The
Federal Republic of Nigeria
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, in western Africa, is bounded by Cameroon to the east, Chad to the northeast, Niger to the north, Benin to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Until 1991, the capital was Lagos, but was later moved to Abuja. Nigeria has a federal form of
government and is divided into 36 states and a federal capital territory. Nigeria is by far the most populated black nation in the world.
The economy is dominated by the production of petroleum, which lies in large reserves below the Niger Delta. Though this has not improve the lot of the people as Nigeria remains among the world’s poorest countries in terms of per capita income.
The
colonial era began in earnest in the late 19th century, when Britain consolidated its rule over Nigeria. In 1914 the British merged their northern and southern protectorates into a single state called the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Nigeria became independent of British rule in 1960, and became a republic in 1963.
The Niger is Africa’s third longest river and fifth
largest in terms of discharge. Several rivers of northeastern Nigeria, including the Komadugu Gana and its tributaries, flow into Lake Chad. The lake rests in the center of a major drainage basin at the point where Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon meet. Kainji Lake, created in the late 1960s by the construction of the Kainji Dam on the Niger River, is Nigeria’s only other large lake.
In 1997 Nigeria’s estimated
population was 107,286,046, yielding an average density of 116 persons per sq km (301 per sq mi).
With a birth rate of 42.6 per 1000 and a death rate of 12.9 per 1000, Nigeria’s population is growing at an average of 3
percent annually—a rapid pace, and little changed from the 1970s.
The largest
cities, in order of size, are Lagos, Ibadan, and Kano. Lagos, one of the world’s largest cities, grew as colonial Nigeria’s capital and leading port. Despite its loss of the federal capital in 1991 to Abuja, Lagos remains the country’s economic and cultural center. Ibadan, founded as a 19th-century war camp, was the largest precolonial city in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks to massive rural-to-urban migration. Other important cities include the Yoruba centers of Oyo, Ogbomosho, and Ife, the Hausa cities of Zaria, Katsina, and Sokoto; and the newer, colonial-era cities of Kaduna, Jos, and Enugu, Warri, Benin city.
Nigeria’s three largest ethnic groups, the HausaFulani-, Yoruba, and Igbo, represent about 70 percent of the population, of the remaining 30 percent of the population, about 10 percent consists of groups numbering more than 1 million members each. The remaining 300-plus ethnic groups account for the final 20 percent of the population.
Most Hausa are Muslims engaged in agriculture, commerce, and small-scale industry. While most live in smaller towns and villages, others occupy several larger indigenous cities. The majority of Yoruba are farmers or traders who live in large cities of precolonial origin. The Igbo of southeastern Nigeria traditionally live in small, independent villages, each with an elected council rather than a chief.
English, the country’s official language, is widely spoken, especially among educated people. The most common of the native languages are Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo.
Nigeria had 25 funded federal government universities, 23 state governments funded universities, and 20 privately funded universities. About 120 colleges of education and polytechnics that is being funded by the federal, state and private hands.
Popular music in Nigeria began in the late 1940s with the arrival of highlife music from Ghana. A rhythmic dance music style, juju blends Western instruments with elements of traditional African music. The government maintains several major museums, most notably tthe National Museum, which operates in Lagos, Kaduna, Jos, and Benin. . The government also maintains the National Library of Nigeria, one of the country’s largest, in Lagos. Large holdings are also found at the older universities such as University of Ibadan and University of Nigeria at Nsukka. The National Archives of Nigeria, located in Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, and Enugu, hold important historical documents. The National Museum in Jos, for example, is known for its Nok terra cottas
Nigeria‘s economy, traditionally based on agriculture and trade, changed profoundly under colonial rule, beginning in the late 19th century. The need to pay taxes to the colonial government forced Nigerian farmers to replace food-producing crops with cash-producing crops, which the government bought at low prices and resold at a profit.
Nigeria became independent on October 1, 1960. In 1961 the Cameroons trust territories were split in two. The mostly Muslim northern Cameroons voted to become part of the Northern Region of Nigeria, while the southern Cameroons joined the Federal Republic of Cameroon.
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