoja, 1st January 1900, hoisted the union Jack and declared the Sokoto Caliphate a British protectorate.
Although this declaration was greeted with fierce battle, by 1906 most of the North had fallen to the British imperial forces. Resistance to alien rule gradually receded as one moved from coastal areas and the banks of major inland waterways to less easily accessible areas. Hence, new political arrangements were sought by those in control of affairs.
1900 1 January
All Nigeria now under Crown rule. Protectorate of Northern Nigeria created from Company holdings.
Anglo-Aro war: The war began. The Aro Confederacy began to decline. (to 1902)
Anglo-Aro war: The war ended.
Capture of Kano
The British conquered most of Northern Nigeria, including the Sokoto Caliphate.
The British conquest of Southern Nigeria ended.
Colonial Office amalgamates Lagos Colony with Southern Nigeria Protectorate to form the new Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.
German-owned Nigerian Bitumen Company began searching for petroleum off coast.
Protests against water fees in Lagos, encouraged by nationalistic journalism of Herbert Macaulay.
Lord Frederick Lugard, Governor of Northern Nigeria, established a system of indirect rule.
Lugard pacifies northern Nigeria by ensuring that in each territory, however small, the throne is won and retained by a chief willing to cooperate. Lugard then allows these client rulers considerable power – in the technique, soon to be known as ‘indirect rule’, which in Africa is particularly associated with his name (though it has been a familiar aspect of British colonial policy in India).
Creation of Southern Nigeria Civil Service Union; later, Nigerian Civil Servants’ Union.
The second installment took place in 1914 when these territories (in the South) were administratively combined with the protectorate of Northern Nigeria, giving birth to the geo-political entity that was to be named “Nigeria” (in evocation of “River Niger” and the “Area” it flows through).
Other European powers acknowledged British sovereignty over Nigeria at the Berlin Conference.
Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated into Nigeria. British Crown gained monopoly rights over mineral extraction.
Nigerian soldiers fight under British command in World War I.
The First World War brings a combined British and French invasion of German Cameroon (a campaign not completed until early in 1916)
The Adubi War is fought in Egba Land.
National Congress of British West Africa founded in Accra.
In 1922 the League of Nations grants mandates to the two nations to administer the former German colony. The British mandate consists of two thin strips on the eastern border of Nigeria.
The rival claims of Nigeria’s various regions become most evident after World War II when Britain is attempting to find a structure to meet African demands for political power.
West African Students’ Union created.
British begin direct taxation.
New governor implements plans to expand taxation.
“Women’s War” : (Aba Women’s Riot). Women in Aba demonstrate against high taxes and low prices of Nigerian exports.
Founding of Nigeria Union of Teachers.
Founding of Nigeria Youth Movement.
Shell D’Arcy Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (later Shell-BP) granted petroleum exploration rights.
National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons founded by Nnamdi “Zik” Azikiwe.
Countrywide general strike.
Adoption of first Ten Year Plan for economic development.
Nigeria entered a period of decolonization and growing Nigerian nationalism.
A conference of northern and southern delegates was held in Ibadan.
By 1951 the country has been divided into Northern, Eastern and Western regions, each with its own house of assembly. In addition there is a separate house of chiefs for the Northern province, to reflect the strong tradition there of tribal authority. And there is an overall legislative council for the whole of Nigeria.
But even this is not enough to reflect the complexity of the situation. During the later 1950s an African political structure is gradually achieved.
MacPherson Constitution. Yoruba-aligned Action Group founded; headed by Obafemi Awolowo.
1953 1 May
Northern vs. Southern violence breaks out in the Northern city of Kano.
1954: The position of Governor was created in each region after the Federal System of Government is adopted.
In 1954 a new constitution (the third in eight years) establishes the Federation of Nigeria and adds the Federal Territory of Lagos.
Shell-BP expedition makes first discoveries of major petroleum deposits, at Olobiri and Afam.
Nigeria held a Constitutional conference.
From 1957 there is a federal prime minister. In the same year the Western and Eastern regions are granted internal self-government, to be followed by the Northern region in 1959.
Nigerian Armed Forces came under Federal control. The Nigerian Navy is created.
Nigeria holds its first national election to set up an independent government. Northern politicians won a majority of seats in the Parliament.
Petroleum Profits Tax Ordinance establishes 50–50 split of oil revenues between corporation and government. Socony Mobil receives offshore oil license.
The new Nigerian currency is introduced
Northern Peoples Congress(NPC)and Niger Delta Congress(NDC) go into alliance to contest parliamentary elections. The alliance earned the Brass Division a seat in the Federal Parliament for the first time.
(July): Sir Adesoji Aderemi becomes 1st Nigerian and 1st African to be appointed Governor in the Commonwealth. He became Governor before Nigeria got independence.
(October 1): Nigeria’s Independence Day: Nnamdi Azikiwe (“Zik”) becomes 1st indigenous Governor General. At independence, the Nigerian government consisted of three ethnic states united in a federation. Each state was controlled by a single dominant ethnic-based party.
The period of nationalism and decolonization ended.
Nigeria gained independence from Britain under Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa and President Nnamdi Azikiwe.
Independence and secession: 1960-1970
Regional hostilities are a feature of independent Nigeria from the start, partly due to an imbalance of population. More than half the nation’s people are in the Fulani and Hausa territories of the Northern region. Northerners therefore control not only their own regional assembly but also the federal government in Lagos.
Tennessee Nigeria receives offshore oil license.
Regional and ethnic tensions from controversial population census and regional mapping.
Nigeria severed its direct governance ties under Britain, marking the birth of the Nigerian First Republic.
Amoseas and Gulf receive offshore oil licenses.
National parliamentary election.
SAFRAP and AGIP receive offshore oil licenses.
Another Tiv uprising heavily suppressed by police.
Elections held in Western Region. Autumn Refinery completed at Port Harcourt; owned 60% by Federal Government, 40% by Shell-BP.
Continuous anti-northern unrest elsewhere in the nation, coming to a climax in a rebellion in 1966 by officers from the Eastern region, the homeland of the Ibo. They assassinate both the federal prime minister and the premiers of the Northern and Western regions.
A military coup guised as “exercise Damisa” led by Kaduna Nzeagwu deposed the government of the First Republic.
The prime minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Premier of Northern Nigeria Ahmadu Bello, Premier of Western Region Samuel Akintola, Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh, and upto 30 military & political leaders & officers were assassinated.
The premier of the Eastern region, Michael Okpara, the Igbo President of federation, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and the Igbo Army Chief Major. Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi are not targeted.
Successful Negotiations between Army, Maj. Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi and Maj. Nzeogwu successful and Nzeagwu is captured.
In the ensuing chaos many Ibos living in the north are massacred.
The Federal Military Government was formed, with General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi acting as head of state and Supreme Commander of the Federal Republic.
A counter-coup by military officers of northern extraction deposed the Federal Military Government. Aguiyi-Ironsi and Adekunle Fajuyi, Military Governor of the Western Region, were assassinated.
Lieutenant-Colonel Yakubu Gowon takes over as head of state
His response to Nigeria’s warring tribal factions is to subdivide the four regions (the Mid-West has been added in 1963), rearranging them into twelve states.
This device further inflames Ibo hostility, for one of the new states cuts their territory off from the sea.
The result is bitter and intense civil war, with the federal army (increasing during the conflict from 10,000 to 200,000 men) meeting powerful resistance from the secessionist region. The issue splits the west, where it is the first post-independence African war to receive widespread coverage. The US and Britain supply arms to the federal government. France & isreal extend the same facilities to Biafra.
Eastern region secedes as the Republic of Biafra, sparking bloody civil war.
Extensive negotiations took place between Ojukwu and Gowon representing Eastern Nigeria and the Nigerian Federal military government. The Aburi Accord was finally signed at Aburi, Ghana in it was agreed that a looser Nigerian federation would be implemented.
There were different accounts on what took place in Aburi. Ojukwu accused the federal government of going back on their promises while the federal government accused Ojukwu of distortion and half-truths. Ojukwu gained agreement to a confederation for Nigeria, rather than a federation.
This led to the accord being reneged upon as a stalemate was the result when the Western region led by Obafemi Awolowo and the Northern leaders threatened cessation alike.
Gowon announces further subdivision of Nigeria, into twelve states.
Nigerian-Biafran War: General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria, declared his province an independent republic called Biafra.
The Federal Military Government placed an embargo on all shipping to and from Biafra—excluding oil. Biafra quickly moved to collect oil royalties from oil companies doing business within its borders.
Shell-BP acquiesced to this request, the Federal Government extended its blockade to include oil.The blockade, which most foreign actors accepted, played a decisive role in putting Biafra at a disadvantage from the beginning of the war.
Led by Britain, USSR including others, supported the military government while France, Isreal & others, supplied Biafra with arms, ammunition, training & mercenaries.
Nzeogwu – now a Biafran Lt. Colonel – killed in action while conducting a night reconnaissance operation against federal troops of the 21st battalion.
From oil wealth to disaster: 1970-1999
General Gowon achieves an impressive degree of reconciliation in the country after the traumas of 1967-70. Nigeria now becomes one of the wealthiest countries in Africa thanks to its large reserves of oil (petroleum now, rather than the palm oil of the previous century). In the mid-1970s the output is more than two million barrels a day, the value of which is boosted by the high prices achieved during the oil crisis of 1973-4.
But with this wealth goes corruption, which Gowon fails to control.
Ojukwu fled into exile. His deputy Philip Effiong became acting President of Biafra
Effiong surrendered to Nigerian forces. Biafra was reintegrated into Nigeria.
Nigeria joins Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
1973 22 January
A plane crashed in Kano, Nigeria, killing 176 people.
General Yakubu Gowon was overthrown in a bloodless coup. General Murtala Mohammed became Head of State.
In the second half of the 1970s, global oil prices plummet. Nigeria rapidly suffers economic crisis and political disorder. Within a period of five years the average income per head slumps by 75%, from over $1000 a year to a mere $250.
Neither brief cilivian governments nor frequent military intervention prove able to rescue the situation. A regular response is to subdivide regional Nigeria into ever smaller parcels
Mohammed was assassinated on his way to work. His deputy, Lieutenant-General Olusegun Obasanjo, became Head of State and set a date to end military rule.
Shehu Shagari won election to the Executive Presidency of the American-style Second Republic.
The number of states is increased to nineteen in 1979 and to twenty-nine in 1991. By the end of the century it stands at thirty-six.
Shagari was sworn in as President.
Shagari won reelection.
Shagari’s government was ejected from power in a palace coup, marking the end of the Second Republic. General Muhammadu Buhari became Head of State and Chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria.
The Buhari regime promulgated Decree No. 4, the “Public Officer’s Protection Against False Accusation” Decree, which made it an offence to ridicule the government by publication of false information.
Buhari was overthrown in a palace coup. General Ibrahim Babangida became Head of State and President of the Armed Forces Ruling Council of Nigeria.
Babangida issued a referendum to garner support for austerity measures suggested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and subsequently launched his “Structural Adjustment Program” (SAP) in 1986. The policies involved in the SAP were:
1. deregulation of the agricultural sector to include abolition of marketing boards and elimination of price controls
2. privatisation of public enterprises
3. devaluation of the Nigerian naira to improve the competitiveness of the export sector
4. relaxation of restraints on foreign investment put in place by the Gowon and Obasanjo governments during the 1970s.
Between 1986 and 1988, these policies were executed as intended by the IMF, and the Nigerian economy actually did grow as had been hoped, with the export sector performing especially well. But falling real wages in the public sector and among the urban classes, along with a drastic reduction in expenditure on public services, set off waves of rioting and other manifestations of discontent that made sustained commitment to the SAP difficult to maintain.
Babangida subsequently returned to an inflationary economic policy and partially reversed the deregulatory initiatives he had set in motion during the heyday of the SAP following mounting political pressure, and economic growth slowed correspondingly, as capital flight resumed apace under the influence of negative real interest rates.
Middle Belt Christian officers, led by Major Gideon Orkar, attempt to overthrow Babangida in an unsuccessful coup.
Two political parties, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC) ware established by Babangida in an attempt to return to civilian rule.
Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola won a presidential election. Babangida annulled the results.
Babangida stepped down due to pressure from the Armed Forces Ruling Council. Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan assumed power as Interim Head of State.
Shonekan was forced to resign from office.
Defence Minister Sani Abacha became Head of State and established the Provisional Ruling Council of Nigeria.
The Abacha administration arrested Obasanjo for allegedly supporting a secret coup plot.
Human and environmental rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged with eight others found guilty for allegedly masterminding the gruesome murder of Ogoni chiefs at a pro-government meeting
Transforming Nigeria’s economy
Petroleum Trust Fund [PTF]
During Abacha’s regime, he established
25th March 1995
The Petroleum Trust Fund under Decree 25.
The PTF was formed to undertake major economic issues which Nigeria was suffering from at the time. Between 25-100km of urban road in major cities such as Kano, Gusau, Benin, Funtua, Zaria, Enugu, Kaduna, Aba, Lagos, Lokoja, and Port Harcourt each. A N27.3bn contract was awarded for road rehabilitation in the first quarter of 1996.
PTF had undertaken a holistic stance to support the sum of N1.328bn that was awarded to 53 pharmaceutical companies for the supply of drugs, while the importation of vaccines cost N229.9m. As at December 31, 1997, funds available to PTF stood at N115.1bn.
They oversaw the restructuring of major insurance companies that supported SME’s across the entire country.
Contrary to many views that the Abacha administration was financially shrouded in secrecy, Abacha had mandated the PTF to publicise its accounts as it was the second largest public corporation at the time. In 1997, the account of PTF showed that it disbursed N24.3bn on roads, N21.2bn on security, N7.8bn on health, and N3bn on other projects. Other disbursements include N2.2bn on water supply, N936m on food supply and N476m on education. It realised a total of N1.049bn from various investment activities.
Foreign reserve and debt
The Abacha administration became the first to record unprecedented economic achievements: an increase in the country’s foreign exchange reserves from $494 million in 1993 to $9.6 billion by the middle of 1997, reduced the external debt of Nigeria from $36 billion in 1993 to $27 billion by 1997.
No other administration before or after the inception of the Fourth Nigerian Republic had been able to achieve this.
Policy of privatisation
All the controversial privatization programs of the Ibrahim Babangida administration was brought to a halt, reduced an inflation rate of 54% inherited from IBB to 8.5% between 1993 and 1998, all while the nation’s primary commodity, oil was at an average of $15 per barrel.
Between 1993 and 1998, the country cracked-down heavily on insecurity, heavily disincentivized crime on the streets or the formation of any insurgent groups.
The Nigeria Police Force underwent a large scale retraining, The term ‘Abacha boy’ emerged after the success and efficiency of security implementation by security agents of the Abacha administration.
In 2013, The Goodluck Jonathan administration launched a recall of able ‘Abacha boy’ to rejoin the security apparatus of the country but was unsuccessful because a large portion had been retired at the time.
National Constitutional Conference
The 1994-1995 National Constitutional Conference, which sat exactly for one year (June 26 1994 -June 26 1995) had reasonable time to discuss and ponder over many thorny issues that concerned the Nigerian polity at the time. There was anxiety amongst the ranks of member of the National Constitutional Council for a handover to civilian rule at as soon as possible. The work of the National Constitutional Conference 1995 was concluded in a two volume report; of which Volume 1 consisted of the draft constitution of 1995.
Eko Hotel Meeting
In December 1996, after the dissolution of the National Constitutional Conference 1995, am all politicians summit’ was held at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Institute of Civil Society was then formed, this pressurised the government to set a date at which the transition to civilian rule will be made; it was pegged at 1 October 1998.
Provisions of the National Constitutional Conference 1995
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1995 (with Amendments)” had been finalised and was to have been promulgated by decree to come into effect on October 1, 1998. This constitution introduced some fundamental changes to Nigeria’s previous presidential constitutions (1979 and 1989) based on experience garnered over almost four decades of Nigeria’s independence, all calculated to bring together a stable Nigerian polity.
Although Sani Abacha’s early death made it unfeasible to be promulgated. Many share the view that Abacha’s untimely death on June 8, 1998 caused the lost opportunity of having the best constitution ever contemplated to fit Nigeria’s context.
Recognition of six geopolitical zones
The entire territory of Nigeria was to be categorised into six geopolitical zones;
North Central: Benue State, Kogi State, Kwara State, Nasarawa State, Niger State, Plateau State and Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
North Eastern: Adamawa State, Bauchi State, Borno State, Gombe State, Taraba State and Yobe State.
North Western: Jigawa State, Kaduna State, Kano State, Katsina State, Kebbi State, Sokoto State and Zamfara State.
South Eastern: Abia State, Anambra State, Ebonyi State, Enugu State and Imo State.
South South: Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa State, Cross River State, Delta State, Edo State and Rivers State.
South Western: Ekiti State, Lagos State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State and Oyo State.
Diffusion of Federal Executive Responsibility
In addition to the offices of President and Vice President and Ministers, the Constitution provides also for the offices of Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. The President was to appoint the Prime Minister; whom would be responsible for general administration of the government of the Federation.
Dissemination of Power
Other laws within the constituency provided for single five-year terms to all Federal and State public officers. That the Office of Governor, Deputy Governor and Speaker of the House of Assembly shall rotate among the three Senatorial districts in the state.
If the above provisions had been incorporated into the 1999 Constitution, two of the three senatorial districts of each state would have already produced governors in every state leaving the third (remaining) senatorial district to produce the Governor at the next election. All the problems that have continued frustrating the electoral process of most states in regard to “power shift” would not have arisen and all parts of every state would have been given a sense of belonging.
The six principal offices were to rotate among the six geo-political zones created, namely;
The Office of the President
The Office of the Vice President
The Office of the Prime Minister
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
The Office of the President of the Senate; and
The Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives
Had the above provisions been incorporated in the 1999 Constitution. The present controversy or argument as to which geopolitical zone or group of geopolitical zones or region should present the President in the next dispensation would have been narrowed down to manageable proportions, or be non-existent.
General Sani Abacha mysteriously died of a heart attack.
Abdusalami Abubakar became Head of State and Chairman of the Provisional Ruling Council of Nigeria and lifted the ban on political activity.
Obasanjo was released from prison.
MKO Abiola died suddenly on July 7, 1998, exactly one month after General Abacha on June 8,1998.
Obasanjo was elected President.
Obasanjo was sworn in, ushering in the Fourth Republic. Abacha’s spearheaded constitution is ignored and a new one designed.
The Nigeria we know today operates the new constitution
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