Nigeria, republic in western Africa, with a coast along the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Guinea. Most of Nigeria consists of a low plateau cut by rivers, especially the Niger and its largest tributary, the Benue. The country takes its name from its chief river. Until 1991, the capital was the largest city, Lagos, on the southwestern coast; at that time, the city of Abuja, in the country’s interior, became capital.
Nigeria is a massive country of about 150 million people comprising 250 ethnic groups speaking 4000 dialects. In size, it is more than two and half times the size of California. The diversity of Nigeria is reflected in its rainbow of creeds and complexions, views and counterviews, stretching from the fringes of the desert in the North to the Atlantic waters in the South.
With one of the highest literacy rates in Africa, Nigerians are their own harshest critics, loudly establishing organs to make sure they are heard. The country has the largest and most vocal press in Africa, publishing views and opinions freely expressed. However, while debates are impassioned and views varied, Nigerians largely remain united in a single, unswerving thread: ONE NIGERIA. It is this oneness that has been the guiding posts of Nigeria since independence even as it embarked upon state creation exercises in a bid to perfect its federal structure.
Nigerians have often lost their patience, but not their way, or faith, the one that reminds them that clouds may often overrun the skies; they cannot control it; that beyond the eclipse, light awaits.
Nigeria is by far the most populated of Africa’s countries, with more than one-seventh of the continent’s people. The people belong to many different ethnic groups. These groups give the country a rich culture, but they also pose major challenges to nation building. Ethnic strife has plagued Nigeria since it gained independence in 1960.
Nigeria has a federal form of government and is divided into 36 states and a federal capital territory. The country’s official name is the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Lagos, along the coast, is the largest city and the country’s economic and cultural center, but Abuja, a city in the interior planned and built during the 1970s and 1980s, is the capital. The government moved from Lagos to Abuja in 1991 in the hope of creating a national capital where none of the country’s ethnic groups would be dominant.
Nigeria long had an agricultural economy but now depends almost entirely on the production of petroleum, which lies in large reserves below the Niger Delta. While oil wealth has financed major investments in the country’s infrastructure, Nigeria remains among the world’s poorest countries in terms of per capita income. Oil revenues led the government to ignore agriculture, and Nigeria must now import farm products to feed its people.
The area that is now Nigeria was home to ethnically based kingdoms and tribal communities before it became a European colony. In spite of European contact that began in the 16th century, these kingdoms and communities maintained their autonomy until the 19th century. 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. After independence Nigeria experienced frequent coups and long periods of autocratic military rule between 1966 and 1999, when a democratic civilian government was established.
Nigeria our Country