The Babangida Military Regime (1985-1993) and Nigeria Development

This study has examined the Babangida Military Regime (1985-1993) and Nigeria development. The study was carried out to identify the contributions of Babangida Regime in the Nigeria development. The researcher used only secondary data which were soured from existing literature. Historically, on August 27, 1985, Major-General Ibrahim Babangida carried-out a coup d’etat against the then military ruler of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari. The main reason for the putsch was the belief that the Buhari regime had no plan to return Nigeria to civilian rule. Apart from this, the country was beset with various nation-building challenges that the junta had no clear-cut answers to. Such challenges include that of corruption, ethnicity, governance and religion. Babangida carried-out his coup ostensibly to return the country to civilian rule, tackle these nation-building challenges and turn Nigeria into a cohesive, functional and viable polity. Based on that, the major impact and progress of Babangida regime include The Political Bureau, 1986 – 1987, The Structural Adjustment Program, July 1986–1994, Mass Mobilization for Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER), 1987, National Electoral Commission (NEC), 1987, Constitutional Mechanism, The Praetorian Mechanism. This work is an analysis of the programmes, measures and initiatives that the Babangida regime used to tackle Nigeria’s nation-building challenges and prepare the country for eventual return to civilian rule.