| Nigeria's new president will have to tackle the economy Last weekend, Nigeria was electing a president. The vote was marred by organizational problems and an unusually dense presence of security forces. In the southern town of Okorobe, soldiers opened fire on a crowd of rioting youths, killing six people. There are only two real contenders for power: a retired general, former military dictator Muhammadu Buhari, and the current head of state, Olusegun Obasanjo, also a former general and military dictator.
Obasanjo became the undisputed favorite in the election race. He first headed the state in 1976 after another coup, but three years later he resigned and handed over the reins to a civilian government. By the standards of African politics of those years, this was a rare act - dictators did not have the habit of voluntarily retiring. Obasanjo later went into opposition, opposing the usurpation of power by the army. For criticizing Sani Abacha, one of the most brutal despots in Nigerian history, Obasanjo was arrested and sentenced to death in 1995. Only a powerful international campaign in his defense forced him to replace the execution with a 15-year imprisonment. He was released in 1998 after Abacha’s sudden death, which occurred either from an overdose of Viagra or from poison mixed into a glass of juice. Obasanjo won free elections in early 1999.
By that time, Nigeria was mired in lawlessness, terrible corruption and crime, and the economy was in ruins. It is alleged that during the three years of Sani's rule, Abacha amassed a fortune of $3 billion. Immediately after his death, the widow with a mountain of suitcases rushed to the airport to hastily leave the country. She was taken straight off the ramp and to this day is periodically interrogated in an attempt to return the stolen money.
During his first election campaign, Olusegun Obasanjo promised to stop the agony and quickly cure his homeland of its ills. Today, his undoubted merit is that he managed to preserve a fragile democracy. Never in the history of independence has Nigeria passed from one civilian government to another. However, the most widespread of African vices has manifested itself in the country - interethnic and religious enmity (up to two hundred different ethnic groups and nationalities live in Nigeria).
The matter is complicated by the fact that Olusegun Obasanjo is a Yoruba, a native of the south and a Christian. Almost all of Nigeria's previous rulers were Muslims from the north, representatives of the Hausa people. Northerners form the backbone of the army elite and the officer corps. And yet, things have not yet come to a national tragedy like the Biafra war of the late 60s, which claimed up to a million lives.
Obasanjo managed to achieve great success in foreign policy. Until recently considered a pariah and even expelled from the Commonwealth of Nations, the country emerged from isolation and regained its former international authority. Now its voice in general African affairs, along with South Africa, is one of the most significant. However, there is still little change in the economy - the vast majority of citizens in oil-rich Nigeria live very poorly. Igor TARUTIN |
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