THE 1983 MILLITARY RULE (GENERAL
MUHAMMED BUHARI-IDIAGBON REGIME)
On December 31, 1983 the military removed
Shagari as President, the action of the military was very popular. The regime
had a lot of support because it had removed an unpopular government.
After a few days
in office Buhari administration declared itself an off-shoot of the Muritala-Obasanjo
military administration. It adopted the structures of governance of the
Muritala-Obasanjo era.
The Buhari
administration analyzed the problems of Nigeria as below:
(i) Corruption in high places i.e. abuse of
office.
(ii)Lack of sufficient patriotism.
(iii)
General
indiscipline among the population.
(iv)
Dependence
on foreign products and lack of prices in locally produced goods.
(v) Economics mismanagement and reckless
borrowing which increased the nation’s debt burden.
(vi)
Heavy
public expenditure on personal emoluments due to unjustifiable increase in the
number of people employed in the public service.
In order to
correct these ills, first, all the politicians of the second republic suspected
to have enriched themselves improperly were rounded up and put in detention or
jail pending the determination of their innocence. Those found guilty by
special tribunals were made to forfeit their ill-gotten wealth to government.
On discipline, the regime introduced
War Against Indiscipline (WAI). Public and private cleanliness were emphasized.
Individuals were encouraged to clean their surrounding and special days were
set aside for environmental sanitation. Heavy fines were imposed on people
living in unhygienic surroundings.
On the economy,
a firm grip was placed on it. Severe restrictions were placed on import license
and only essential commodities were allowed. Heavy duties were high percentage
of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings was used to service the debt with the
hope of an early payment.
There was a
massive retrenchment and retirement of people in the public service. A number
of decrees such as
(a)
Decree
4 which prescribed heavy jail term for publishing any information that was
likely to embrace the government.
(b)
Decree
20 which prescribe death sentence for drug smuggler etc, were made
However, some journalists were jailed under 4 and some
convicted drugs were actually executed. The indiscriminate arrested and
detention of suspects by the National Security Organization (NSO) made
everybody to live in fear, fear of arbitrary arrest and detention without
trial.
The Buhari
administration which came in as popular regime had become very unpopular and
had alienated the generality of the population within a short period of one and
half years. The regime had also alienated some senior officers because of its
inflexible posture within the armed forces. For these reasons, there was
another coup which ended the Buhari reign and brought in the former chief of
army staff, Major-general Ibrahim Babangida on August 27, 1985.
BABAGINDA ADMINISTRATION
(1985-1993)
Babangida retained the structure of
decision-making as operated under Buhari, but modified in somewhat. He added
the title “president” to the traditional title of “head of state” and
commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
The supreme
military council under a new name of “armed forces ruling council” (renamed)
remained the highest decision making body. He replaced the position of the
Chief and Staff Supreme Headquarters with that of the position of Chief of
General Staff (CGS) to be responsible for the political administration of the
country and Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) to be responsible for the administrative
functions of the armed forces. The administrative started with a strong
human-rights posture. Many political detainees were released from detained by
(NSO) were released unconditionally, public officers such as governor and
politicians who had been detained without trial by the administration were
order released or tried and those found guilty were given appropriate jail
terms or fines.
The regime attempted to govern by seeking
opinions of Nigeria’s on crucial issues such as the public debate on whether
Nigeria ought to take the IMF loan. The loan was finally rejected. The regime
also convinced Nigerians of the need to make sacrifices in order to revamp the
ailing from 2% to 20% were imposed on the different categories of workers
including the armed forces and the police. Import duties were raised on certain
items while total ban was placed on others.
There was the introduction of:
1. Structure Adjustment Programme (SAP)
2. Second tier Foreign Exchange Market (STFEM)
3. A rigorous process of a new population census
4. The political transition programme, a
time-table leading to return to civil rule. E.g. (MAMSSR) September 1987.
Other achievement include
5. Lifting off ban on party politics.
6. Creation of new states, two in 1987,
Katsina, and Akwa Ibom and nine in 1991, which are Abia, Kogi, Osun, Delta,
Yobe, Taraba, Jigaa and kebbi.
7. Establishment of two part system in
Nigeria-the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Asocial Democratic
Party (SDP).
8. Establishment of the program of better
life for rural women.
9. Establishment of the directorate of
food and rural infrastructure (DFRI) and the National Directorate for Employment
(NDE).
10.
Establishment
of the Federal Road Safety Commission.
11.
Establishment
of the people’s Banks and Community Banks.
12.
Establishment
of the Mass Transport Programme to ease the transportation problem in all the
states of the federation.
13.
Babangida
finally stepped aside for an interim government headed by Earnest Shonekan on
August 26, 1993.
The interim National Government
With the
annulment of Abiola’s victory on 12june 1993, in the presidential election and
subsequent political upheavals, General Ibrahim Babangida was force to step
aside for an unelected technocrat Earnest Shonekan as the head of an Interim
National government(ING).
Earnest Shonekan was the head of the
Interim national government and commander in chief of the armed forces. There
was an executive council that was made up of a team of secretaries (ministers)
that failed to earn legitimacy from Nigerians before it was pushed out on
November 17, 1993 by Gen. Sanni Abacha.
The Earnest
Shonekan government lasted for only three months. The status of the
administration was contested in court, and the court ruled that the government
was illegal. The minister merely kept the administration going. The government
was a failure because the ministers and the elected state governors did not
hold allegiance to the head of the Interim National Government (ING). The
government was faced with maintaining criticism on the issue of its legitimacy
as it neither elected nor military.
The government lacked international
recognition. It was set up by head of state who had left office and there were
riots, anarchy, arson disorderliness and political insecurity during the
administration of the interim national government.