Obasanjo I1977Documented failure· ~$200m· Chapter I · Money

FESTAC '77 — Festival Spend

Second World Black & African Festival of Arts and Culture. ~$200m capital spend on the National Theatre Iganmu, FESTAC Town (5,031 housing units) and ceremonies. Permanent legacies but a defining oil-boom prestige outlay. See the FESTAC '77 deep-dive.

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Logged here as the headline FESTAC spending line — separate from the 1974–76 Cement Armada with which it is often conflated. 15 January – 12 February 1977; 17,000 performers; 56 country delegations. The National Theatre was built by Bulgaria's Technoexportstroy at ~₦140m; FESTAC Town in Amuwo Odofin remains a residential district of Lagos. Fela Kuti's counter-festival at the Shrine and the 18 February 1977 army raid on Kalakuta — in which Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was thrown from a window — are part of the same arc.

What it cost — political & economic reality

The political and economic reality

Nigeria in 1977: who was in charge, the cabinet of the day, the GDP, and the crises that defined the period.

Head of State · Military

Gen. Murtala Muhammed → Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo

1975–1979

National reality

Murtala assassinated 13 February 1976; Obasanjo completed the transition. Universal Primary Education launched 1976. Land Use Act 1978. 1979 Constitution and handover to the Second Republic.

Crises of the period

Dimka coup attempt + Murtala assassination (1976)
'Ali Must Go' student protests (1978) — students killed over a 50-kobo fee increase

GDP (World Bank)

$28 bn (1975) → $47 bn (1979)

Cabinet (selected portfolios)

Education
Col. Ahmadu Ali (1975–78)
Education
J.O.J. Okezie (1978)

Sources · Federal Gazette · Constitution Drafting Committee records (1976–78)

Methodology

Tier 1 · primary

Courts. Gazettes. National archives.

Tier 2 · corroborating

OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.

Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged

Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.