Political parties and leaders: political party system, which was suspended after the military takeover of 17 November 1993, was reestablished by the Provisional Ruling Council on 30 September 1996 with the registration of five of 15 competing political parties; these were the United Nigeria Congress Party or UNCP [Isa MOHAMMED, chairman]; National Center Party of Nigeria or NCPN [Magaji ABDULLAHI, chairman]; Grassroots Democratic Movement or GDM [Alhaji Gambo LAWAN, chairman]; Committee for National Consensus or CNC [Barnabas GEMADE, chairman]; Democratic Party of Nigeria or DPN [Saleh HASSAN, chairman]
International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, C (suspended),
CCC, ECA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-15, G-19, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat,
Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, MINURSO, MONUA, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPEC, PCA, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNPREDEP,
UNTAES, UNU, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Wakili Hassan ADAMU chancery: 1333 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: [1] (202) 986-8400 consulate(s) general: New York
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador William TWADDELL embassy: 2 Louis Farrakhan Crescent, Lagos mailing address: P. O. Box 554, Lagos telephone: [234] (1) 261-0097 FAX: [234] (1) 261-0257
Flag description: three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and green
@Nigeria:Economy
Economy-overview: The oil-rich Nigerian economy continues to be hobbled by political instability, corruption, and poor macroeconomic management. Nigeria's unpopular military rulers have failed to make significant progress in diversifying the economy away from overdependence on the capital intensive oil sector which provides 30% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 80% of budgetary revenues. The government's resistance to initiating greater transparency and accountability in managing the country's multibillion dollar oil earnings continues to limit economic growth and prevent an agreement with the IMF and bilateral creditors on debt relief. The largely subsistence agricultural sector has failed to keep up with rapid population growth, and Nigeria, once a large net exporter of food, now must import food. Agricultural production in 1996 suffered from severe shortages of fertilizer, and production of fertilizer fell even further in 1997.
GDP: purchasing power parity-$132.7 billion (1996 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 3.3% (1996 est.)
GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$1,300 (1996 est.)