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Nigeria

1963

Country codes:NG
Area:923,768.00 km²
Population:129,934,911

Introduction

Nigeria /naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims and Christians with a very small minority who practice traditional religion.

The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BCE and the 2nd millennium.

The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was coined by Flora Shaw, the future wife of Baron Lugard, a British colonial administrator, in the late 19th century.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the seventh most populous country in the world, and the most populous country in the world in which the majority of the population is black. It is listed among the "Next Eleven" economies, and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

History

Early history

The Nok people of central Nigeria produced the earliest terracotta sculptures found in the country. In the northern part of the country, Kano and Katsina has recorded history dating back to around 999. Hausa kingdoms and the Kanem-Bornu Empire prospered as trade posts between North and West Africa. At the beginning of the 19th century under Usman dan Fodio the Fulani led the centralized Fulani Empire which continued until 1903 when the Fulani population and land were divided into various European colonies. Between 1750 and 1900, between one to two-thirds of the population of the Fulani jihad states consisted of slaves.

The Yoruba kingdoms of Ifẹ and Oyo in southwestern Nigeria became prominent in the 12th and 14th century respectively. However, Yoruba mythology states that Ile-Ife is the source of the human race and that it pre-dates any other civilization, although the oldest signs of human settlement dates back to the ninth century. Ifẹ produced terracotta and bronze figures, and Ọyọ once extended from western Nigeria to Togo. The Kingdom of Benin is located in southwestern Nigeria. Benin's power lasted between the 15th and 19th century. Their dominance reached as far as the city of Eko (an Edo name later changed to Lagos by the Portuguese) and further.

The Kingdom of Nri of the Igbo people started in the 10th century until it lost its sovereignty to the British in 1911. It is the oldest kingdom in Nigeria. Nri was ruled by the Eze Nri, and the city of Nri is considered to be the foundation of Igbo culture. Nri and Aguleri, where the Igbo creation myth originates, are in the territory of the Umeuri clan who trace their lineages back to the patriarchal king-figure Eri. The oldest pieces of bronzes made out of the lost-wax process in West Africa were from Igbo Ukwu, a city under Nri influence.

Colonial era

Spaniard and Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to begin trade in Nigeria in the port they named Lagos and in Calabar. The Europeans traded with the ethnicities of the coast and also negotiated a trade in slaves, to the detriment and profit of many Nigerian ethnicities. Consequently many of the citizens of the former slave nations of the British Empire are descended from a Nigerian ethnic group. Britain abolished its slave trade in 1807 and, following the Napoleonic Wars, established the West Africa Squadron in an attempt to halt the international traffic in slaves.

In 1885, British claims to a West African sphere of influence received international recognition, and in the following year the Royal Niger Company was chartered under the leadership of Sir George Taubman Goldie. In 1900 the company's territory came under the control of the British government, which moved to consolidate its hold over the area of modern Nigeria. On January 1, 1901, Nigeria became a British protectorate, part of the British Empire, the foremost world power at the time. Many wars against subjugation had been fought by the states of what later became Nigeria against the British Empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Notably of those were the British Conquest of Benin in 1897 and the Anglo-Aro War from 1901—1902. The restraint or complete destruction of these states opened up the Niger area to British rule.

In 1914, the Niger area was formally united as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Administratively, Nigeria remained divided into the northern and southern provinces and Lagos Colony. Western education and the development of a modern economy proceeded more rapidly in the south than in the north, with consequences felt in Nigeria's political life ever since. Slavery was not finally outlawed in northern Nigeria until 1936.

Following World War II, in response to the growth of Nigerian nationalism and demands for independence, successive constitutions legislated by the British government moved Nigeria toward self-government on a representative and increasingly federal basis. By the middle of the 20th century, the great wave for independence was sweeping across Africa.

Post-independence

On October 1, 1960, Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Newly independent, Nigeria's government was a coalition of conservative parties: the Nigerian People's Congress (NPC), a party dominated by Northerners and those of the Islamic faith, and the Igbo and Christian dominated National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) led by Nnamdi Azikiwe, who became Nigeria's maiden Governor-General in 1960. Forming the opposition was the comparatively liberal Action Group (AG), which was largely dominated by the Yoruba and led by Obafemi Awolowo. The cultural and political differences between Nigeria's dominant ethnicities, the Hausa ('Northerners'), Igbo ('Easterners') and Yoruba ('Westerners'), were sharp.

An imbalance was created in the polity by the result of the 1961 plebiscite. Southern Cameroon opted to join the Republic of Cameroon while northern Cameroon chose to remain in Nigeria. The northern part of the country was now far larger than the southern part. The nation parted with its British legacy in 1963 by declaring itself a Federal Republic, with Azikiwe as its first president. When elections came about in 1965, the AG was outmanoeuvred for control of Nigeria's Western Region by the Nigerian National Democratic Party.

Nigerian-Biafran War

The disequilibrium and perceived corruption of the electoral and political process led in 1966 to several back-to-back military coups. The first was in January and led by a collection of young leftists under Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna and Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu. It was partially successful; the coup plotters murdered Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Premier Ahmadu Belloof of the Northern Region and Premier Ladoke Akintola of the Western Region. Despite this, they could not set up a central government. President Nwafor Orizu was then pressured to hand over government to the Nigeria Army, under the command of General JTU Aguyi-Ironsi.

The coup was counter-acted by another successful plot, supported primarily by Northern military officers and Northerners who favoured the NPC, it was engineered by Northern officers, which allowed Lt Colonel Yakubu Gowon to become head of state. This sequence of events led to an increase in ethnic tension and violence. The Northern coup, which was mostly motivated by ethnic and religious reasons was a bloodbath of both military officers and civilians, especially those of Igbo extraction.

The violence against the Igbo increased their desire for autonomy and protection from the military's wrath. By May 1967, the Eastern Region had declared itself an independent state called the Republic of Biafra under the leadership of Lt Colonel Emeka Ojukwu in line with the wishes of the people. The Nigerian Civil War began as the Nigerian (Western and Northern) side attacked Biafra (South-eastern) on July 6, 1967 at Garkem signalling the beginning of the 30 month war that ended in January 1970. Estimates in the former Eastern Region of the number of dead from hostilities, disease, and starvation during the thirty-month civil war are estimated at between 1 million and 3 million.

Military era

During the oil boom of the 1970s, Nigeria joined OPEC, and billions of dollars generated by production in the oil-rich Niger Delta flowed into the coffers of the Nigerian state. The northern military clique benefited from the oil boom to the detriment of the Nigerian people and economy. As oil revenues fueled the rise of federal subventions to states and precariously to individuals, the federal government soon became the centre of political struggle and the centre became the threshold of power in the country. As oil production and revenue rose, the Nigerian government created a dangerous situation as it became increasingly dependent on oil revenues and the international commodity markets for budgetary and economic concerns eschewing economic stability. That spelled doom to federalism in Nigeria.

Beginning in 1979, Nigerians participated in a brief return to democracy when Obasanjo transferred power to the civilian regime of Shehu Shagari. The Shagari government was viewed as corrupt and incompetent by virtually all sectors of Nigerian society, so when the regime was overthrown by the military coup of Muhammadu Buhari shortly after the regime's fraudulent re-election in 1984, it was generally viewed as a positive development by most of the population. Buhari promised major reforms, but his government fared little better than its predecessor, and his regime was overthrown by yet another military coup in 1985.

The new head of state, Ibrahim Babangida, promptly declared himself president and commander in chief of the armed forces and the ruling Supreme Military Council and also set 1990 as the official deadline for a return to democratic governance. Babangida's tenure was marked by a flurry of political activity: he instituted the International Monetary Fund's Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) to aid in the repayment of the country's crushing international debt, which most federal revenue was dedicated to servicing. He also inflamed religious tensions in the nation and particularly the south by enrolling Nigeria in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

After Babangida survived an abortive coup, he pushed back the promised return to democracy to 1992. When free and fair elections were finally held on 12 June 1993, Babangida declared that the results showing a presidential victory for Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola null and void, sparking mass civilian violence in protest which effectively shut down the country for weeks and forced Babangida to keep his promise to relinquish office to a civilian run government. Babangida's regime is adjudged to be at the apogee of corruption in the history of the nation as it was during his time that corruption became officially diluted in Nigeria.

Babangida's caretaker regime headed by Ernest Shonekan survived only until late 1993 when General Sani Abacha took power in another military coup. Abacha proved to be perhaps Nigeria's most brutal ruler and employed violence on a wide scale to suppress the continuing civilian unrest. Money had been found in various western European banks traced to him. He avoided coup plots by bribing army generals. Several hundred million dollars in accounts traced to him were discovered in 1999. The regime came to an end in 1998 when the dictator was found dead amid dubious circumstances. Abacha's death yielded an opportunity for return to civilian rule.

Return to Democracy

Nigeria re-achieved democracy in 1999 when it elected Olusegun Obasanjo, the former military head of state, as the new President of Nigeria ending almost 33 years of military rule (from 1966 until 1999) excluding the short-lived second republic (between 1979 and 1983) by military dictators who seized power in coups d'état and counter-coups during the Nigerian military juntas of 1966-1979 and 1983-1998. Although the elections which brought Obasanjo to power in 1999 and again in 2003 were condemned as unfree and unfair, Nigeria has shown marked improvements in attempts to tackle government corruption and to hasten development.

Umaru Yar'Adua of the People's Democratic Party came into power in the general election of 2007 – an election that was witnessed and condemned by the international community as being severely flawed.

Ethnic violence over the oil producing Niger Delta region and inadequate infrastructures are some of the current issues in the country.

Yar'Adua died on 5 May 2010. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was sworn in as Yar'Adua's replacement on 6 May 2010, becoming Nigeria's 14th Head of State, while his vice,a former Kaduna state governor, Namadi Sambo, an architect,was chosen on 18 May 2010,by the National Assembly following President Goodluck Jonathan's nomination for Sambo to be his Vice President.

Goodluck Jonathan served as Nigeria's president till April 16, 2011,when a new presidential election in Nigeria was conducted. Goodluck Jonathan of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was declared the winner on 19 April 2011,having won the election by a total of 22,495,187 of the 39,469,484 votes cast to stand ahead of Muhammadu Buhari from the main opposition party, the The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which won 12,214,853 of the total votes cast. The international media reported the elections as having run smoothly with relatively little violence or voter fraud in contrast to previous elections.

Culture

Literature

Nigerian citizens have authored many influential works of post-colonial literature in the English language. Nigeria's best-known writers are Wole Soyinka, the first African Nobel Laureate in Literature, and Chinua Achebe, best known for the novel, Things Fall Apart and his controversial critique of Joseph Conrad. Other Nigerian writers and poets who are well known internationally include John Pepper Clark, Ben Okri, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Helon Habila, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed in 1995 by the military regime. Nigeria has the second largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt) with an estimated circulation of several million copies daily in 2003.

Music and film

Nigeria has a role in the development of West African highlife, afrobeat, and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo, Brazil, Cuba, and elsewhere.

Many late 20th century musicians such as Fela Kuti have famously fused cultural elements of various indigenous music with American Jazz and Soul to form Afrobeat. JuJu music which is percussion music fused with traditional music from the Yoruba nation and made famous by King Sunny Adé, is also from Nigeria. There is also fuji music, a Yoruba percussion style, created and popularized by Mr. Fuji, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister. The is also the Afan Music invented and popularized by the Ewuborn poet and musician Umuobuarie Igberaese.

There is a budding hip hop movement in Nigeria. Kennis Music, the self-proclaimed number-one record label in Africa, and one of Nigeria's biggest record labels, has a roster almost entirely dominated by hip hop artists.

Some famous musicians that come from Nigeria are Fela Kuti, Dele Sosimi, Adewale Ayuba, Ezebuiro Obinna, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, King Sunny Adé, Ebenezer Obey, Umobuarie Igberaese, Femi Kuti, Lagbaja, Dr. Alban, Sade Adu, Wasiu Alabi, Bola Abimbola,Zaki Adze, Tuface Idibia, D Banj and P Square.

In November 2008, Nigeria's music scene (and that of Africa) received international attention when MTV hosted the continent's first African music awards show in Abuja.

The Nigerian video-film industry is known as Nollywood, which is now the second-largest producer of movies in the world. Many of the film studios are based in Lagos and Enugu, and the industry is now a very lucrative income for these cities.

T.B. Joshua's Emmanuel TV, originating from Nigeria, is also one of the most viewed television stations across Africa.

Cuisine

Nigerian cuisine, like West African cuisine in general, is known for its richness and variety. Many different spices, herbs and flavourings are used in conjunction with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply flavoured sauces and soups often made very hot with chili peppers. Nigerian feasts are colourful and lavish, while aromatic market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil are plentiful and varied.

Sport

Football is Nigeria's national sport and the country has its own Premier League of football. Nigeria's national football team, known as the Super Eagles, has made the World Cup on four occasions 1994, 1998, 2002, and most recently in 2010. They won the African Cup of Nations in 1980 and 1994, and also hosted the Junior World Cup. They won the gold medal for football in the 1996 Summer Olympics (in which they beat Argentina).

The nation's cadet team to Japan '93 produced some international players notably Nwankwo Kanu, a two-time African Footballer of the year who won the European Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam and later played with Inter Milan (Italy), Arsenal FC (London, UK), West Bromwich Albion (UK) and Portsmouth F.C. (UK). Other players that graduated from the Junior teams are Celestine Babayaro (of Newcastle United, UK), Wilson Oruma and Taye Taiwo (of Marseille, France).

According to the official May 2010 FIFA World Rankings, Nigeria was the second top-ranked football nation in Africa and the 21st highest in the world. Nigeria is also involved in other sports such as basketball, cricket and track and field. Boxing is also an important sport in Nigeria; Dick Tiger and Samuel Peter are both former World Champions.

Geography

Nigeria is located in western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea and has a total area of 923,768 km (356,669 sq mi), making it the world's 32nd-largest country (after Tanzania). It is comparable in size to Venezuela, and is about twice the size of California. It shares a 4,047 kilometres (2,515 mi) border with Benin (773 km), Niger (1497 km), Chad (87 km), Cameroon (1690 km), and has a coastline of at least 853 km. Nigeria lies between latitudes 4° and 14°N, and longitudes 2° and 15°E.

The highest point in Nigeria is Chappal Waddi at 2,419 m (7,936 ft). The main rivers are the Niger and the Benue River which converge and empty into the Niger Delta, one of the world's largest river deltas and the location of a large area of Central African Mangroves.

Nigeria is also an important center for biodiversity. It is widely believed that the areas surrounding Calabar, Cross River State, contain the world's largest diversity of butterflies. The drill monkey is only found in the wild in Southeast Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.

Nigeria has a varied landscape. The far south is defined by its tropical rainforest climate, where annual rainfall is 60 to 80 inches (1,524 to 2,032 mm) a year. In the southeast stand the Obudu Plateau. Coastal plains are found in both the southwest and the southeast. This forest zone's most southerly portion is defined as salt water swamp, also known as a mangrove swamp because of the large amount of mangroves in the area. North of this is fresh water swamp, containing different vegetation from the salt water swamp, and north of that is rain forest.

Nigeria's most expansive topographical region is that of the valleys of the Niger and Benue River valleys (which merge into each other and form a "y" shape). To the southwest of the Niger there is "rugged" highland, and to the southeast of the Benue are hills and mountains which forms the Mambilla Plateau,the highest Plateau in Nigeria.This plateau extends to the border with Cameroon, this montane land is part of the Bamenda Highlands in Cameroon. The area near the border with Cameroon close to the coast is rich rainforest and part of the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests ecoregion, an important centre for biodiversity including the drill monkey which is only found in the wild in this area and across the border in Cameroon. It is widely believed that the areas surrounding Calabar, Cross River State, also in this forest, contain the world's largest diversity of butterflies. The area of southern Nigeria between the Niger and the Cross Rivers has seen its forest more or less disappear to be replaced by grassland (see Cross-Niger transition forests).

Everything in between the far south and the far north, is savannah (insignificant tree cover, with grasses and flowers located between trees), and rainfall is between 20 and 60 inches (508 and 1,524 mm) per year. The savannah zone's three categories are Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, plains of tall grass which are interrupted by trees and the most common across the country: Sudan savannah, similar but with "shorter grasses and shorter trees; and Sahel savannah, comprised patches of grass and sand, found in the northeast. To the north is the Sahel with its almost desert-like climate, where rain is less than 20 inches (508 mm) per year and the Sahara Desert is encroaching. In the dry north-east corner of the country lies Lake Chad, which Nigeria shares with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

Environmental issues

Nigeria's Delta region, home of the large oil industry, experiences serious oil spills and other environmental problems. See Environmental issues in the Niger Delta for more details, and Conflict in the Niger Delta about strife which has arisen in connection with those issues.

Waste management including sewage treatment, the linked processes of deforestation and soil degradation, and climate change or global warming are the major environmental problems in Nigeria.

Waste management presents problems in a mega city like Lagos and other major Nigerian cities which are linked with economic development, population growth and the inability of municipal councils to manage the resulting rise in industrial and domestic waste.

Haphazard industrial planning, increased urbanization, poverty and lack of competence of the municipal government are seen as the major reasons for high levels of waste pollution in major Nigerian cities. Some of the 'solutions' have been disastrous to the environment, resulting in untreated waste being dumped in places where it can pollute waterways and groundwater.

In terms of global warming, Africans contribute only about one metric ton of carbon dioxide per person per year. It is perceived by many climate change experts that food production and security in the northern sahel region of the country will suffer as semi-arid areas will have more dry periods in the future.

Inforamtion above from the Wikipedia article Nigeria, licensed under CC-BY-SA full list of contributors here.

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