(a)Name the five political leaders who contested the 1979 presidential elections in Nigeria.
(b) Highlight five reasons for the failure of the Second Republic.

This was a fairly popular question. Except for a few candidates, most of those who attempted this question produced correct answers in (a) part and also correctly identified some of the relevant points for the (b) part of the question. The overall performance in the question was above average. The points expected included:
(i)bribery and corruption was very pronounced at all levels;
(ii)the neglect of agriculture which led to mass importation of foodstuff;
(iii)poor planning of the economy gave rise to large scale unemployment;
(iv)sharp increase in the number of educational institutions which contributed to poorly staffed and equipped schools which contributed to a lowering of standards at all levels;                                
(v)Inter and intra party rivalry;
(vi)the funds voted for the activities of River Basin Authorities were embezzled;
(vii)the hurried movement to Abuja with its attendant indiscriminate award of contracts also depleted government funds.