World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Nigeria

Environment

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, on the Atlantic Coast of West Africa, is bounded by Benin to the west, Niger to the north, Chad to the north-east and Cameroon to the east and south-east. The Niger River forms a large delta in the south, which is rich in oil deposits and characterized by mangrove forests and swamps. Forested plateau lies to the north of the Niger Delta, giving way to savanna grasslands, and finally the semi-arid Sahel region of the north.

History

Nigeria has been settled for millennia. After around 1000 CE, various kingdoms arose on the territory of today's Nigeria. Hausa kingdoms in the north prospered on trade between the Berbers of North Africa and the forest peoples to their south. Around 1400 CE, a Yoruba kingdom in the south-west, called Oyo, lasted nearly 500 years and developed a sophisticated political system. Kanuri entered Nigeria from the central Sahara as Muslim conquerors in the fifteenth century, setting up a capital and subduing and assimilating the local Chadic speakers. Strategically located along the trans-Saharan gold and salt trade routes, the kingdom of Bornu reached its peak of influence during the sixteenth century, covering large areas of the central Sahara and many of the Hausa city states. In addition they imposed heavy taxes on their subjects. During the 19th century Bornu lost its western Hausa territories to the Sokoto Caliphate. The kingdom of Nupe reached its peak from the sixteenth to the late eighteenth centuries. It was conquered and converted to Islam by Fulani early in the nineteenth century. Bida, the Nupe capital, was the centre of highly specialized production and large-scale market exchange. Artisans worked in craft guilds at metalwork, glassmaking, beadwork, weaving, carpentry and building.

The slave trade had a profound influence on virtually all of Nigeria. Slaves were numerous among the Igbo, Yoruba and many other ethnic groups. Many ethnic distinctions, especially in the middle belt between north and south, were reinforced because of slave raiding and defensive measures adopted against enslavement. In the 17th century, Europeans began establishing ports to participate in the trade of many commodities, and especially slaves. The trans-Atlantic trade accounted for the forced migration of perhaps 3.5 million people between 1650 and 1860, while a steady stream of slaves flowed north across the Sahara for a millennium. Within Nigeria slavery was widespread with social implications that are still evident. Conversion to Islam and the spread of Christianity were intricately associated with issues relating to slavery and with efforts to promote political and cultural autonomy. The Fulani-based Sokoto caliphate that rose across today's northern Nigeria and into Niger and Cameroon in the jihad of 1804-1808 had more slaves than any other modern country except the USA in 1860.

The spread of Islam, predominantly in the north but later also in the south-west, had begun around 900 CE. The great extension of Islam within present-day Nigeria dates from the nineteenth century. This helps to account for the dichotomy between north and south and for divisions within the north that have been so strong during colonial and post-colonial eras.

The colonial era was relatively brief in Nigeria, but it unleashed rapid and lasting change. Just the creation of arbitrary colonial boundaries themselves caused great disruption. For example, in the north-west, Britain, France and Germany divided the Bornu Empire between the four colonies of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. The British and the French disrupted the profitable trans-Saharan trade, subjecting the Kanuri to the colonial economy. Expansion of agricultural production as the principal export earner and development of infrastructure resulted in severely distorted economic growth. Meanwhile, social dislocation associated with the decline of slavery and the internal movement of populations caused the reassessment of ethnic loyalties. This has been reflected in politics and religion.

The British claim to lands in today's Nigeria were internationally recognized in 1885. Initially administered as a concession of the Royal Niger Company, from 1900 Nigeria was a formal British colony, ruled as three distinct political units: the Northern Protectorate, the Southern Protectorate and Lagos Colony. In 1906 the Lagos Colony and Southern Protectorate were merged. In 1914 the three units were amalgamated into one nation: the 'Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria'. Partly in recognition of the major ethno-linguistic differences between Igbo and Yoruba in the south, the Southern Protectorate was split in 1939 into Eastern and Western Provinces. This was given constitutional backing when in 1947 Nigeria was divided into Northern, Eastern and Western regions, a move which gave prominence to the three dominant groups: Hausa-Fulani in the north, Igbo in the east and Yoruba in the west. Each of the former three regions had minorities who formed themselves into movements agitating for constitutional safeguards against opposition from the larger ethnic group that dominated the affairs of the region. The minority 'problem' became a major political question when it became clear that Nigeria would adopt a federal system of government. Since each region was dominated politically by one ethnic group, minorities began to aspire to separate existences. This question was important in the 1954 federal and 1957 constitutional conferences. The north and east refused fragmentation, while the west supported the creation of a mid-western state if others did the same. Palliative measures included setting up the Niger Delta Development Board and the inclusion of fundamental human rights in the federal constitution to protect minorities.

Nigeria gained its independence in October 1960, and arguments over federalism continued. Ibibio-Efik and other smaller groups proposed creation of a new region between the Niger Delta and Calabar in order to end Igbo domination there, but proved unsuccessful for the time being. However, in 1963 Edo and Western Igbo were granted a separate midwestern region, reducing both Yoruba and Igbo dominance in that part of the country.

British protection of the Muslim north and their reliance on the authority of the traditional Muslim rulers, the emirs, created major problems after independence. Northern political power, a result of its large population, was combined with an underdeveloped economy and educational system. During the colonial era, Britain had given preferential educational opportunities to the largely Christian populations of the south, with northern Muslims relying to a great extent on Koranic education. Friction increased between Hausa and Igbo in the north, where many Igbo had moved as traders and business people and lived in residential areas set aside for strangers and 'aliens'. In January 1966 Igbo carried out a military coup that brought reprisals against them in the north. As a result many Igbo fled to their traditional homeland in the south-east, and northerners were attacked in Port Harcourt. Six months later another coup placed General Yakubu Gowon, a non-Muslim northerner in command. Gowon replaced the four regions with twelve new states, attempting to lessen the power of the larger ethnic groups. In response, the Igbo, under the leadership of Odumegwu Ojukwu, attempted to secede as the republic of Biafra in 1967, leading to a bloody civil war and the death of hundreds of thousands of Igbo.

In 1976 the government further divided Nigeria, increasing the number of states from 12 to 19. For some minorities this proved a boon, while other groups resented the loss of territory under their majority control. For example, the Ibibio-Efik were granted two majority states: Adwa-Ibom with a majority Ibibio population, and Cross River state, with an Efik majority. However, the creation of Plateau State in the middle belt of Nigeria led to resentment by the Hausa and Fulani, who had previously controlled the area. The new state had a Christian majority and Hausa and Fulani have faced exclusion ever since.

Since independence in 1960 Nigeria has experienced a number of successful and attempted coups and a brutal civil war, let corrupt civilian governments siphon off the profits from the oil booms of the 1970s and 2000s, and faced economic collapse in the 1980s. When his favoured candidate lost in the presidential elections of 1993, Army Chief of Staff General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the results and imprisoned the winner, Moshood Abiola. Defence Minister General Sani Abacha seized power on 17 November 1993, and the country returned once more to military rule. Abacha's junta, termed the 'Provisional Ruling Council' (PRC), marked its reign through severe repression of the opposition and media, corruption on a mammoth scale, and repeated broken promises to return the country to civilian rule. He locked up numerous opposition figures as well as military officials accused of plotting a coups in 1995 and 1997. Abacha died suddenly of a heart attack in June 1998.

Following Abacha's death, General Abdulsalami Abubakar rose to the head of the PRC and promised to return the country to civilian rule. He released political prisoners, appointed a new election commission, and paved the way for elections. In February 1999, former General Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba and Christian from the south who had led a military regime from 1976-1979, was elected president. Obasanjo's party won majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives that same year.

Obasanjo established a Nigerian Human Rights Commission, modeled on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to investigate abuses committed by military regimes from 1966-1998. Its hearings, with testimony from over 2,000 witnesses, were broadcast on national television and sparked broad debate in Nigerian society about democracy, human rights and accountability. However, apart from Obasanjo himself, many former military rulers summoned to testify refused to appear. The panel presented its final report to Obasanjo in May 2002, but the Obasanjo's government never publicly released its recommendations and there was no effort to bring former leaders to justice for crimes committed during their regimes.

Obasanjo was re-elected to a second four-year term in 2003 elections that were marred by voting irregularities. His opponent was Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Fula and Muslim who was also a former military ruler of Nigeria. Disputes over allegations of ballot-box stuffing, intimidation and other problems sharpened northern grievances against the Obasanjo government, despite its ethnic diversity.

Obasanjo's tenure was scarred by inter-communal fighting with cost thousands of lives, including at least 10,000 during his first term. Beginning in 1999, 12 majority Muslim states in the north adopted Sharia law. Northerners, including minority Christians, have been subjected to restrictive interpretations of Islam, facing harsh penalties and even violence for social behaviour deemed inappropriate by males in the majority group. The Sharia codes are particularly restrictive for women. Harsh penalties include stoning to death for adultery, the amputation of hands for those convicted of stealing, and public beatings for consumption of alcohol. The adoption of Sharia, including in Kaduna State in 2000, sparked rioting and clashes between Muslims and Christians, leading to thousands of deaths and reprisal killings of Hausa in the south-east.

In 2001, inter-communal violence, especially between the Tiv and Kuteb communities, flared in the central Nigerian states of Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa. The unrest led to hundreds of deaths and the displacement of thousands. In the south-east and south, the Igbo and minority groups of the Niger Delta expressed deep frustration at continued marginalization under Obasanjo, with Delta groups in particular chafing at the pollution caused by the oil drilling in their midsts. The failure of the government to invest in local development has caused increasing radicalization in the Delta.

Under Obasanjo, corruption continued to cripple Nigeria, preventing soaring revenues from oil production from being put to use for the benefit of average Nigerians. Most Nigerians continued to struggle in abject poverty while only a small elite prospered.

Peoples

Main languages: English (official), Hausa, Pidgin, Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, Ijaw

Main religions: Islam (50%), Christianity (40%), traditional religions (10%)

Main minority groups: Igbo (Ibo) 25.2 million (18%), Ijaw 14 million (10%), Kanuri 5.6 million (4%), Ibibio-Efik 4.9 million (3.5%), Tiv 3.5 million (2.5%), Edo (Bini) 1 million (0.7%), Nupe 800,000 (0.6%)

[Note: Except where otherwise noted, all demographic figures are taken from the CIA World Factbook, 2007. The figure for Nupe comes from Ethnologue, 1990; for Edo from 2000. Numbers are calculated from percentages using the 2006 census figure for total population, 140 million.]

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, with an estimated 140 million people. It is also a country of stunning diversity, with some 250 different ethno-linguistic groups. Demographic data are politically sensitive in Nigeria, and the 2006 census did not ask respondents for information on ethnicity or religion. Four groups - Fulani (Fula), Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo - account for perhaps 68 per cent of the total population.

Hausa and the traditionally pastoralist Fulani (Fula) peoples are concentrated in the north and practice Islam. Together they constitute around 29 per cent of the population and have dominated Nigerian politics. In Kaduna state, where Hausa and Fulani form a majority, predominantly Christian minority groups include the Katab, Kaje, Gbabyi, Numana, Kono, Kagoma and Chawai.

Most of the estimated 5.6 million Kanuri inhabit an area in north-eastern Nigeria near Lake Chad. Even though Kanuri language, culture and history are distinctive, other elements of their society are similar to Hausa. The Kanuri subsistence economy is based on agriculture, with peanuts grown as a cash crop. With much overlap, a belt of other peoples occupy the area between the predominately Kanuri north-east and predominantly Hausa and Fulani north.

The middle belt area of Nigeria, from the Cameroon highlands on the east to the Niger River valley on the west, includes some 50 to 100 linguistic and ethnic groups, ranging from larger Tiv and Nupe to much smaller language groups. (See separate entry on the Tiv) There are perhaps 800,000 Nupe inhabiting primarily west-central Nigeria. They speak a Niger-Congo language related to Yoruba and Igbo and practice Islam. They live in villages growing yams, cassava and maize and raising goats, sheep and chickens. They are noted for their weaving, metalwork, embroidery, bead making, and carpentry.

Plateau State, just east of the centre of the middle belt is especially diverse. Among the main minority groups there are Berom, Tarok, Jawara and Gemai. The state is also religiously diverse, with Christians in a majority, a sizeable Muslim minority, and many people who still practice traditional beliefs.

The south is divided into a western, Yoruba-speaking area and an eastern Igbo-speaking area, a middle section of related, but differing groups and areas of Niger Delta peoples on the eastern and central coasts. Nearly 30 million Yorubas make up approximately 21 per cent of Nigeria's population and are dominant in the south-west. There are over 25 million Igbos, or around 18 per cent of the Nigerian population. They form a regional majority in the south-east, but have faced marginalization within the broader context of Nigeria.

Edo, or Bini, are a people of southern Nigeria with a population of around one million, who primarily inhabit an area including the city of Benin in Edo state in southern Nigeria. They comprise a number of sub-groups who share the common Edo language. They grow yams and other vegetables for subsistence and cacao, oil palms and rubber for cash crops. Trade is large-scale and complex. Descent and inheritance are traced through the father's line and marriages are polygamous.

The approximately 4.9 million Ibibio-Efik form a group of six related peoples inhabiting the lower Cross River in Cross River state in south-eastern Nigeria. During the 20th century a large part of the Efik population moved from the towns and settled in farming villages in the forest. Most are subsistence farmers and rainforest cultivators of yams, taro and cassava, but two subgroups are fishers. Ibibio-Efik had a long history of contact with Europeans, in particular slave traders. Market trading and handicrafts are well developed. Ibibio-Efik society has been deeply affected by the pull of migration to Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Islam is the religion of around half of all Nigerians and is the dominant religion in the north. Christianity, practiced by one- third of the population, is dominant in the south. The remaining population holds traditional religious beliefs.

These broad patterns in Nigeria's ethno-linguistic and religious patchwork are overlaid with the complication of substantial movements of people among the country's various regions - resulting, for example, in a sizeable Christian minority in the north and a large Muslim minority in the south. The central plateau region is particularly diverse.

Although English is the official language of Nigeria, Hausa and Pidgin are the most widely spoken languages in practice.

Governance

The tenure of Olusegun Obasanjo, at times hailed internationally as a reformer, ended on a less hopeful note. Civil society organizations and many of Nigeria's peoples had long agitated for a national conference at which the country's many problems could be hashed out - foremost among them, questions of federalism and the rights of religious and ethnic minorities. Obasanjo eventually dropped his opposition to the idea of a national dialogue and convened a conference in 2005, but civil society organizations and opposition politicians roundly criticized the format, seen to be overly controlled by Obasanjo. Five months of meetings by around 400 delegates proved inconclusive.

In 2006, Obasanjo manoeuvered to amend the constitution in order to allow himself a third term in office. The idea was finally rejected in parliament in May 2006. However, international observers, the opposition and civil society organizations regarded April 2007 elections that brought his party's candidate, Umaru Yar'adua, to power, as deeply flawed. Obasanjo remains president of his party and Nigerians widely view him as a continuing power behind the presidency.

Beyond the federal presidency, under the 1999 constitution, Nigeria's National Assembly is divided into a Senate with 109 seats and a House of Representatives with 360 seats. The judiciary suffers from political influence, corruption and a lack of resources.

The constitution requires that government appointments reflect the country's diversity, but the latter remains a matter of essential debate across the country. Out of sensitivity over issues of demographics, the 2006 census did not ask respondents about their religion or ethnicity.

Minorities

• Delta minority groups
• Igbo
• Tiv

Resources

Minority based and advocacy organisations

General

Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
Tel: +234-9-6716454
Email: cddabv@cddnig.org
Website: http://www.cddwestafrica.org

Civil Liberties Organization (CLO)
Tel: +234-1-774-6694, 584-0288
Email: clo@gacom.net

Committee for the Defence of Human Rights
Tel: +234-1-497-7488
Email: cdhr@beta.linkserve.com

Constitutional Rights Project
Tel: +234-1-5848498, 1-5843041
Email: crplagos@crp.org.ng

Ethnic Minority Rights Organization of Africa
Tel: +234-1-832-218; 837-955
Email: crplagos@crp.org.ng

Human Rights Africa
Tel: +234-1-860-737

Peoples Rights Organisation (PRO)
Tel: +234-1-5845226, 1-5848419
Email: humanrightsorg@yahoo.co.uk

Women in Nigeria
Tel: +234-1-867086

Igbo (Ibo)

Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB)
Website: http://massob.biafranet.com

Delta minority groups

Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)
Tel: +234-840-233-907
Email: mosop@phca.linkserve.com

Sources and further reading

General

Amnesty International, Human Rights and Oil in Nigeria AFR 44/023/2004, 2004

Amnesty International, Nigeria: Making the destitute homeless - forced evictions in Makoko, 2006 AFR 44/001/2006, 2006

Best, Shedrack Gaya, Alamveabee Efhiraim Idyorough, and Zainab Bayero Shehu, 'Communal conflicts and the possibilities of conflicts resolution in Nigeria: a case study of the Tiv-Jukun conflicts in Wukari local government area, Taraba state,' in Aonigu Otite and Isaac Olawale Albert (eds.), Community conflicts in Nigeria: management, resolution and transformation, Lagos: Academic Associates PeaceWorks, 1999

DawoduNet: http://www.dawodu.net

Diamond, L., Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1988.
Edo Nation: http://www.edo-nation.net

'Efik.' Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 10th October 2006, retrieved 16 May 2007, www.concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9032062/Efik

Human Rights Watch/Africa, Nigeria: Dawn of the New Dark Age, New York, 1995.

Human Rights Watch/Africa, Nigeria: The Ogoni Crisis, New York, 1995.

Human Rights Watch, 'Jos: a city torn apart ' December 2001

Human Rights Watch, 'Nigeria: Military revenge in Benue: A population under attack', April 2002 Vol. 14, No. 2 (A)

Human Rights Watch, 'They Do Not Own This Place' Government Discrimination Against 'Non-Indigenes' in Nigeria; April 2006 Volume 18, No. 3(A)

Human Rights Watch, 'They Do Not Own This Place', April 2006, retrieved 16 May 2007, http://hrw.org/reports/2006/nigeria0406/7.htm

Human Rights Watch, 'Nigeria: revenge in the name of religion' Ch. 3 The conflict in Plateau State, May 2005, retrieved 16 May 2007, http://hrw.org/reports/2005/nigeria0505/3.htm

Ijaw Nation Now: http://www.ijaw.net

International Crisis Group, Nigeria: Failed Elections, Failing State?, May 2007.

International Crisis Group (2006) Nigeria's Faltering Federal Experiment Africa Report N°119, 25 October 2006

International Crisis Group, Nigeria: Want in the Midst of Plenty, Brussels Africa Report N°113; 19 July 2006

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, NIGERIA: Heightened risk of violence and displacement ahead of 2007 elections, 2006

International Society for Human Rights Genocide and Nigerian Army massacre of Tiv civilians in central Nigeria, retrieved 17 February 2007, http://www.ishr.org/sections-groups/wac/tiv.htm

Isa-Odidi, Nabila, Ethnic Conflict in Plateau State: The Need to Eliminate the Indigene/Settler Dichotomy in Nigeria 12 No. 1 Hum. Rts. Brief 21, 2004

Johnson, D. P Jnr (1999) 'Igbo' in Africana; Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience eds: K A Appiah and H L Gates (New York: Basic/Civitas Books)

Koelle, W., Polyglotta African, in Udo, E. U. The History of the Annang People, Apcon Press Ltd. Calabar, Nigeria, 1983

Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, The Ogoni of Nigeria: Oil and Exploitation, Minority Rights Group and Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni, 2003

Messenger, John Cowan, Anang Acculturations: A Study of Shifting Cultural Focus. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University, 1957

Nnoli, O., Ethnicity and Development in Nigeria, Aldershot, Avebury, 1996.

Osaghae, Eghosa E., Ethnicity and its Management in Africa. Lagos, Nigeria: Centre for Advanced Social Science, 1997

Suberu, R.T., 'The travails of federalism in Nigeria', in Diamond, L. and Plattner, M.F. (eds), Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict and Democracy, Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

UNDP Nigeria Country Office Nigeria: National Development Report 2004

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 'NIGERIA: Focus on tension between communities in Kaduna State', IRIN-News 22 November 2001

University of Maryland Minorities at Risk project, http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/data

USAID/Nigeria/Democracy and Governance Civil Society APS, 2002-2003, retrieved May 16 2007, www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2001/nigeria.htm

Igbo (Ibo)

Johnson, D. P Jnr (1999) 'Igbo' in Africana; Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience eds: K A Appiah and H L Gates (New York: Basic/Civitas Books)

Delta minority groups

Amnesty International, Human Rights and Oil in Nigeria AFR 44/023/2004, 2004
Human Rights Watch/Africa, Nigeria: The Ogoni Crisis, New York, 1995.

International Crisis Group, Nigeria: Want in the Midst of Plenty, Brussels Africa Report N°113; 19 July 2006.

Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, The Ogoni of Nigeria: Oil and Exploitation, Minority Rights Group and Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni, 2003

UNDP Nigeria Country Office Nigeria: National Development Report 2004

University of Maryland Minorities at Risk project, http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/data

Ijaw Nation Now: http://www.ijaw.net

Tiv

Best, Shedrack Gaya, Alamveabee Efhiraim Idyorough, and Zainab Bayero Shehu, 'Communal conflicts and the possibilities of conflicts resolution in Nigeria: a case study of the Tiv-Jukun conflicts in Wukari local government area, Taraba state,' in Aonigu Otite and Isaac Olawale Albert (eds.), Community conflicts in Nigeria: management, resolution and transformation, Lagos: Academic Associates PeaceWorks, 1999

Human Rights Watch,' Nigeria: Military revenge in Benue: A population under attack', April 2002 Vol. 14, No. 2 (A)

Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, NIGERIA: Heightened risk of violence and displacement ahead of 2007 elections, 2006.

International Society for Human Rights Genocide and Nigerian Army massacre of Tiv civilians in central Nigeria, retrieved 17 February 2007, http://www.ishr.org/sections-groups/wac/tiv.htm

Ibibio-Efik

'Efik.' Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. 10th October 2006, retrieved 16 May 2007, www.concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9032062/Efik

Edo

Edo Nation: http://www.edo-nation.net

DawoduNet: http://www.dawodu.net

Plateau state minority groups

Human Rights Watch, 'Jos: a city torn apart ' December 2001

Human Rights Watch, ' Nigeria: revenge in the name of religion' Ch. 3 The conflict in Plateau State, May 2005, retrieved 16 May 2007, http://hrw.org/reports/2005/nigeria0505/3.htm

Human Rights Watch, 'They Do Not Own This Place', April 2006, retrieved 16 May 2007, http://hrw.org/reports/2006/nigeria0406/7.htm

Isa-Odidi, Nabila, Ethnic Conflict in Plateau State: The Need to Eliminate the Indigene/Settler Dichotomy in Nigeria 12 No. 1 Hum. Rts. Brief 21, 2004.