Who rules Nigeria?

This project is a policy-oriented study on the political economy of Nigeria, describing the process of elite formation and exploring the characteristics of its ruling elite: its interests and the connections between them, position the ruling elite along Nigeria’s basic socio-cultural cleavages (north-south, geopolitical zones, religion and ethnicity) and along economic cleavages (rural-urban and income differences, class, occupation, and insiders-outsiders in terms of patronage and favoritism)., and explore a number of topics directly related to the economic interests of the ruling elite and to the role the country’s vast oil wealth plays in elite formation.

The study is commissioned by NOREF on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.