Nigeria, 29th July coup: business as usual

• Uneveness, the most general law of the historical process, reveals itself most sharply and complexly in the From the universal law of uneveness thus derives another law which, for the lack of a better name, we may call the law of combined development by which we mean a drawing together of the separate steps, an amalgam of the archaic with the more contemporary forms. Without this law, to be taken in the whole of its material content, it is impossible to understand the history of.. any country of the se- 'Finally we reaffirm this country's friendship with all countries. Foreign nationals living in Nigeria will be protected. Foreign investments will also be protected. The Government will honour all obligations entered into by the previous governments of the Federation. We will also give continued active support to the Organisation of African Unity, the United National Organisation and the Commonwealth.' BUSINESS AS USUAL in June of tnis year Brian Silk corresponding with the Financial Times of London wrote: 'Nigeria has been subjected to more progress and prosperity in the Western manner than any other country in black Africa since it emerged from the civil war five years ago. It is sad to report that as a result of this advancement the country is having what appears to be a nervous breakdown... After nine years of military government tne reinstatement of democracy is overdue....General Gowon may not be a very old soldier but the time has come for him to fade away? On July 29tn Gowon did just tnat and was replaced by his old time rival Nigeria destiny of backward countries. to make leaps. ond, third or tenth cultural class.' L.D. Irotsky History of tne Russian Revolution Vol. 1. 1930 Brigadier Murtala M. Monommed Nigerian Head of state 30 July 1975 tne hignly connected Northerner. Brigadier Murtala Monammed. In 1966 the choice of national leader to succeed the nurdered Ibo General Ironsi had been between Gowon and Mohammed. Ironsi's coup earlier in 1966 marked the end of six years of civilian rule since Independence in 1960. Ihis period was characterised by the irreconciliability of interests of the feudal oligarchy of the north and those of the business/political ruling classes of the south; a direct legacy • of Lord Lugard, who acting in the interests of British Imperialism, created Nigeria as a single state in 1914, but left the traditional centralised political apparatus of the northern muslim emirs intact, using this apparatus to cream off the surplus value through taxation. In the south, capitalist commercial activities from the time of the slave trade onwards had fostered the emergence of an indigenous entrepreneurial class based mainly on the marketing of cash crops and com modity distribution. The traditional ruling apparatus of the south had been largely destroyed Ironsi attempted to impose national unification militarily by abolishing by decree the federation of Nigerian states. The abolition of the federation led immediately to widespread rioting and acts of violence 17 JULY 29 COUP Under the whip of external necessity their backward culture is compelled against the Ibo merchants and landlords in northern Nigeria, whom the oppressed, mainly rural, Hausa masses identified immediately as the exploiting class. The Ibo/Yoruba dominated fractions of the southern ruling class exercised what indigenous control there was over the economic life of Nigeria. In the south, the growth of capitalisin had resulted in the growing proletarianisation and urbanisation of the population culminating in 1964 with a near general strike. The feudal rulers of the more populous North observed with horror the developments which, if repeated in "their areas, would mean the complete erosion of their power base amongst the rural peasantry who were unorganised and illiterate except for Koranic schooling. Hence the lack of a skilled labour force and the absence of substantial raw materials, excepting the cash crop ground-nuts, led to a lack of capitalist development in the north and a concentration of wealth in the south. However the British had undertaken to "protect' the 'majority of the population in the North and had written into the Independence constitution proprovisions which ensured a domination of the reac 18 tionary northern rulers in the Federal Government, which no amount of alliances between sections of the southern ruling class (and sometimes with sections of the northern ruling class) could shake off. Political control of the state machine remained in feudal hands, few of the development projects outlined in the First National Development Plan of 1960-1968 were started, agricultural production had fallen by 1971 to 36 per cent of the 1960 level but most importantly the apparatus capable of exploiting the now confirmed vast reserves of high grade oil was • precariously inefficient. Biafra Nigeria now supplies the USA with one third of her imports and Britain with 16 per cent of imported crude oil.. In 1966 it was essential to ensure that the exploitation of these reserves, away from the fractious Arab Gulf and nearer the imperialist markets, was not interrupted by domestic 'disturbances'. Ironsi's attempt to impose a politically stable state had led to spontaneous mass uprisings in the north which, exploited by the northern rulers, found tribal expression against the entrepreneurial Ibos. In an effort to contain the situation, Gowon, a 'neutral' from the Anga tribe which lives in the buffer belt between the Islamic North and the Christian south, was brought to power. In an attempt to satisfy all classes (a phenomenen termed "bonapartism') Gowon declared a new 12 state Federation and other reforms. The ruling class of the newly created, oil rich, Biafra took this move to its extreme and declared Independence. The northern and south western sections of the ruling. class united against the Ibo dominated Fastern ruling class and imposed the Nigerian Federation through a three year long civil war in the course of which the fragmented and weak organisations of the Nigerian working class werercompletely destroyed. nine point programme Gowon may have been indifferent to the interests of of pre-war neocolonial elite in Nigeria, but he certainly was not 'neutral' when it came to the defence and faciliation of imperial interests in West Africa. In 1970, seven months after the end of the war Gowon announced a 'Nine Point Programme' which was to have culminated in a return to a broad based 'democratically' elected civilian government after a transitional period of six years. Only the programme dealing with the reorganisation of the army was ever completed. The only part of this left to finish is the building of barracks for the whole 250,000 strong armed forces to live directly under the centralised conunand of the military rulers, not, as at present, scattered around in villages and small towns where they are subject to the mainstream peasant and working class movements. When the petro nairas (1 # = £0.70) began to materialise in the autumn of 1973 it was the military rulers and their associates, with control of the state apparatus, who branched out into new entrepreneurial ac- Brigadier M. R. Mohammed tivities creaming off millions through bribery and corruption: A post-war bourgeoisie had been created whose power Gowon refused to curb; to the intense displeasure of the pre-was Nigerian ruling class. ECOWAS In the north the political power of the feudal oligarchy was limited by successive military decrees, the traditional business classes of Nigeria were not getting a big enough chunk of the oil cake and the struggling embryonic industrial bourgeoisie saw Gowon Gowon engineer treaties which enabled imperialism to outflank them entirely. Gowon had been the leading protaganist of the trading agreement concluded at Lome early this year, which gave the imperialist powers of the EEC the right to exploit 'third world' countries. M. Cheysson on the EEC remarked, "The only answer to our balance of payments deficit is that we enter into these new market, and the only place where these new new markets can exist in the world is these developing countries.' Such a country is Nigeria; a state destined by imperialism to play the role of policeman - (Nigeria has the largest army in black Africa) and subimperialist centre for that part of sub-Saharan Africa not controlled by the other sub-imperialist centre, South Africa. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) negotiated by Gowon and President Eyadema of Togo as a direct follow up of the signing of the Lome Agreement ties 15 West African states with a tofal population of 124 million to the economic expansion of Nigeria. These states will, through the introduction of a customs union, the abolition of restrictions of trade, free movement of people, services, and capital between member states and the harmonisation of all industrial, agricultural and economic policies become virtual Nigerian colonies dependent upon her for capital and cheap labour. Nigeria's industry, being almost totally import-substition operations of the capitalist multinationals, and financial operations of which £600 million are tied up in the City of London, 240 million in the World Bank, 120 million in the International Monetary Fund and 50 million in the African Development FOUNDER MEMBERS OF 'ECOWAS' Mauritania Ivory Coast Senegal Mali The Gambia Upper Volta Guinea-Bissau Ghana Guinea Togo Sierra-Leone Dahomey Liberia Niger Nigeria already totally linked into the imperialist economy and subject to its fluctuations Whilst the ruling classes of Nigeria fretted under the yoke of the Gowon administration, they had not been able to organise 'genuinely national political parties', 'prepare and adopt a new constitution' 'elect a democratic government' or "to create more federal states', as promised under the nine point plan, the working class picked themselves up after the debacle of the civil war and started on their own process of 'reconstruction'. For them it was not important that the farcical 1973 'new census' had revealed several hundred persons per house in northern Kano and could therefore not be used as a reliable basis for a constitutional formula, or new system of revenue allocation, when housing and health facilities remained below the poverty datui levels. Living standards for the bulk of the working classes were equally dismal regardless of whether they were part of the 7 per cent of the population who 'got' 40 per cent of the total oil revenue in the southern irivers State or whether they were one of the 11 million people in northern Kano State who only got f25 million. "Eradication of corruption', another plan in the nine point programme was not achieved by Gowon and has prudently not been stressed by Mohommed. However this ubiquitous feature of Nigerian life combined with the international crisis of capitalism, the jamming of Nigerian ports with consumer imports aimed at the petro-naira swollen Nigerian market, and the delays in getting import substitution industries such as the refining of petrol at the new plants at Warri and Kaduna off the ground, had led to an inflation rate running at about 20 per cent before 'Udoji' Udoji Report 'The Public Service Review Commission' under the chairmanship of Chief Jerome Udoji announced on December 28th 1974 pay awards of up to 130 per cent for civil servants which the government backdated to April 1974. The Nigerian working classes had already had to suffer massive inflationary price increases prior to and in anticipation of the announcement of the Udoji awards. In NE State the price of yam, a basic foodstuff, had in December 1974 escalated to 70 Kobo (100 kobo=1 naira) when the basic daily minimum wage rate for unskilled workers was also 70 kobo. An explosion greeted the announcement of the Udoji awards. The Nigerian proletariat is small in comparison to the 70 per cent 19 of the population which comprises the peasantry and the percentage of the public service workers (I0 per cent) within the proletariat is even smaller. Private sector workers immediately launched a nation wide campaign for wage parity with the public sector and for an immediate return to civilian government. In early 1975 the economic functioning of the foreign and the national bourgeoisies was crippled. First to strike were the dockworkers of Lagos' jammed port Apapa who orgenised around the demand for a workers' docks management committee. The bank workers under Alhaji babs Animashaun struck demanding pay rises of 200 per cent backdated to 1973. Animashaun was immediately arrested under the 1971 Trades Disputes Decree banning strikes and lockouts. A series of 'wildcat' strikes followed, members of the Petrol Haulage Workers Union stopped work, power workers struck and in Lagos water supply workers continued working to rule after 100 of their comrades had been snatched from the picket lines by armed soldiers during a strike. Doctors who were recipients under the Udoji scheme worked to rule for more pay and for increased expenditure on the health service which in Nigeria employs one doctor for every 30,000 people. Arrests of strike leaders and militants continued. In January five militants of the Anti-Poverty Movement of Nigeria (APOMON) were arrested for alleged subversive activities, on charges unspecified excepting the one of issuing a leaflet in solidarity with the railway workers demand for implementation of the five year old 'Ani' Pay Award. The five were still in jail in June of this year despite students swearing an affidavit ordering the inspector general of police to produce one of them, Madunagu, and to show why he is being detained The six Nigerian universities weres closed by the authorities in February 1975 when students struck on the anniversary of the shooting of one of their numbers in 1970. They demanded the instant release of peopie detained without trial, à return to civilian rule in 1976 and an immediate decree against corruption with the penalisation of corrupt leaders. Market women agitated for price control and better marketing facilities. Their position as both consumer and vendor in the Nigerian working class combined with their role as mother and wife within the family provided them with a unique role in the class struggle. The first lesson they learnt in this latest round of the class struggle, a lesson also learntyby Lagos and Ibadan 20 PW.02830@ tenants was not to put their faith in military decrees. Neither the Price Control Board set up this year, nor the Kent Control Decrees have succeeded in curbing inflationary prices and rents. The government was forced to convene a meeting. of the Nigerian Chambers of Commerce and the Nig erian Employers Consultative Association which was guarded by armed troops and police with riot shields. The Udoji Awards were extended to the private sector. The working class had won an important battle and went on in the first half of 1975 to unite the five ..trade union centres, traditionally split through the efforts of the CIA through the AFL/CIO, Moscow, Britain, and the catholic chruch. Socialists and militants through the 'Workers' Unity Committee' have succeeded in uniting all these elements in the Nigerian Trade Union Federation. Ding the January strike wave embryonic 'Councils of Labour' were organised at grass roots level, but their structure floundered as their leaders were arrested. Nevertheless strikes have continued throughout this year. In Rivers State 15,000 teachers struck against poor working conditions and the non-payment of their May salaries. The working class mobilisations have had a resonance in the peasant movements. Peasant organisations around particular commodities, to get a better price for their product have been set up such as those of the coastal and riverine fishermen, the fish dealers, nomadic beef producers in the north have been struggling to preserve their rights of access to traditional cattle tracks and peasants employed in the timber trade are fighting for their livlihoods against concessions being granted to foreign enterprises. The only raw material to have expanded in production recently is oil. In every other sphere of primary commodity production has decreased and the exodus of uneducated peasants to the towns has exacerbated unemployment. The demand of industry for skilled labour has meant that the government has had to organise a 'Universal Primary Education' programme to start in September 1976. The population of primary schools is expected to rise from 4.5 million to 18 million by 1981. However with 40 per cent of the population under 15 this still means that around 30 million children will never receive any education. Further there is still massive unemployment problems for both school leavers and graduates. When the government restricted employment in the Nigerian Youth Service Corps scheme to graduates: only, there were immediate widespread demonstra. tions by other sections of the student population business as usual whose 'unemployment problem' the scheme was intend intended to solve. However whilst the education serservice in Nigeria is run to requirements of the capitalist market it is unlikely to forsee any improvement. General Gowon has not laid a firm foundation for for the implementation of the U.P.E. programme, just as he had not fundamentally altered living standards on any score for the Nigerian working class and poor peasants. The immense wealth derived from the oil bonanza had remained concentrated in the pockets of the multinationals and a new military/entrepreneurial elite. Other ruling class pockets were deprived of the tinkle of oil cash didn't even have the prospect of political pover as compensation. This combined with Gowon's failure to curb the growth and strengthening of working class organisations, hammered the the final nails into the coffin of bonapartism. Gowon had satisfied nobody except the imperialists who would be unlikely to jeopardise their investments by coming to his rescue. Mohammed came to power in a holding operation for the Nigerian ruling classes. He earned some immediate popularity by cancelling some of the most outrageous extravagances of the previous administration like the "Black Arts Festival'. He annulled the 1973 census reverting to the 1963 figure of 56 million for planning purposes and sacked all officials, notably the state military governors who served under Gowon. The commitment of the new regime to the 3,000 million Third National Development Plan announced in March this year stands firm and at this juncture Mohammed has taken a pause to sit back and rethink his strategy. The working class in Nigeria today can not afford to allow the new regime time to muster strength. Under the last wave of strikes the slogan was raised 'It's the workers' turn to govern' Central on the stage today is the question of government; who governs Nigeria in whose interests? The fragmented and weak bourgeois squabble for crumbs of the imperialist cake, they can not govern effectively. Only the united leadership of the Nigerian working class, in alliance with the peasantry is capable of acheiving unity and democratic government and of going further to the socialist organisation of Nigerian society and moreover of leading other African states to a successful socialist revolution. ( We wish to thank cde. Lulu of the Nigerian Socialist Group for information supplied in an interview during August 1975.)