71 Facts About Nigeria

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa.

Nigeria is a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located.

The largest city in Nigeria is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the second-largest in Africa.

Nigeria has been home to several indigenous pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC, with the Nok civilization in the 15th century BC, marking the first internal unification in the country.

Nigeria became a formally independent federation on 1 October, 1960.

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Nigeria is a multinational state inhabited by more than 250 ethnic groups speaking 500 distinct languages, all identifying with a wide variety of cultures.

Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north, and Christians, who live mostly in the south; indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities, are in the minority.

Nigeria is a regional power in Africa, a middle power in international affairs, and is an emerging global power.

Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa owing to its large population and economy and is considered to be an emerging market by the World Bank.

Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, NAM, the Economic Community of West African States, and OPEC.

Name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country.

Nigeria has more than 250 ethnic groups, with varying languages and customs, creating a country of rich ethnic diversity.

The Middle Belt of Nigeria is known for its diversity of ethnic groups, including the Atyap, Berom, Goemai, Igala, Kofyar, Pyem, and Tiv.

The official population count of each of Nigeria's ethnicities is disputed as members of different ethnic groups believe the census is rigged to give a particular group numerical superiority.

Many ex-slaves came to Nigeria following the emancipation of slaves in the Americas.

The official language of Nigeria, English, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country, owing to the influence of British colonisation which ended in 1960.

Major languages spoken in Nigeria represent three major families of languages of Africa: the majority are Niger-Congo languages, such as Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio, Ijaw, Fulfulde, Ogoni, and Edo.

Nigeria is a religiously diverse society, with Islam and Christianity being the most widely professed religions.

The Christian share of Nigeria's population is on the decline because of the lower fertility rate compared to Muslims in the country.

The middle belt of Nigeria contains the largest number of minority ethnic groups in Nigeria, who were found to be mostly Christians and members of traditional religions, with a small proportion of Muslims.

The vast majority of Muslims in Nigeria are Sunni belonging to the Maliki school of jurisprudence; however, a sizeable minority belongs to Shafi Madhhab.

Nigeria has become an African hub for the Grail Movement and the Hare Krishnas, and the largest temple of the Eckankar religion is in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, with a total capacity of 10, 000.

Evidence of iron smelting has been excavated at sites in the Nsukka region of southeast Nigeria: dating to 2000 BC at the site of Lejja and to 750 BC and at the site of Opi.

Yoruba kingdoms of Ife and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th centuries, respectively.

Slave routes were established throughout Nigeria linking the hinterland areas with the major coastal ports.

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Administratively, Nigeria remained divided into the Northern and Southern Protectorates and Lagos Colony.

For instance, northern Nigeria did not outlaw slavery until 1936 whilst in other parts of Nigeria, slavery was abolished soon after colonialism.

Nigeria legalized the formation of political parties and formed the two-party system with the Social Democratic Party and National Republican Convention ahead of the 1992 general elections.

Nigeria looted money to offshore accounts in western European banks and defeated coup plots by arresting and bribing generals and politicians.

Nigeria moved the Ministry of Defence from Lagos to Abuja and ensured that it was placed under more direct government control.

Nigeria is a federal republic modelled after the United States, with executive power exercised by the President.

Nigeria has its own constitution which was established on 29 May 1999.

English law in Nigeria is derived from the colonial Nigeria, while common law is a development from its post colonial independence.

Nigeria backed the African National Congress by taking a committed tough line about the South African government.

Nigeria was a founding member of the Organisation for African Unity and has tremendous influence in West Africa and Africa on the whole.

Nigeria founded regional cooperative efforts in West Africa, functioning as the standard-bearer for the Economic Community of West African States and ECOMOG (especially during the Liberia and Sierra Leone civil wars) - which are economic and military organizations, respectively.

Nigeria supported several Pan-African and pro-self government causes in the 1970s, including garnering support for Angola's MPLA, SWAPO in Namibia, and aiding opposition to the minority governments of Portuguese Mozambique, and Rhodesia.

Nigeria is a member of the International Criminal Court and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Nigeria has remained a key player in the international oil industry since the 1970s and maintains membership in OPEC, which it joined in July 1971.

Nigeria is divided into thirty-six states and one Federal Capital Territory, which are further sub-divided into 774 local government areas.

Nigeria has five cities with a population of over a million: Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Benin City and Port Harcourt.

Nigeria is covered by three types of vegetation: forests, savannahs (insignificant tree cover, with grasses and flowers located between trees), and montane land (least common and mainly found in the mountains near the Cameroon border.

In 2005, Nigeria had the highest rate of deforestation in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Between 1990 and 2000, Nigeria lost an average of 409, 700 hectares of forest every year equal to an average annual deforestation rate of 2.

Nigeria had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.

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Nigeria made history in April 2006 by becoming the first African country to completely pay off its debt owed to the Paris Club.

Until now, Nigeria exported unhusked rice but had to import husked rice, the country's staple food.

Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world, the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest proven reserves.

Nigeria has a total of 159 oil fields and 1, 481 wells in operation according to the Department of Petroleum Resources.

Nigeria has a manufacturing industry that includes leather and textiles, plastics and processed food.

In 2016, Nigeria was the leading cement producer south of the Sahara, ahead of South Africa.

Nigeria has a highly developed financial services sector, with a mix of local and international banks, asset management companies, brokerage houses, insurance companies and brokers, private equity funds and investment banks.

Nigeria has one of the fastest-growing telecommunications markets in the world, with major emerging market operators basing their largest and most profitable centres in the country.

Since independence, Nigeria has tried to develop a domestic nuclear industry for energy.

Since 2004, Nigeria has had a Chinese-origin research reactor at Ahmadu Bello University and has sought the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency to develop plans for up to 4, 000 MWe of nuclear capacity by 2027 according to the National Program for the Deployment of Nuclear Power for Generation of Electricity.

In 2017, Nigeria signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

In June 2015, Nigeria selected two sites for the planned construction of the nuclear plants.

Nigeria has been reorganising its health system since the Bamako Initiative of 1987, which formally promoted community-based methods of increasing accessibility of drugs and health care services to the population, in part by implementing user fees.

In 2012, a new bone marrow donor program was launched by the University of Nigeria to help people with leukaemia, lymphoma, or sickle cell disease to find a compatible donor for a life-saving bone marrow transplant, which cures them of their conditions.

Nigeria became the second African country to have successfully carried out this surgery.

Nigeria provides free, government-supported education, but attendance is not compulsory at any level, and certain groups, such as nomads and the handicapped, are under-served.

Nigeria was ranked 118th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 114th in 2019.

Nigeria is home to a substantial network of organised crime, active especially in drug trafficking, shipping heroin from Asian countries to Europe and America; and cocaine from South America to Europe and South Africa.

Nigeria was ranked 136 out of 182 countries in Transparency International's 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Nigeria is a state party of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women It has signed the Maputo Protocol, an international treaty on women's rights, and the African Union Women's Rights Framework.

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Fashion industry in Nigeria contributes significantly to the country's economics.

Nigeria is known not only for its fashionable textiles and garments, but for its fashion designers who have increasingly gained international recognition.

Nigeria is not only known for their many fashion textiles and garment pieces that are secret to their culture.

Nigeria is involved in other sports such as basketball, cricket and track and field.

Nigeria has been home to numerous internationally recognised basketball players in the world's top leagues in America, Europe and Asia.

Nigeria made history by qualifying the first bobsled team for the Winter Olympics from Africa when their women's two-person team qualified for the bobsled competition at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games.