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Nigeria Crime, Corruption, and Political Turbulence
In 1972 Gowon partially lifted the ban on political
activity
that had been in force since 1966 in order to permit a
discussion
of a new constitution that would prepare the way for
civilian
rule. The debate that followed was ideologically charged.
Awolowo's call for a transition to "democratic socialism"
made
the military particularly nervous. The press, trade
unions, and
universities demanded a quick return to the democratic
process.
The call for new states was loud, but there was no
agreement over
how many there should be. Gowon abruptly ended public
discussion,
explaining that "peace is more important than politics."
The decennial census was scheduled for 1973. Under the
banner
"Prepare to be Counted," the military government conducted
a
public campaign that emphasized the technical rather than
political dimensions of the exercise. The procedure was to
be
supervised by a committee whose members were selected
carefully
for geographical and ethnic balance, and computers were to
be
used for processing the returns. Despite measures taken to
ensure
a more accurate count than had been possible before, the
results
once again confounded demographers: the census found that
Nigeria's population had increased by nearly 44 percent in
10
years, a rate of growth unprecedented in any developing
country.
According to the returns submitted, the north contained 64
percent of the total population, compared with 53.7
percent in
1963, a figure even then believed to be exaggerated. The
1973
census, on which representation in a new, elected
parliament
would be based, revived fears that one ethnic group would
permanently dominate the others. It also meant that a
considerable share of oil revenues would flow to the
northern
states under the existing system of allocation. The
government
failed in its efforts to sell the census as a technical
exercise
because the political implications were widely understood
and
hotly debated, despite the ban on political discussion.
The Gowon regime came under fire because of widespread
and
obvious corruption at every level of national life. Graft,
bribery, and nepotism were an integral part of a complex
system
of patronage and "gift" giving through which influence and
authority were asserted. Although the military had pledged
to rid
the government of corruption, the public became
increasingly
aware of abuses, primarily because of daily exposés in the
press.
In 1973 the federal government established a special
anticorruption police force--the "X-Squad"--whose
subsequent
investigations revealed ingenious forms of extortion and
fraud--
not only in government and public corporations but in
private
business and in the professions as well.
A major scandal that had international implications and
reached the highest levels of government and the business
community took place in the mid-1970s; it involved the
purchase
abroad of construction materials by state agents at prices
well
above market values. Rake-offs were pocketed by public
officials
and private contractors. Other scandals in hospitals and
orphanages shocked the populace, while corruption in
importing
medical drugs whose effective dates long since had expired
revealed that even the health of Nigerians was at risk.
Inefficiencies compounded the impact of corruption. In
mid1975 , 400 cargo ships--250 of them carrying 1.5 million
tons of
cement--clogged the harbor of Lagos, which had been
paralyzed for
fifteen months with vessels waiting to be unloaded. To
compound
the error, spoiled and inferior-grade cement was concealed
by
mixing it with acceptable material for use in public
building
projects. Later, buildings collapsed or had to be
dismantled
because of the inferior product. New roads washed away
because of
bad construction and inadequate controls. In these
scandals, as
in others, the culprits were a combination of Nigerian
businessmen, government officials, and foreign companies.
Few
people and few projects seemed exempt from the scourge.
Crime posed a threat to internal security and had a
seriously
negative impact on efforts to bring about economic
development.
Armed gangs, often composed of former soldiers, roamed the
countryside engaging in robbery, extortion, and
kidnapping. The
gangs sometimes operated with the connivance of the police
or
included moonlighting soldiers. Pirates raided cargo ships
awaiting entry to ports or unloaded them at the piers
ahead of
the stevedores. Drug trafficking and smuggling were
prevalent.
Punishment was meted out to large batches of convicted and
suspected criminals, who were dispatched by firing squads
in
public executions meant to impress spectators with the
seriousness of the offenses and with the government's
concern to
curb crime. These measures had no noticeable effect on the
crime
rate, however, but seemed rather to provoke a callous
public
attitude toward violence.
In January 1975, Gowon revamped the membership of the
Federal
Executive Council, increasing the number of military
ministers.
He depended more and more on a small group of advisers and
became
increasingly inaccessible to his military colleagues.
Without
broad consultation, he backed off from the 1976 date set
for a
return to civilian rule, explaining that to adhere rigidly
to it
would "amount to a betrayal of a trust" and "certainly
throw the
nation back into confusion." Public employees staged
protest
strikes in May and June that brought essential services to
a
standstill. The government responded by granting
retroactive wage
increases that averaged 30 percent, which fed inflation
and led
to industrial strikes as union members demanded parallel
raises.
The political atmosphere deteriorated to the point that
Gowon
was deposed in a bloodless coup d'état July 29, 1975--the
ninth
anniversary of the revolt that had brought him to power.
At the
time, Gowon was at an OAU summit meeting in Kampala,
Uganda. The
perpetrators of the coup included many of the officers who
had
participated in the July 1966 coup. Even the officers
responsible
for Gowon's security were involved. Gowon pledged his full
loyalty to the new regime and left for exile in Britain,
where he
received a pension from the Nigerian government.
Data as of June 1991
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