INEQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA INEQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA Edited by Henry Bienen and V. P. Diejomaoh HOLMES & MEIER PUBLISHERS, INC' NEWv YORK 0 LONDON First published in the United States of America 1981 by Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc. 30 Irving Place New York, N.Y. 10003 Great Britain: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Ltd. 131 Trafalgar Road Greenwich, London SE 10 9TX Copyright 0 1981 by Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc. ALL RIGIITS RESERVIED LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Political economy of income distribution in Nigeria. Selections. Inequality and development in Nigeria. "'Chapters... selected from The Political economy of income distribution in Nigeria."-Pref. Includes index. I. Income distribution-Nigeria-Addresses, essays, lectures. 2. Nigeria- Economic conditions- Addresses. essays, lectures. 3. Nigeria-Social conditions- Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Bienen. Henry. II. Die­ jomaoh. Victor P., 1940- III. Title. IV. Series. HC1055.Z91516 1981 339.2'09669 81-4145 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA ISBN 0-8419-0710-2 AACR2 MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Contents Page Preface vii I. Introduction 2. Development in Nigeria: An Overview 17 Douglas Riummer 3. The Structure of Income Inequality in Nigeria: A Macro Analysis 77 V. P. Diejomaoli and E. C. Anusion wu 4. The Politics of Income Distribution: Institutions, Class, and Ethnicity 115 Henri' Bienen 5. Spatial Aspects of Urbanization and Effects on the Distribution of Income in Nigeria 161 Bola A veni 6. Aspects of Income Distribution in the Nigerian Urban Sector 193 Olufemi Fajana 7. Income Distribution in the Rural Sector 237 0. 0. Ladipo and A. A. Adesimi 8. The Structure of Production and Rural Incomes in Northern Nigeria: Results of Three Village Case Studies 261 Peter Matlon 9. Education and Income Distribution in Nigeria 311 V. P.Diejomaok andE. C. Anusionwu Index 359 t Preface The chapters in this volume have been selected from The Political Economi' of Income Distribution in Nigeria. ' It was not possible to publish all fourteen chapters of that book in a paperbook edition and at the same time keep down the costs so as to be able to reach a student audience. Since there are only a relatively few recent works that deal with Nigeria's economy and political system. and since Nigeria is a country of great interest to students of developing countries and of Africa particularly, we thought it important to cull out of our wider study a nunber of chapters that examine broad aspects ofNigeria's political economy. A new introduction has been written for this edition because the intro­ duction to The Political Economy l'Income Distribution in / 'ig'eria dis­ cussed chapters that are not included here and because we want to take account briefly of some important trends that have been manifested during the last two years during which that k ork was in preparation. The original volume was the .iecond of a series of case studies carried out by the Research Program in Development Studies at Princeton University. Volume 1,The Political Economy o/'Income Distribution in Turkey has been published, volume 3,The Political Economy o/'Income Distribution in Egypt is in press, and volume 4 on Mexico is in preparation. The design and execution of the work on Nigeria were truly collaborative. Scholars from Princeton, MIT, Michigan State. and the Universities of Lagos, Ife, Ibadan. and Benin were brought together. Meetings were held in Ibadan and Lagos on three occasions where data, methodologies, and eventually results were discussed. We are especially grateful to the Uni­ versity of Lagos for providing facilities for our conference. I personally want to thank the Center for Advanced Study in the Be­ havioral Sciences. I was a Fellow at the Center in 1976-1977. During my stay at the Center, I worked on my own contribution to this volume and received excellent support from the Center's administrative and library staff. I also benefited from formal and informal discussion with Center Fellows. In 1979, 1 spent a summer month at the Rockefeller Foundation's Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy where I was able to continue work. Thanks are due to the staff and Fellows who made that occasion such a pleasant and fruitful one. It is a pleasure to once again recognize the help of the staff of the Reseat -h Program in Development Studies: Shirley Canty: Dee Wilson: Michael vi viii Preface Padulo; and, above all, Jerri Kavanagh, the RPDS office coordinator. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge the early assistance of Professor John P. Lewis, on leave from Princeton and now Director of the Development Assistance Committee of OECD. My colleagues Michael Danielson, Mark Ge.'qovitz, David Morell, and John Page were helpful commentators and collaborators at the meetings in Nigeria and Princeton. Jonathan Silverstone, Chief, Civic Participation Division, Bureau for Program and Policy Coor­ dination of the Agency for International Development has had faith all along ;n the necessity tor doing complicated and collaborative work between academics from different countries. This faith was shared by Ambassador Donald Easum. now President of the African-American Institute, who sup­ ported our project with his influence and goodwill while he was the United States Ambassador to Nigeria. I am personally grateful for Ambassador Easum's many kindnesses and for his hospitality in Nigeria. Finally, my thanks and the appreciation of all participants in this endeavor are given to my codire-?tor of the Nigerian study and the coeditor of this volume Professor V. P. Diejomaoh. He undertook the leadership of this work under difficult circumstances while he was Dean of Social Sciences at the University of Lagos. He has been a valuable participant in all of our studies and a valued colleague and friend. Henry Bienen Directnr, Research Program in Development Studies Princeton University November, 1980 Notes !. Published by Holmes and Meier, New York and London. 198 1. 2. Published by Holmes and Meier. New YorK and London, 1980. CHAPTER 1 Introduction Henry Bienen The years since Nigerian independence in 1960 have been tumultuous ones. During this twenty-year period, Nigeria was first hailed as the hope for democracy in Africa.' As the largest African country and as the third largest English speaking country in the world (after India and the United States), the Nigerian experiment in competitive party competition was given great atten­ tion. Also, there were hopes that Nigeria would provide a model for conflict resolution in a very heterogeneous society. 2 For, even by African standards, Nigeria is composed of many language groups with the three largest ones, Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Ibo composing only about half of Nigeria's population, which is itself estimated to be between eighty-Five to one hundred million people. Nigeria also has religious diversity within and between these groups. Furthermore, while language provides a point of communal reference for many people, there are many ethnic affiliations based on language dialects, lineage, and even territorial divisions that divide large language groups. The Nigerian experiment in party competition and parliamentary govern­ ment was not able to survive extreme ethnic tensions, territorial divisions, and unequal access to resources for individuals and groups. These groups were defined more by ethnic and regional categories than by occupational and income ones. Institutional distinctions proved to be critical too, as civil servants, military officers, and politicians came into conflict. Violence broke out in the Western Region in 1962-1963 and in the Tiv areas in 1960 and 1964, and was to continue at an increasing rate until the military intervened in January 1966, abrogating Parliament and proscribing parties.' Military interventir n and military rule in Nigeria have been widely discussed.' The first military government of General Ironsi itself fell in July 1966, victim to ethnic tensions in the society that interacted with the internal divisions within the military itself. Those divisions were partially based on ethnicity biv. also were affected by age and rank distinctions. The new regime of General Gowon described itself as a caretaker regime, but Gowon stayed in power until he was removed by the Murtala Mohammed coup of 1975. During the Gowon period, Nigeria fought a long and bitter civil war. The I 2 HenryBienen secession of the Ibo-dominated Eastern Region was put down and the state of Biafra ended by military struggle. In the process, Nigeria built the largest armed force in Africa. At its height the number of men under arms was more than two hundred and fifty thousand. And, fundamental changes were wrought in the Nigerian polity. The Nigeria of thc old four regions was divided first into twelve states in 1967 and then into nineteen states in 1976. The territorial basis of communalism in Nigeria was altered and the rules of the game for competition between political elites and communal groups were fundamentally changed.' The creation of more states diluted the power of the largest ethnic groups and made it necessary for political elites to make broader political appeals ol which to base their rule. The experience of prosecuting a successful civil war led to increased centralization of power and greater national intergration under military rule.' At the same time, oil production, which was interrupted during the civil war. increased rapidly by the early I970s. With the concomitant rapid rise in oil prices, vast new revenues poured into the central government's coffers. These were revenues easy to collect because they came from foreign corporations and from the government's own national oil corporation. The states were now dependent on the national government for their own financial well-being. Nigeria became the sixth largest oil producer in the world. It came to be labeled a "new influential" or regional power.