t is a bicameral National Assembly, consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives (very original). There are 109 seats in the Senate, which is devised by taking three senators from each of the 36 states, and one who represents the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. There are 360 members in the House, where members are elected by popular vote in a proportionally represented way. In both houses the members are elected to a four-year term.In the Judicial branch, there exists a Supreme Court, which is there to interpret the laws of the 1999 constitution, and the Federal Court of Appeal (a federal appeals court). The judges (not justices) in the Supreme Court are appointed by the Provisional Ruling Council, not the president, and those of the Federal Court of Appeal are appointed by the federal government itself, but under the advice of the highly regarded Advisory Judicial Committee. The Provisional Ruling Council is one of the two highest decision making bodies in Nigeria (the other one being the Armed Forces Ruling Council of Nigeria).On the local level, the state governments are also made up of these three branches (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial). The main differences of the local government are that the governor is in charge of the executive branch, and the legislative branch is consisted of state senators and the state house of representatives.Nigeria is the single most populated country in all of Africa, containing the largest area of all of the Western African states. During the 80's and the 90's, even when it was struggling near the decade change, Nigeria has always been Africa's second richest country (right behind South Africa). The Nigerian currency, the Naira, isn't even worth 2% of the American dollar ($1 = 56.71 Naira), but because of the country's rich oil, infested land, the country's GNP has risen over the past decade (ever since the world oil crisis of the 80's) and last year was 35....
