Word: nigeria
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...Babangida confronted rebellious army officers in Lagos during an attempted coup and persuaded them to surrender. It was he too who masterminded the army coup that, on the last day of 1983, toppled Shehu Shagari, the civilian President whose winking acceptance of endemic corruption had helped plunge oil-rich Nigeria into a still continuing spiral of poverty. Last week Babangida was in the vanguard of yet another takeover, only this time he took the prize for himself. In a carefully planned coup, the short, stocky general from central Nigeria was installed as President of Africa's most populous country...
...announcement that Army Chief of Staff Babangida, 44, had deposed the government leader Major General Mohammed Buhari without bloodshed caused only moderate surprise among Nigeria's 90 million citizens. Deposed with Buhari was his top aide, Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, who occupied the unofficial post of Vice President. Nigerians had watched despairingly as the Buhari regime's promises to revive the economy and wipe out rampant corruption withered during 20 months of heavy-handed, largely ineffective rule. Last May, Buhari ordered the brutal expulsion of 700,000 illegal immigrants from neighboring African states, jailed hundreds of political opponents and muzzled...
...secret police. Radio Lagos reported he had also approved the appointment of 28 military and police officers to the governing Armed Forces Ruling Council. Perhaps the most important promise made by the new military leaders was to reopen stalled talks with the International Monetary Fund on rescheduling Nigeria's unmanageable foreign debt, now estimated to be $22 billion to $25 billion. Half of all Nigeria's annual oil revenues ($12.4 billion in 1984), which account for 95% of its total export earnings, are believed to be sucked up by interest payments on the debt. Moreover, as the world price...
During the 1970s, on the strength of its oil revenues, Nigeria launched ill- planned, multibillion-dollar public works projects, such as the construction of a proposed new capital city at Abuja and numerous petrochemical plants. When the country's foreign debt ballooned, many of these were left unfinished. Once Africa's leading food exporter, Nigeria became a net importer as farmers abandoned the land for the promise of lucrative jobs in the oil industry. As a result, shortages of basic commodities quickly developed. The Shagari regime's tolerance of corruption only added to the country's woes. In 1983 alone...
...soldiers as a cost-cutting measure. The cashiered troops reportedly began terrorizing and looting the countryside. Babangida indicated his dissatisfaction with Buhari in a rare speech this year in which he warned, "Those who advocate less spending on defense cannot win." He also proposed supplementing oil revenues by turning Nigeria into a major arms-manufacturing country...