Millions will be spared future suffering thanks to efforts of The Carter Center and Nigeria's Ministry of Health to control widespread parasitic diseases such as Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, river blindness, and trachoma.
Building Hope
Obstacles such as poverty, disease, and internal violence impede Nigeria from fully realizing peace and a healthy democracy. As the most populated country in Africa, Nigeria also has one of the highest burdens of disease. In 1988, the government of Nigeria invited The Carter Center to begin Guinea worm eradication programming in the nation. Subsequently, The Carter Center has established four more health programs in the nation. The trust built during these operations led the government of Nigeria to later invite The Carter Center to also assist with democratic development.
Fighting Disease
Eradicating Guinea Worm Disease
Current Status: Endemic
Indigenous cases reported in 2006: 16
Since 1988, the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program has worked with the Nigeria Ministry of Health to spare thousands of people from suffering from this devastating disease. Dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm, is a parasitic disease contracted when humans drink water contaminated with the infected larvae of microscopic water-flea-like organisms called copepods. One year after the larvae are ingested, a worm up to 1 meter long emerges through a blister in the victim's skin, causing fever, pain, and other debilitating symptoms that prevent the victim from attending school, caring for children, or harvesting crops. In the mid-1990s, Guinea worm infections in part of the heavily populated region of southeast Nigeria caused an estimated USD $20 million in lost income to rice farmers.
In 1988-89, Nigeria was the most Guinea-worm-endemic country in the world, reporting more than 650,000 cases in 36 states. Today, incidence of the disease has been reduced by more than 99 percent, with 16 cases reported in 2006.
In collaboration with Nigeria's Ministry of Health, the strategy for eradication consists of several components, driven by health education. The goal is to change behavior and mobilize communities to improve the safety of their local water sources.
Approaches introduced to communities include: health education and nylon filter distribution; safe, monthly ABATE® Larvicide treatments of stagnant ponds; direct advocacy with water organizations; and increased efforts to build safer hand-dug wells. The program also trains and supervises village volunteers to carry out monthly surveillance and interventions.
In addition to these sweeping efforts, other activities to stamp out Guinea worm have been initiated. For example, in 2000, Nigeria held a national symposium on Guinea worm eradication in Abuja with the theme "Guinea Worm Eradication: Let's End It Now!" In an address read on his behalf by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, Vice President Atiku Abubakar announced that the head of state had released more than 5 billion naira - approximately USD$50 million - for safe water to rural communities and that Guinea-worm-endemic villages would be given priority attention. He highlighted the impoverishing nature of the disease; hence the Kanuri term for Guinea worm disease, Ngudi, "the impoverisher."
UPDATED July 2007
Click here to learn more about the Carter Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program.
READ MORE: GUINEA WORM FEATURE STORIES
- Volunteers, diplomats assemble medical kits
In the thick of Atlanta's steamy summer of 2004, more than 500 corporate and diplomatic community volunteers joined Carter Center staff to assemble crucial medial supplies necessary to eradicate the last fraction of a percent of Guinea worm disease in the world. After three weeks of bundling gloves, stuffing bags, and counting gauze packets in an unair-conditioned warehouse, 30,000 medical kits were successfully assembled. The kits are being distributed to village-based volunteer health workers in Sudan, Ghana, and Nigeria, the three countries with the most cases of Guinea worm disease. Supplies are reaching rural areas where medical attention is often unavailable. Each medical kit gives volunteers the tools they need to care for 10 people who suffer from Guinea worm disease, allowing children to return to school and parents to work. Nigeria received 1500 in early 2005.
Read more about the medical kit assembly project.
- Fighting the scourge of Guinea worm
The Guinea worm parasite causes devastating disease, with far-reaching consequences for development. But eradication, even in many remote regions, is within reach. Roger Phillips, Nigeria program consultant at The Carter Center, describes how basic hygiene and larvicide are putting an end to suffering.
Read the article by Roger Phillips, published in the April 1, 2003, issue of Humanitarian Affairs Review.
- Q&A With General Yakabu Gowon
The former military leader of Nigeria has waged a battle against Guinea worm disease in his native country.
Read the Q&A with General Gowon, published in the Nov. 2003, issue of Africa Today magazine (PDF, page 17).
Controlling River Blindness
River blindness is a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of small black flies that breed in rapidly flowing streams and rivers. The disease causes severe itching, eye damage, and often blindness.
River blindness is transmitted by black flies, which deposit the larvae of the Onchocerca volvulus worm into the body. Over the course of a year, these larvae mature within the human host at which point the adult worms mate and the female worms release their embryonic microfilariae. These microfilariae cause debilitating itching and inflammation, and may eventually infiltrate the eye where they cause damage and diminished eyesight. If left untreated, the infected person can become permanently blind.
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Nigeria is the most endemic country in the world for river blindness, accounting for as much as 40 percent of the global disease burden.
The drug Mectizan® (ivermectin), donated by Merck & Co., Inc., is the only medication that treats river blindness without major side effects. Mectizan kills microfilariae in a single, yearly oral dose, thereby eliminating the risk of blindness in the treated individuals.
It is estimated that 27 million Nigerians need treatment with Mectizan to prevent the onset of permanent blindness. Since 1989, the Nigeria National Onchocerciasis Control Program has grown from treating 49,566 persons with Mectizan the first year in operation to providing more than 20 million treatments in 2006. Carter Center-assisted programs provided 22 percent of these crucial treatments to more than 5 million Nigerians.
With offices in the cities of Jos, Lagos, Owerri, Benin City, and Enugu, the Carter Center's River Blindness Program provides direct assistance to the national program in treatment activities in nine of the 32 endemic states in Nigeria: Abia, Anambra, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Nasarawa, and Plateau states. A major Carter Center partner in Nigeria has been the Lions Clubs International Foundation SightFirst Initiative. Lions Clubs District 404, with Lions Clubs International Foundation support, is actively involved in promoting public awareness of the disease by advocating for onchocerciasis control, meeting with high-ranking officials to solicit support, and visiting communities where mass treatment is provided.
The Carter Center's activities in Plateau and Nasarawa States are unique. Using an integrated approach, The Carter Center has targeted three diseases that can be controlled by community-wide treatment: onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis. This approach makes it possible to provide medicine distribution and health education for more than one disease using the same program structure. This initiative has proven to be a successful strategy and is inspiring other programs, within The Carter Center and in other organizations, to integrate efforts.
UPDATED August 2007
See how medicine distribution and health education for multiple diseases are combined in Nigeria's Plateau and Nasarawa states.
Learn more about the Carter Center's River Blindness Program.
Miracle Medicines" - all at once: The Carter Center is pioneering 'Integrated' medical treatment and delivery systems in Nigeria for the great Neglected Tropcial Diseases: river blindness, lymphaticfilariasis,schistosomiasis, and trachoma. Read the article. |
Eliminating Lymphatic Filariasis
Nigeria is the third-most endemic country in the world for lymphatic filariasis, with an estimated 22 million cases. The Federal Ministry of Health of Nigeria, and the state ministries of health of Plateau and Nasarawa states, first invited The Carter Center to help establish a Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program in 1998. Since, The Carter Center, GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck & Co. Inc., have been working to fight lymphatic filariasis, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The aim of the program is to eliminate the disease as a health problem in the two states by 2010.
Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a debilitating and deforming disease caused by infection from a parasitic worm called Wuchereria bancrofti that lives in the victim's lymphatic system. The infection is transmitted from person to person by mosquitoes. In its severest form, lymphatic filariasis causes elephantiasis, or dramatic swelling of limbs (usually the leg) and male genitals (called 'hydrocele' of the scrotum).These conditions have a devastating effect on the quality of life of those affected, impacting them not only physically but also emotionally and economically.The World Health Organization ranks lymphatic filariasis as a leading cause of permanent and long-term disability worldwide. Annual, community-wide treatment with the medicines Mectizan® and albendazole, reduce or eliminate transmission of the parasite, thus saving the new generation from the fate of many of their parents and grandparents.
| Using the same community-based distribution strategies The Carter Center helped pioneer for fighting river blindness in Africa, and the volunteers and logistics in place in the Plateau and Nasarawa states in Nigeria, the Lymphatic Filariasis Program is helping to eliminate the disease through health education and mass distribution of the combined drug therapy-albendazole, donated by GlaxoSmithKline, and Mectizan, donated by Merck.
Lymphatic filariasis, also known as elephantiasis, is widespread in Plateau and Nasarawa states, with all cities and villages (encompassing a population of approximately 4 million people) needing health education and combined Mectizan/albendazole treatments. The program began in 2000, and by 2006 more than 3.2 million persons were treated in 3,677 villages. Health education messages are aired in radio messages in Hausa and English, as is a television documentary as part of the program's efforts to educate the population about the disease. In addition, 9,179 village health workers have been recruited or retrained to assist with lymphatic filariasis education and treatments.
As a result of the program's interventions, many Nigerians are being protected from contracting lymphatic filariasis and those seriously infected with the crippling disease are learning how to better care for themselves. For instance, the program teaches techniques on improved hygiene, which helps victims with advanced lymphatic filariasis reduce bacterial infections. A pilot surgery program for repair of male genitals damaged by lymphatic filariasis (the simple surgical procedure called a 'hydrocelectomy' costs about $30) has so far helped over 200 men have better lives.
UPDATED AUGUST 2007
Click here to learn more about the Carter Center's Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program.
Controlling Trachoma
In 2000, The Carter Center and the Nigeria Ministry of Health began working with state and local health authorities to help build trachoma control programs in Plateau and Nasarawa states, where they were already supporting Guinea worm eradication and river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, and schistosomiasis control efforts.
In 2002, a population-based trachoma prevalence survey was done in the two states.This survey helped to identify villages with high trachoma prevalence. Trachoma is a painful, blinding bacterial infection.
The world's leading cause of preventable blindness, trachoma is endemic in poorer rural communities in developing countries. A bacterial conjunctivitis that can persist for years due to frequent re-infection, trachoma inflames and scars the inner upper eyelid, leading to eventual blindness. Only cataracts cause more blindness worldwide; however, unlike cataracts, trachoma can be prevented through improvements in personal and environmental hygiene.
| The Carter Center's Trachoma Control Program focuses on preventing trachoma through health education, taught mostly to children and women in rural communities, and promotion of household latrines. In addition, other partner organizations provide trichiasis surgery (corrective surgery) to those with severe trachoma cases, and make the drug azithromycin available to treat infected persons.
So far, the program has trained more than 3000 village volunteers, health workers, and radio DJs to conduct ongoing community health education for trachoma prevention in Plateau and Nasarawa states. To improve environmental hygiene, The Carter Center assisted the Ministry of Health to launch household latrine promotion in rural communities. In 2003, 108 village masons were trained and 230 latrines were built. By the end of 2006, the program helped build 6,128 household latrines in 175 villages and trained 480 village masons.
In Carter Center intervention areas, health education sessions are conducted in the community using posters and flip charts that are distributed for use by trained community health workers. T-shirts and baseball caps with health education messages are produced and distributed to help promote trachoma prevention. In 2006, 160 trachoma health educators were trained in trachoma health education. These educators conduct ongoing health education campaigns in the areas supported by the national program's partners. Much is at stake for those infected with trachoma, yet Nigeria can gain control of the disease provided there continue to be political will, grassroots dedication to the problem, and a concerted effort.
In 2007, The Carter Center began to support efforts of the Ministry of Health to integrate trachoma control with the control of lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, river blindness, soil transmitted helminths, and malaria. Planning, budgeting, training, and evaluating will soon be conducted in an integrated fashion. Integrated interventions will be monitored for effectiveness, reproducibility, and cost savings.
UPDATED July 2007
Click here for more information about the Carter Center'sTrachoma Control Program.
Targeting Schistosomiasis
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Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease and its life cycle involves snails and fresh water such as ponds, dams, and rivers. There are two forms of schistosomiasis in Nigeria and a number of other African countries: Schistosoma haematobium (urinary schistosomiasis) and Schistosoma mansoni (intestinal schistosomiasis). Both can severely impact its victims.
During transmission, larval stages of the parasite emerge from infected snails and swim in water until they can penetrate the skin of people coming into contact with contaminated water. Once in the body, the larvae develop into adult male and female parasites which pair and live together in human blood vessels for years. The female parasites release thousands of spiny eggs, some of which are passed out in the urine (in the case of urinary schistosomiasis) or feces (in the case of intestinal schistosomiasis) to hatch in water and invade snails thus continuing the life cycle.
| In terms of socio-economic and public health impact, schistosomiasis, or "snail fever," is second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease in tropical countries. An estimated 200 million people in 74 countries are infected with the disease: 100 million of these people are in Africa.
School-age children, 10 to 14 years old, are usually the most affected by this silent, debilitating disease. Stunted growth, poor school performance, and anemia are all part of schistosomiasis, making it a great hindrance to the youth, the lifeblood of any civilization.
Although schistosomiasis is not considered eradicable, it can be controlled by one of the great miracle medical discoveries of the 1980s: the oral medicine called praziquantel. A single annual dose of this medicine will prevent a child from suffering from schistosomiasis. Now that costs of the medicine have dropped from more than $2 USD per dose to $0.18, something can be done for schistosomiasis.
In partnership with Nigerian health authorities, using the same community-based tablet distribution system pioneered for fighting river blindness in Africa and Latin America, the Carter Center's Schistosomiasis Control Program works to control schistosomiasis through distribution of the praziquantel, with health education. In 2006, the program assisted in the distribution of 152,302 treatments in Plateau, Nasarawa, and Delta states. Health education is a key element of the schistosomiasis effort, because the disease will not be eradicated until better water and sanitation reaches these communities. For now, the message is not to urinate or defecate in water, and to take praziquantel annually when offered. In May 2007, The Carter Center and the Nigeria Ministry of Health celebrated the delivery of 1 million praziquantel treatments for schistosomiasis in Nigeria's Delta, Nasarawa, and Plateau states since the schistosomiasis program's inception in 1999.
UPDATED AUGUST 2007
Read: The Carter Center Celebrates 1 Million Treatments for Schistosomiasis in Nigeria
Click here to learn more about the Carter Center's Schistosomiasis Control Program.
Increasing Food Production
Working hand in hand with Nigeria's Ministry of Agriculture, the Carter Center's Agriculture Program has assisted farmers in Nigeria with agricultural production since 1993. The program has been active in the states of Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, and Katsina. The Carter Center, in partnership with the Sasakawa Africa Association and led by Nobel Prize Peace winner Dr. Norman Borlaug, is part of a larger joint initiative SG 2000, which has helped more than 4 million sub-Saharan farmers improve food security.
In Nigeria, not only has the democratically elected government - headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo - commended the partnerships' efforts in extending crop-based technologies to small-scale farmers, but it has requested a blueprint on how to expand, consolidate, and sustain the program nationwide.
The prescription is simple: Farmers are provided with credit for fertilizers and seeds to grow production test plots. Different crops are tried to see which will be most productive for farmers. Following successful harvests, which usually exceed previous harvests by 200 to 400 percent, farmers teach their neighbors about the new technologies, creating a ripple effect to stimulate food self-sufficiency in the nation.
Recognizing the achievements of the program over the past four years, the federal Department of Agriculture directed the 33 other states of Nigeria to adopt the management training plot approach demonstrated by SG 2000.
One emphasis of the program has been to teach farmers to use the fertilizers more efficiently. For example, farmers learn to reduce the amount of compound and urea fertilizer applied from 20 bags per hectare to around nine bags of compound and two bags of urea. Farmers also are taught how to incorporate fertilizer in the soil to keep nutrients from being washed away by heavy rainfall. These methods have become more critical now that the fertilizer subsidy offered by the government has been removed.
For example, when the 2003 wet season arrived in Nigeria, farmers were faced with an acute shortage of fertilizer due to poor planning by both the federal and state governments. Bauchi was the only state that procured its fertilizer equipment ahead of the season. Having predicted the impending shortage, SG 2000 forewarned its farmers, who purchased sufficient fertilizer in time for the wet season. The season came with the heaviest rains recorded in more than three decades. In several areas, the rainstorms caused havoc in terms of flooding, which washed away several hundred thousand hectares of cropped farmland, houses, and livestock.
Yet, thanks to the assistance of SG 2000, participant farmers were still able to get a significant yield of QPM, (4.9 tilled per hectare compared to the national average of 1.6 tilled per hectare). The average cost of production was USD$354 per hectare with a net income of USD$307 per hectare. For maize conservation tillage plots, the average yield was 3.6 tilled per hectare -with the cost of production at USD$285 and net income of USD$191 per hectare.
"An important objective of the SG 2000 programme is to provide hands-on skills training for extension staff and farmers," says Dr. Ahmed Falaki, SG 2000 project coordinator for Nigeria. "During the 2004 wet season, some 1,230 extension staff and no less than 32,500 farmers were trained with the support of the state and local governments."
Another innovative approach has been to establish demonstration plots in selected schools and prisons in Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa and Kaduna states. Dr. Falaki explains, "the aim is to supplement the food that students eat while staying in hostels. We hope that prison inmates will take away new agricultural skills when they leave prison-and perhaps not offend again!" The pilot demonstrations have been encouraging and requests have been received for the program to be established at other prisons and schools.
The process of accelerating extension outreach is gaining rapid momentum. The program is receiving renewed and increased support for the consolidation and expansion of activities and in laying a foundation for sustainability.
Governor Ahmadu Adamu Mu'azu of Bauchi state has been so dedicated to the issue that the state sponsored the training of 10,000 farmers and program supervisors. He also distributed 80 new motorcycles to supervisors. In addition, all trained farmers were provided with loan packages of seed, fertilizer, and agrochemicals to establish small management training plots in maize, rice, millet, sorghum, cowpea, and soybean. The governor intends to sponsor another 20,000 management test plots during the 2004 wet season. Having set the ball rolling, the governments of Kano, Zamfara, and Gombe states have invited SG 2000 representatives for discussions on support and expansion of the project in their states for the benefit of small-scale, resource-poor farmers.
Adopting new technologies to improve crop yields is only half the battle as farmers then must find ways to sell their surplus crops. The program also helps identify local markets for these surpluses, because transporting them can be costly and inefficient. In addition, the program focuses on post-harvest technologies, including methods for processing and storing.
As a result of these combined efforts, farmers are able to get a better price for their crops, meaning they can later expand their farms or buy livestock. Overall, Nigerian farmers in this program are making a better living, allowing them to improve their quality of life. For instance, the average participant farmer's costs were USD$410 per hectare, whereas the average net income per hectare ranged between $1,300-USD$1,512. This is a tremendous achievement in a nation where the average annual income is only USD$300.
The shadow of starvation and famine looms less ominously over Nigeria thanks to these on-going efforts. It is the program's hope that fewer children will be sick or die from malnutrition, allowing them more opportunities to grow into healthier adults. Consequently, more adults will be able to join the struggle to increase food security in the nation and the region. With continued hard work like this, the future is indeed full of hope.
UPDATED JUNE 2005
Learn more about the Carter Center's Agriculture Program.
Waging Peace
Monitoring Elections
Although Nigeria is one of the largest petroleum exporters in the world, Africa's most populous nation has failed to capitalize on this natural resource. Decades of unfettered corruption, ethnic violence, and military rule stunted Nigeria's economic development. Since its independence from Great Britain in 1960 until its historic presidential election in 1999, Nigeria was under military rule for all but 10 years.
In 1993, a civilian-led government was installed, but again, the military seized power after three months. Nigeria was returned to a dictatorship, this time under General Sani Abacha, who strengthened his power by jailing and executing his dissenters. He also allowed only five political parties to exist, but all of them had to nominate him for the presidency.
After Abacha died of a heart attack in June 1998, General Abdulsalami Abubakar rose to power and instituted democratic reforms. He legalized political parties, political prisoners were released, and the press operated unhindered. Elections were called for February 1999.
Voter registration began in October 1998, just four months before the election -- a huge feat considering Nigeria's vast size and population. Registration was further hampered by the poor communications system, frequent fuel shortages that hampered transportation of voters lists, and a run-down infrastructure.
The Carter Center and its partner, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, observed voting Feb. 20 for National Assembly members. Observers, led by former US President Carter, saw a low turnout and serious irregularities nationwide, including ballot stuffing, inflation of results, and voter intimidation.
President Carter was joined by retired US General Colin Powell and former Niger President Mahamane Ousmane to lead a 66-member delegation to observe the Feb. 27 presidential election. The Center and NDI again found serious irregularities. Many sites recorded all 500 registered voters had cast ballots when observers saw fewer than 100 people on election day at those sites. One ballot box contained 500 ballots all folded the same way and all marked for retired General Olusegun Obasanjo. President Carter sent a letter to the election commission asserting the Center could not verify the outcome of the election because of the seriousness of the flaws observed. Nevertheless, Obasanjo was later sworn in as president.
The Center and NDI again called for significant changes in electoral preparations for the 2003 presidential election. After a pre-election mission in March 2003, NDI and the Center called on Nigeria's election commission to put the voter register out for public review, publicize the number of registered voters, inform citizens how to acquire a voter card, and simplify the process for accrediting election observers. In addition, the government was urged to establish a national security plan for the elections. Nigeria's pre-election period was marked by violence, including the assassination of candidates and political activists.
"Such a plan could serve as a deterrent to violence and provide a framework for resolving any conflicts as they erupt," said Dr. David Carroll, associate director of the Center's Democracy Program. "We were encouraged, though, by the signing of a code of conduct by the major political parties and urged that it be distributed and widely publicized." The Center, though, did not observe election day, April 19, 2003. Because of world events, it decided not to send staff from Atlanta overseas.
Encouraging a Free Press
Because a free press is vital to a strong democracy, The Carter Center helped arrange professional training workshops in 1999 for print and broadcast reporters in Nigeria covering the elections and political issues. Workshops focused on such topics as story structure, the media's role in free and fair elections, and how to deal with censorship and government interference. The project has been a collaborative effort of the US Information Service's Democracy and Governance Program, the Nigerian nongovernmental organization Media Rights Agenda, The Carter Center, and the DeWitt Wallace Center at Duke University in North Carolina.
Defending Human Rights
To promote peace and democracy, The Carter Center often speaks out against human rights violations. Such was the case in November 1995, when President Carter wrote to Nigerian head of state General Sani Abacha to express his "profound dismay and shock" at the execution of nine environmental and minority rights advocates, including Ken Saro-Wiwa. President Carter called on General Abacha to "release all other prisoners detained or convicted on the basis of the peaceful expression of their beliefs, to commute the sentences of other detainees facing capital punishment on politically inspired grounds, and to give full effect to the rule of law in Nigeria."
A letter also was sent to the secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations stating that the executions raised "serious questions as to Nigeria's continued good standing with the international community." Both letters were sent on behalf of the Carter Center's International Human Rights Council, comprised of leaders from around the world.
Resolving Conflicts
President Carter visited the Niger River delta in February 1999 to meet with activists, who had grown more confrontational in protesting policies and practices of the government and major oil companies operating in the area. "There is almost unanimous agreement that the people in this oil-producing region have suffered from severe environmental degradation and a lack of fair allocation of funds for schools, hospitals, housing, and other necessities," he said. "Unless resolved, the disputes could degenerate into an all-out war."
After meetings with Ijaw Youth Council representatives and elders from the Ijaw, Urhobo, Isoko, Ogoni, and Itsekiri peoples, President Carter recommended consideration of several options. They included initiating a dialogue with representatives chosen by the Delta people themselves and establishing a clearer federal oil revenue-sharing formula to allow local and state officials in the Delta region to administer oil revenues for new roads and other projects. He also suggested that a social development trust fund be administered privately with local participation to support more such projects.
Click here to learn more about the Carter Center's Conflict Resolution Program.
Election Reports
Pre-Election Statement on Nigeria Elections, Nov. 22, 2002 (PDF)
This statement is the product of the National Democratic Institute and The Carter Center pre-election assessment mission that visited Nigeria Nov. 17-22, 2002. To support the work of the delegation, a 13-person advanced team of observers visited nine states in all six geo-political zones Nov. 7-15 and conducted more than 100 meetings and interviews. The statement details the delegation's observations and respectfully includes specific recommendations to stakeholders for ways to improve the conduct of the elections.
Pre-Election Statement on Nigeria Elections, March 28, 2003
This report is the product of a pre-election assessment team organized by The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and The Carter Center that visited Nigeria March 16-21, 2003.
Final Report: Observing the 1998-99 Nigeria Elections (PDF), released June 1, 1999
At the invitation of all key political figures in Nigeria, The Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) organized election assessment and observation missions for each round of the transition process, including a 66- member international delegation to observe the Feb. 27 presidential election.
Observing The 1998-99 Nigeria Elections (Summer 1999 PDF)
The sudden death of military dictator Gen. Sani Abacha in June 1998 and the positive steps taken towards democracy by his successor, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar raised the hopes that Nigeria might end a 15-year period of non-democratic rule. The Carter Center monitored all stages of the transition, culminating in the Feb. 27 presidential election. The report details Nigeria's troubled past, transition issues, and the monitoring of the elections (pdf format).
Postelection Statement on Nigeria Elections, March 1, 1999
The Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) offer this statement on the February 27 presidential election in Nigeria, to supplement the preliminary statement of February 28.
Postelection Statement on Nigeria Elections, Feb. 28, 1999
The Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) offer this preliminary statement on the February 27 presidential election in Nigeria.
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