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Country Commercial Guides for FY 2000: Nigeria Report prepared by U.S. Embassy Abuja, released July 1999 Note*

CHAPTER III: POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

Civilian government returned to Nigeria on May 29, 1999 with the swearing-in of former general, Olusegun Obasanjo, thus ending nearly 16 years of military rule. The military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, which came to power after former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida annulled the 1993 presidential election intended to restore civilian rule, ended with Abacha's death (of apparently natural causes) on June 8, 1998. Abacha's reign was arguably the most corrupt and repressive in the country's history. Following Abacha's death, General Abdulsalami Abubakar quickly announced the scrapping of Abacha's program to set himself up as a civilian ruler, and established a program designed to restore civilian rule.

A series of four elections took place between December 1998 and February 1999 to establish local, state and federal governments. Although the elections were marred by serious irregularities in some parts of the country, it was clear that Obasanjo won the presidential election. Obasanjo's rival in the presidential contest, Chief Olu Falae, filed a court case against the proceedings, but then dropped it later when it was obvious that there was little support for an effort that might annul the election and return the country to the situation that prevailed when Babangida annulled the 1993 vote.

The United States, the Commonwealth and the European Union had imposed a variety of sanctions against the Abacha regime, especially following the 1995 execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other dissidents rom the Ogoni ethnic group. Almost all these restrictions ended with the return of civilian rule, including training and assistance to reform Nigeria's military. The United States decertified Nigeria in 1994 because of lack of cooperation in controlling narcotics trafficking; Washington waived the decertification for one year in 1999 in order to be able to provide assistance to the fledgling civilian government.

POLITICAL VIOLENCE - NIGER DELTA TROUBLES

The problems in the oil producing Niger Delta region are the most serious internal tensions facing the new government. Although some of the inter-ethnic rivalries in the region go back centuries, many of them are the results of efforts by the Abacha regime to increase tension in order to force people to rely on General Abacha as a strong man who could suppress violence. For example, in two different locations in Delta State the Abacha regime moved local government headquarters from one ethnic group's territory to that of its rival, spawning violent disputes in which at least 2000 have died and many more have been forced off their land since 1997. High unemployment levels among young men in the oil-producing Niger Delta region have exacerbated the area's inter-ethnic tensions. Clearly economic growth outside the oil sector is a key to solving the unemployment problem that lies at the heart of the tensions in the Delta. Agricultural development, especially in neglected products such as rice, is the sector that provides the greatest potential for the creation of new jobs in the region.

President Obasanjo in his inaugural address promised to visit the Delta early in his tenure, and promised to support a comprehensive development plan for the region, a key concern of Delta leaders. The U.S. Embassy has sought to play a facilitative role in bringing together community leaders, the private sector and government in order to produce a general agreement on how to produce peace.