Nigeria

Nigeria A large West African country consisting of a federation of 21 states, with the highest population (95 million) of any African country.

Physical

Nigeria has a southward-facing coast and is bounded by Benin on the west, Niger and Chad on the north, and Cameroon on the east. The sandy coast is bordered by mangrove swamp, inland of which there is a low plain with tropical rainforest spreading up the valleys of the Niger to the north-west and the Benue to the east.

Economy

Oil accounts for 97.9% of Nigeria's exports (1992); other minerals include abundant supplies of natural gas, iron ore, coal, lead, and zinc. Heavy investment in petroleum and other industries such as steel, cement, and vehicles was halted by the drop in world oil prices in the mid-1980s, but led to a massive foreign debt ($41 billion in 1989) and the neglect of agriculture. IMF austerity measures were achieving some degree of success by the early 1990s, but political instability during the mid-1990s has affected the economy badly.

History

The earliest known culture in Nigeria was the Nok culture, which existed from about the 6th century BC to the third century AD. Many different peoples have moved into the region; there are over 250 ethnic groups still living in Nigeria. The kingdom of KANEM-BORNU rose during the 11th century and fell during the 14th century. Islam was introduced to the area during the 13th century. The Portuguese arrived in the 15th century and established a slave trade, supported by the people of the kingdom of BENIN. The British were involved in the slave trade by the 17th century. The HAUSA people broke away from the SONGHAY kingdom and began to mingle with the nomadic FULANI, some of whom settled in Hausa towns. In the early 19th century a Fulani empire emerged. The kingdom of Benin and the YORUBA empire of Oyo occupied southern Nigeria.

The island of Lagos was a centre for the slave trade when this was banned by the British in 1807. The British had to use military force to stop the slave ships. In 1851 the British attacked and burnt the city of Lagos and ten years later bought it from King Do-sunmu, administering it first from Free-town, Sierra Leone, and then from the Gold Coast (Ghana), until in 1886 a separate protectorate (later colony) of Lagos was formed. Explorers worked their way inland, but until the discovery of quinine (1854) to provide protection against malaria, the region remained known as ‘the white man's grave’. During the second half of the 19th century trading companies were established, forming the Royal Niger Company in 1886, which was then taken over by the British Colonial Office to become the Niger Coast protectorate in 1893. Following the conquest of the kingdom of Benin, this became the protectorate of Southern Nigeria (1900). The protectorate of Northern Nigeria was proclaimed in 1900. In 1906 the colony of Lagos was absorbed into the southern protectorate and in 1914 the two protectorates were merged to form the largest British colony in Africa, which, under its governor Frederick Lugard, was administered indirectly by retaining the powers of the chiefs and emirs of its 150 or more tribes. In Northern Nigeria Muslim chiefs of the Fulani tribes maintained a conservative rule over the majority of the country's Hausa population. In the West, the Yoruba dominated; the Ibo tribe was centred in the East.

Under the constitution of 1954 a federation of Nigeria was created, consisting of three regions: Northern, Eastern, and Western, together with the trust territory of Cameroons and the federal territory of Lagos. In 1960 the federation became an independent nation within the COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS, and in 1963 a republic. In 1967 the regions were replaced by twelve states, further divided in 1976 into nineteen states. Oil was discovered off Port Harcourt and a movement for Ibo independence began. In January 1966 a group of Ibo army majors murdered the federal Prime Minister, Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa BALEWA, the Premiers of the Northern and Western regions, and many leading politicians. In July a group of northern officers retaliated and installed General GOWON as Head of State. A massacre of several thousand Ibo living in the North followed. Attempts to work out constitutional provisions failed, and in May 1967 the military governor of the Eastern region, Colonel Ojukwe, announced his region's secession and the establishment of the republic of BIAFRA. Civil war between the Hausa and Ibo peoples erupted, and Biafra collapsed in 1970. General Gowon was deposed in 1975. In 1979 the military government organized multiparty elections. Corruption and unrest precipitated more military takeovers, in 1983 and 1985, when General Ibrahim Babangida became Head of State. Progress towards restoration of full civilian rule was threatened by outbreaks of violence between Shiite Islamic fundamentalists and Christians. Political parties were re-legalized in 1989, but only two parties were allowed to register for elections, both having manifestos devised by the government. Open presidential elections in 1993 were, according to unofficial reports, won by Moshood Abiola, but Babangida annulled the elections, prompting serious social unrest. Babangida resigned and handed power over to another military government, promising that an elected civilian government would be installed in 1994. Abiola fled the country and sought international aid; he and his supporters continued to protest that the 1993 elections had been free and fair. The social and political crisis continued and Sanni Abacha took over as head of state in November 1993. He dismantled many existing political institutions and re-instituted the 1979 military constitution, but continued to insist that a civilian government would eventually be installed. Abiola returned to Nigeria to campaign for democracy and was arrested in 1994. In 1995 the government announced that civilian rule could not be introduced before 1997, but lifted the ban on political activity. However, in October 1995 nine pro-democracy activists were charged with murder and executed, provoking international outrage. As a result, Nigeria was suspended from the Commonwealth. Social unrest has persisted. Following Abacha's death in 1998, General Abdulsalam Abubakar became President. He released the remaining political prisoners and restored democratic rule. In subsequent elections General Obasanjo was elected President and Nigeria was readmitted to the Commonwealth in 1999.

Capital:	Lagos
Area:	923,768 sq km (356,669 sq miles)
Population:	110,532,000 (1998 est)
Currency:	1 naira = 100 kobo
Religions:	Muslim 45.0%; Protestant 26.3%; African indigenous and traditional 17.2%; Roman Catholic 12.1%
Ethnic Groups:	Hausa 21.3%; Yoruba 21.3%; Ibo 18.0%; Fulani 11.2%; Ibibio 5.6%; Kanuri 4.2%; Edo 3.4%; Tiv 2.2%; Ijaw 1.8%; Bura 1.7%; Nupe 1.2%
Languages:	English (official); Hausa; Yoruba; Ibo; local languages
International Organizations:	UN; Commonwealth (suspended in 1995); ECOWAS; OAU; OPEC