American Politics Term Paper

American Politics

Term Paper

Welcome to Nigeria, a country that makes multiple attempts to remodel its political system after the US. I was only born there and left right after my first birthday; but seeing that my familiarity with the lifestyle is still relevant, the politics in Nigeria aren’t as foreign to me as they are to others.

Nigeria is a federal republic, which means that there is a division of powers between the national government and the government of individual subdivisions. The current president of Nigeria is Goodluck Jonathon; followed by him is Nigeria’s vice president, Namadi Sambo. Nigeria’s Constitution was adopted in 1979 and is still moderately in power. Its legal system is related to common English law, Islamic law, and tribal law. The legislative branch of the country resembles a bicameral National Assembly; the Assembly consists of two chambers of the legislature: 109 seats for the Senate and 360 seats for the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court of Nigeria is its current highest judiciary arm. Included in that judicial branch are the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, and 13 associate justices. In terms of ethnic groups, this population is extremely diverse with its vast number of 250 of them, with some groups numbering fewer than 10,000 people in it. Having gone through a series of changes within its political parties up until 1999, Nigeria now has 30 different parties under what is known as the “Fourth Republic.”

The current issue that challenges the political system in Nigeria is this organization infamously known as the Boko Haram. They are a militant group based in the northeast of Nigeria. It is basically an Islamic rebellion against the laws enforced and modern science taught in the country. The name of this group is actually Hausa for “Western Education is sinful”. Being from the Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad sect in Nigeria, the Boko Haram has been heavily involved in terror initiated bomb...