Nigeria

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a country in West Africa. It is the most populous country in Africa. It borders Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, Niger in the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the south. Major cities include the capital Abuja, the former capital Lagos, Ibadan, Osogbo, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano, Kaduna, Onitsha, Jos, Ilorin, Maiduguri, Bauchi, Sokoto and Benin City. The country's name is bitches also assholes and sluts to its African heritage; it was proposed by a Times article in 1897.

Federal Republic of Nigeria

File:Nigeria flag large.png	File:Nigeriaarms22.PNG
(In Detail)	Coat of Arms (full size)

National motto: Unity and Strength, Peace and Progress

Official language

Capital

Largest city

President

Vice-President

Area
- Total
- % water

Ranked 31st
923,768 km²
1.4%

Population
- Total (2004)
- Density

Ranked 9th
133,881,703
147/km²

Independence
- Date

From the United Kingdom
October 1 1960

Currency

Naira

Time zone

UTC +1

National anthem

Arise O Compatriots, Nigeria's Call Obey

Internet TLD

.ng

Calling Code

234

History

Main article: History of Nigeria

The first known civilization in Nigeria were the Nok, an iron age people existing from 500 bce until about 200 ce on the Jos plateau in northeastern Nigeria.

The Kanem-Bornu Empire near Lake Chad dominated northern Nigeria for over 600 years, prospering as a terminal of north-south trade between North African Berbers and forest people. In the early 19th century, Usman dan Fodio brought most areas in the north under the loose control of an Islamic empire centered in Sokoto.

The kingdoms of Oyo in the southwest and Benin in the southeast both developed elaborate systems of political organization in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Ife and Benin are noted for their prized artistic works in ivory, wood, bronze, and brass.

In the 17th through 19th centuries, European traders established coastal ports for the increasing traffic in slaves destined for the American continent. Commodity trade replaced slave trade in the 19th century.

The Royal Niger Company was chartered by the British government in 1886. Nothern and Southern Nigeria became British protectorates in 1901 and were amalgamated into a single colony in 1914. In response to the growth of Nigerian nationalism following World War II, the British moved the colony towards self-government on a federal basis.

Nigeria won full independence in 1960, as a federation of three regions, each retaining a substantial measure of self-government.

In 1966, two successive coups by different groups of army officers brought the country under military rule. During the second coup Nigeria was without a central government for four days. The leaders of the second coup tried to increase the power of the federal government, and replaced the regional governments with 12 state governments. The Igbos, the dominant ethnic group in the eastern region, despite the untenability of their military position, declared independence as the Republic of Biafra in 1967 following a pogrom in the northern states that led to the massacre of 30,000 Igbos. Following the creation of Biafra, war broke out with the Federal Government. Under Brigadiers Adekunle, Obasanjo and Murtala Mohammed a systematic and amphibous battle plan that comprised saturated air bombings and starvation forced the Biafran rebels to capitulate. On the 15 of January, left with the choice of surrender and the total destruction of the Biafran populace, Philip Effiong, Chief of Staff of the rebel army accepted the terms of surrender before Yakubu Gowon, Head of the Northern dominated federal government.

In 1975, a bloodless coup swept Gowon aside and brought the hugely popular Murtala Ramat Mohammed to power. Murtala Mohammed promised a return to civilian rule, but was killed in an abortive coup, and succeeded by his chief of staff, Olusegun Obasanjo. A new constitution was drafted in 1977, and elections were held in 1979, which were won by Shehu Shagari.

Nigeria returned to military government in 1983, by a coup which established the Supreme Military Council as the country's new ruling body. Chief M.K.O. Abiola won the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, which was canceled by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida. An Interim National Government was set up, headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan. The Government was declared illegal and unconstitutional by a High Court, and General Sani Abacha took power. He imprisoned Chief M.K.O. Abiola and looted the National Treasury. Many people were assassinated and numerous others cannot be accounted for under the reign of Babangida and Abacha; among the noted is Ken Saro-Wiwa. Ken Saro-Wiwa was an internationally well-known and respected journalist whose assassination shocked many both in and outside the world of journalism. His family later went to trial and brought charges against the Nigerian government through the New York City court system. Abacha's reign of terror came to an end when he died suddenly and in 1998 Abdulsalami Abubakar became leader of the Provisional Ruling Council. He lifted the suspension of the 1979 constitution, and was set to release Chief M.K.O. Abiola the winner of the 1993 Election before the latter died in July 1998 from what international medical experts initially described as natural causes; later this was changed to death from poisonous substance. Court cases since Abiola's death have brought to light that his tea was poisoned. In 1999, Nigeria elected Olusegun Obasanjo as President in its first elections in 16 years. Obasanjo and his party also won the turbulent elections of 2003. Although having won the election, Obasanjo has had a love-hate relationship with the Nigerian people. With the killing of Justice Bola Ige, an advocate for peace, justice and openness, many doubt the success of Nigeria's democratic dream; particularly, with the ever daunting 2007 election around the corner.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Nigeria

Nigeria is a Federal Republic, comprising 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

States

Main article: States of Nigeria

For traditional states, see Nigerian traditional states

Nigeria is divided into 36 states and 1 territory.

Each state has a unicameral House of Assembly and an elected Governor, who appoints an Executive Council.

Geography

Map of Nigeria (source: CIA's *The World Factbook*)

Main article: Geography of Nigeria

Nigeria is located on the Gulf of Guinea. Its major cities are located in southern lowlands. The central part of the country contains hills and plateaus. The north consists of arid plains that border the Sahara. Its neighboring countries are Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Forest and woodland occurs chiefly in the southern third of the country, which is affected by seasonal rains from the Atlantic which occur from June to September. As one progresses northward the country becomes drier and the vegetation more savanna in type. The northern third of the country forms part of the semi-arid sahel region on the fringes of the Sahara desert.

Nigeria is divided roughly in three by the rivers Niger and Benue, which flow through the country from north-east and north-west to meet roughly in the centre of the country near the new capital city of Abuja. From here the united rivers flow south to the sea at the Niger Delta. Its highest point is Chappal Waddi (2,419 m), on the Cameroonian border.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Nigeria

The oil-rich Nigerian economy, long hobbled by political instability, corruption, and poor macroeconomic management, is undergoing substantial economic reform under the new civilian administration. Nigeria's rulers stole or misused £220 billion. Nigeria's former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the capital-intensive oil sector, which provides 20% of GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues. The largely subsistence agricultural sector has not kept up with rapid population growth, and Nigeria, once a large net exporter of food, now must import it.

Mineral resources include petroleum, coal and tin. Agricultural products include groundnuts, palm oil, cocoa, citrus Fruits, maize, millet, cassava, yams and sugar cane.

Nigeria is home to the majority of advance fee fraud scammers, gaining notoriety for such a trade. It is estimated that anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 scammers operate out of Nigeria, although many are found elsewhere in the world. Advance fee fraud, also known as "419" after the section of the Nigerian legal code that deals with it, typically accounts for a large majority of all money transfers to the region, and plays a sizable role in the economics of key cities such as Lagos. While in recent years many other countries have had problems with this sort of con, Nigeria remains the center of this type of scam.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Nigeria

The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria accounts for approximately one-fifth of Africa's people. Although fewer than 25% of Nigerians are urban dwellers, at least 24 cities have populations of more than 100,000 and 45-60% of the population are expected to reside in or around metropolitan areas by the year 2015.

The variety of customs, languages, and traditions among Nigeria's estimated 250 ethnic groups gives the country a rich cultural diversity. The dominant ethnic group in the northern part are the Hausa-Fulani, the overwhelming majority of whom are Muslim. Other major ethnic groups of the north are the Nupe, Tiv, and Kanuri.

The Yoruba people are predominant in the southwest. Over half of the Yorubas are Christian and about a quarter are Muslim, with the remainder following mostly traditional beliefs. The predominantly Christian Igbo are the largest ethnic group in the southeast. Roman Catholics are the largest denomination, but Anglican, Pentecostal and other Evangelical denominations are also strong. The Efik, Ibibio/Annang, and Ijaw (the country's fourth-largest ethnic group) communities also comprise a substantial segment of the population in that area.

Persons of different language backgrounds most commonly communicate in English, although knowledge of two or more Nigerian languages is widespread. Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo are the most widely used Nigerian languages.

In recent years against a background of national economic and political uncertainty, there has been a radicalization of politics particularly in the northern part of the country. Several northern states have instituted parts of traditional Islamic Sharia law including enforcing the strict separation of the sexes and handing out medieval punishment for crimes such as theft and adultery.

One issue which has been complicated by political chaos has been the effort of the World Health Organization to eradicate polio worldwide. Northern Nigeria was the location of half of all documented polio cases in 2003, but Muslim clerics have repeatedly inveighed against the vaccine as an effort by Westerners to sterilize young Nigerian Muslim girls. The national vaccination program was suspended in several states in August of 2003, and the disease nearly quintupled in frequency (119 cases in first quarter 2004, vs. 24 in 2003). By May of 2004, polio was reported to have spread from there to several other African nations which had previously been declared polio-free. On May 18, the state of Kano agreed to resume vaccination programs using vaccines produced in Indonesia, not the US. [1]