Last year, in honor of Nigerian Independence Day, the Chicago-based Nigerian National Alliance published “Blueprint for Democracy in Nigeria,” a 76-page proposal calling for political and economic reform in the West African nation, which has struggled under military rule for most of its history. Committee members forwarded the document to the government. When there was no response, they were not surprised.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
“Even if politics have failed us, our culture provides unity,” says Cyril Ibe, secretary for the Nigerian National Alliance and editor of African Newbreed, a five-year-old monthly newspaper that covers African affairs.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and still one of the richest, but it has been in an almost constant state of upheaval since a military coup led to the assassination of the country’s first prime minister in 1966, only six years after it gained independence from Great Britain. Twenty-five of the next 29 years would be spent under military control. A presidential election in June 1993 was supposed to return the government to civilian rule, but the results were withheld by the military. The apparent winner, businessman Moshood Abiola, was put in jail one year later.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jim Alexander Newberry.
