Нигерия (english)

The officialname of Nigeria is Federal Republic of Nigeria. The capital city is Abuja. Thenigerian government is federal republic,independent since 1960. The civilian constitution of the Second Republic, witha US-style president, senate and house of representatives, was suspended whenthe military took over on December 31, 1983.The populationis more than 100 millions of people. More than 50 of them are Christians, andless than 45 are Muslims.The official language of Negeria is English, butthere also exist a variety of local languages.The coastline,much of it bordered by mangrove swamp, is intersected by numerious creeks the southeast coast,dominated by the Niger river delta, is the location of the offshore oilreserves.

Inland lies an area of tropical rain forest nd bush. Savannah andwoodland cover much of the central upland area the Jos plateau is thewatershed of hundreds of streams and rivers flowing as far as Lake Chad and theNiger and Benue rivers.The far north, bordering with Sahara, is mainlysavannah.

Spectacular highlands line the eastern border with Cameroon.Thehighest point is Vogel peak of 2040 meters, and total area is over 924000 sqkm. Democraticallyelected governments have so far proved unequal to the task of managing thisunruly nation of more than 100 millions people civilians have ruled for atotal of only 10 years since independence in 1960. The most recent civiliangovernment, that of President Shehu Shagari, lasted four years before themilitary took power again in 1983. The idealistic and rigid General MuhammaduBuhari was in turn replaced in a bloodless coup two years later by the moregenial and pragmatic General Ibrahim Babangida.Babangida stask was made more complex by the collapse of oil prices in early 1986. Oilearnings, which accounted over 97 of export revenue, were halved to 6.1bn injust one year.Oil productionstarted in the late 1950s, rising steadily tp apeak of 2.4m barrels a day atthe start of 1980s. Agriculture was neglected and construction boomed as theoil money flowed in. Cocoa exports were halved, cotton and groundnut exportsall but ceased and the public developed a taste for new imported foods.

Foreigncontractors lined up to build the oil refineries, steel works and vehicleassembly lines that were to ensure Nigeria s industrial future.By themid-1980s Nigeria was saddled with foreign debt of 26bn with few of itsinvestments in industry or infrastructure starting to pay their way. TheBabangida government lost little time in introducing drastic policy changes.Inessential and many essential imports were banned, agricultural marketing wasput into private hands, a foreign exchange auction system was introduced,resulting in a rapid devaluation of the overvalued naira, and an extensiveprogramme of privatization was announced.

The government s econoic measureswere generally in accordance with IMF recommendations although negotiationsabout conditional fund loans had broken down. The realtionship between Nigeriaand its creditors has been a rocky one, but many foreign aid donors have beensympathetic to its aims and large loans from bodies like the World Bank havvehelped ease the path to reform.The newpolicies soon started to show results.

Cash-crop exports revived, as didproduction of traditional food crops.

Industry bore the brunt of recession andthe constraints of inports, and was working at barely 30 of capacity in 1988.For the Nigerian in he street, economic adjustment has meant high unemployment,rising inflation and a general decline in living standarts.With itseconomic reforms under way, the Babangida government is talking of a return tocivilian ruke in 1992. To this end, it has set out a complex timetable ofregional and legislatie elections, from which all former politicians have beenexcluded.