Meanwhile, in Nigeria...

On Wednesday, January 16, a general strike shut down the nation of Nigeria. The Western press was busy elsewhere, reporting on the billions of dollars Western nations had pledged to rebuild Afghanistan, so they missed another event in the gradual disintegration of the most populous and resource-rich nation in Africa.

The strike, called by the Nigerian Labor Congress, was over IMF-mandated fuel price hikes. Fuel in Nigeria is cheap, and fuel subsidies are about the only reliable service the Nigerian people receive from their government. It's not surprising that they want to defend the subsidies, since they provides income for people who would otherwise starve. In a nation where the average income is $300 per year, many Nigerians survive by buying up fuel and carrying it across the border to sell in other countries for a profit.

Nigeria, the world's seventh largest oil exporter, should have the wealthiest, most educated population in Africa, but that's not the case. It has two enormous problems. It owes $30 billion to the Paris Club of creditor nations; its annual debt service is $3.6 billion--nearly half of its annual budget. In addition, decades of military rule have produced an entrenched kleptocracy at all levels of government, from the generals at the top of the pyramid down to the civil servants in the villages. At least half of Nigeria's current debt load represents money stolen by former dictators and their cronies.

The Nigerian people have done without things the rest of the world takes for granted, even in some of the poorest nations in Africa. A population of 123 million people must survive on a limited amount of land, which means people migrate to cities in search of opportunities. In cities, unemployment is high while education is nonexistent, and this has produced a huge underclass of unemployed, urban youth.

In the villages, the central government is largely absent. Contracts for building roads, supplying electricity and water, and building schools and hospitals are awarded by political patronage and favoritism; one village may have running water, while its neighbors must do without. These economic differences add fuel to ethnic and cultural differences, sparking religious and ethnic riots and killings.

Nigeria has at least 250 different ethnic and language groups. In the absence of government social programs, it's the ethnic and cultural groups that provide services to needy people--when they can. Many regions are so impoverished that even ethnic ties can provide no resources for them; instead, such ties become an excuse to get together and raid or burn a neighboring village.

In the Niger Delta, where most of the nation's oil extraction occurs, environmental devastation has removed huge swaths of land from farming and food production. Five multinational oil companies have provided some Delta communities with electricity, hospitals, schools, and decent drinking water. But the vast majority of Delta villages must do without, and this has led to massive protests and sabotage of oil pipelines and infrastructure.

The one service Nigerians can rely on, however, is persecution by the military, whose human rights record is appalling. In October, for example, military units moved in to quell ethnic violence in the central states of Benue and Taraba. When they were through, three towns had been completely destroyed and hundreds of unarmed civilians lined up and shot. President Olusegan Obasanjo has not pursued the perpetrators, but instead excused them, saying that the military had acted in self-defense.

Obasanjo himself has become a problematic figure. He was elected in May of 1999 in Nigeria's first elections in 16 years. Self-described as anti-corruption, Obasanjo has purged some former military personnel and higher-level figures from his government and set up anti-corruption boards in each government branch. He asked western banks to freeze the offshore accounts of former dictator Sani Abacha, and he's trying to recover stolen funds. Obasanjo formed a human rights panel to investigate military abuses during the previous dictatorship period, basing it on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He is popular with the West, having restored Nigeria's status with the World Bank and IMF, and he routinely visits the White House and accepts Western diplomatic visitors.

But Obasanjo himself is a former military dictator, having ruled the country in the late 1970s, a period of rampant human rights violations. He neglected to change a 1966 military decree which has prevented the human rights panel from summoning former military rulers to testify, so Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam Abubakar will go unpunished. In fact, Babangida, whose wealth came directly from the Nigerian treasury, is expected to run against Obasanjo in the 2003 presidential election.

In addition, Obasanjo sponsored an anti-corruption bill that exempted himself, his deputy, and the regional state governors from investigation. Obasanjo has recently come under criticism for siphoning public funds into personal perks, like a new $78 million presidential jet, and his frequent trips abroad with a huge personal staff has cost the treasury millions. His use of the military to govern--for example, dispatching troops to break up the January 16 general strike by arresting 10 prominent labor leaders--has many Nigerians believing that the military dictatorship period is not over.

The Benue debacle in October was the worst government-sponsored massacre in Nigeria since the Biafran war in the 1960s. As Obansanjo increasing relies on the military to punish Nigeria's impoverished population, the people will respond with more violence. Eventually, Nigeria may fracture along ethnic and religious lines akin to the former Yugoslavia.

As one young, educated Nigerian put it, "We want out of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Why should we be part of a federal government that cannot build anything for us, only destroy?"

Some references for this article: "Protesters paralyse Nigeria with strike over fuel price rises," Karen McGregor, The Independent (UK), 1/17/02; "Union chief held as fuel price rise fires up Nigerians," Chris McGreal, Guardian Unlimited (London), 1/16/02; "Generals evade Nigeria rights panel," BBC News Online, 11/1/01; "Oil price fall hits Nigeria," BBC News Online, 11/7/01; "Nigerian Army Said to Massacre Hundreds of Civilians," Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times, 10/30/01; "Analysis: Nigeria's spiral of violence," Dan Isaacs, BBC News Online, 10/31/01; "Nigeria's war of terror: Women, children being mutilated in brutal ethnic conflict," Ivan Watson, San Francisco Chronicle, 8/1/01; "Nigerian ministers resign," BBC News Online, 6/13/01; "Nigeria's Oil Exploitation Leaves Delta Poisoned," Douglas Farah, Washington Post, 3/18/01, A22; "Nigeria talks debts with top bankers," Elizabeth Hunt, BBC News Online, 2/21/01; "Corruption: Obasanjo's toughest challenge," Eniwoke Ibagere, BBC News Online, 5/28/00.