Browse Cases

Showing 1-6 of 6 results

Nigerians strike to protest reduced fuel subsidies, 2003

Country
Nigeria
Time period
30 June, 2003 to 8 July, 2003
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
5.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Meghan Kelly, 29/11/2015

Nigeria, the most populous African country, is filled with oil reserves, particularly in the Niger River Delta. Oil was the main national export, comprising 98% of Nigeria’s export earnings and 83% of government revenue in 2002. Starting in the mid-1980s, the Nigerian government subsidized fuel, letting Nigerians buy oil and gasoline at prices significantly below market levels.

Nigerian children accused of being witches march for the passage of the Child Rights Act, 2008

Country
Nigeria
Time period
August, 2008 to August, 2008
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Meghan Kelly, 08/11/2015

According to 2014 World Bank data, Nigeria is a lower middle income country, where 44% of the population is under the age of 15 years old. In several Nigerian communities, local Pentecostal and Evangelical pastors have accused children of being witches since the late 1990s, including about 15,000 children in the Akwa Ibom state alone. Child witch hunts became more prevalent after the 1999 release of the film, End of the Wicked, which graphically describes the phenomenon of child witches. The film’s creator, Ms. Helen Ukpabio, leads the 150-branch Liberty Gospel Church.

Cocoa farmers in the Gold Coast successfully defend their livelihoods, 1937

Country
Ghana
Nigeria
Time period
October, 1937 to February, 1938
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
6.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Timothy Hirschel-Burns 02/08/2015

Cocoa was essential to the economy of the British colony in the Gold Coast, which is now Ghana. Cocoa accounted for over 60% of exports. However, the European-dominated trade and the exploitative patterns of trade they faced often frustrated the many Africans involved in the process. In attempts to achieve more equal relationships Africans held large “holdups” in the Gold Coast in 1924 and 1930-1931, during which they refused to sell their cocoa to European firms, but neither attempt succeeded.

       

Lagos market women campaign to remove income tax, Nigeria, 1940-1941

Country
Nigeria
Time period
16 December, 1940 to 12 January, 1941
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Lekey Leidecker, 11/11/2012

Women market workers in Lagos, an area in western Nigeria, in the 1920s were organized into a powerful group known as the Lagos Market Women Association (LMWA). In 1932, a rumor emerged that the British colonial government was going to begin taxing Lagosian women, which had never been done before, although taxes for men had been introduced in 1927 (in spite of coordinated resistance by different groups). The market women felt that a tax was unfair and that they were already struggling to make a living.

Nigerian women win concessions from Chevron through occupation, 2002

Country
Nigeria
Time period
8 July, 2002 to 25 July, 2002
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Environment
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Thomas Fortuna, 16/10/2011

In 1956, Shell British Petroleum (now Royal Dutch Shell) discovered oil in what was then the British colony of Nigeria, and by 1958 commercial production had begun. Today, Nigeria has the tenth largest proven oil reserves in the world, is the tenth largest oil producer, and is the eighth largest oil exporter; yet nearly two-thirds of Nigerians live on less than $1.25 a day, 70% live below the national poverty line, and 83% live on less than $2 a day (each of those measurements place Nigeria in the bottom ten out of countries for which data is available).

Ogoni people struggle with Shell Oil, Nigeria, 1990-1995

Country
Nigeria
Time period
1990 to 1995
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Environment
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Elowyn Corby, 11/03/2011

The Ogoni region is a highly oil-rich area in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, populated by approximately 500,000 members of the Ogoni People.  Since the Shell Petroleum Development Company discovered oil in Ogoniland in 1958, the region has been plagued with serious environmental degradation resulting from the over 100 oil wells in the area.