As most governments do struggle when changing over into a new form of government, with hope to better its people, Nigeria is no exception. After 16 years of military dictatorship, three republics, many riots and protests, and about seven coups and/or overthrows, the new Federal Republic of Nigeria adopted a new constitution in 1999, and held honest, fair civilian elections (for the first time in almost two decades) to hopefully ease all of the religious, cultural and militant related tension in Nigeria. Only having about twice the area of the state of California, but with over *three and a half times the population (California Department of Finance, Demographic Research Unit, from the 2000 census), and having so much corruption and so little previous experience with a working system of government, and lacking any non-oppressed form of media, I think it's pretty safe to say that the new Nigerian government (the third republic) might struggle for a while, but in the long run collapse, and fail. It is just like their past two republics, that started off mimicking either the British or American style, but after a while some militant goon, thought it wasn't getting anywhere, and just took over. As long as there's a military, they will always have power, and will always have the upper hand, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.A short history: the original republic started back when the got their independence from Great Britain, on October 1, 1960, and their government was designed after the system of their recent proprietor, the UK. The independent Nigeria was compiled of three ethnic states: the Hausa kingdom, from the north, the Yoruba, which dominated the South and the west, and the Ibo, of the south and the east, all united as one federation (Jim Jones, 1998). The first republic's system was set up with a prime minister, and a parliament, which were both dominated by the Hausa's National People's Congress (NPC), which lasted a good...
