“ The Economics of Nigeria ’ s Chronic Deadly Political Violence ”

Nigeria has had an elected federal government only 17 of its 46 years since independence in 1960; experiencing a civil war, 1967-70 (Nafziger 1983); persistent military repression; and a series of irregular regime transfers through overthrows, assassinations, and coups. “The consequences of frequent military intervention in Nigerian politics have been devastating – human rights repression, militarization of society and the political landscape, abuse of the rule of law, gross indiscipline, arbitrary proliferation of subnational States and local government areas, aggravation of ethnic politics, destruction of the productive sectors of the economy and monumental corruption,” (Kenneth Omeje 2006:27), and poor quality of economic policy advice.