KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: 1960 (suspended 1995–99)
Population: 168,834,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 2.7% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 153
Official language: English
Time: GMT plus 1hr
Currency: Naira (N)
Geography
Area: 923,768 sq km
Coastline: 853 km
Capital: Abuja
The Federal Republic of Nigeria lies on the Gulf of Guinea and has borders with Benin (west), Niger (north), Chad (north-east across Lake Chad) and Cameroon (east). It comprises the Abuja Federal Capital Territory and 36 states.
Main towns:
Abuja (federal capital since 1991, pop. 1.35m in 2010), Lagos (commercial centre and former capital, Lagos State, 9.97m), Ibadan (Oyo, 5.18m), Benin City (Edo, 2.41m), Kano (Kano, 2.38m), Port Harcourt (Rivers, 2.10m), Kaduna (Kaduna, 2.06m), Aba (Abia, 1.60m), Maiduguri (Borno, 1.13m), Ilorin (Kwara, 1.08m), Warri (Edo, 933,800), Onitsha (Anambra,910,800), Akure (Ondo, 847,900), Abeokuta (Ogun, 801,300), Enugu (Enugu, 715,800), Oshogbo (Osun, 678,300), Zaria (Kaduna, 667,400), Ife (Osun, 635,200), Jos (Plateau, 622,800), Ondo (Ondo, 498,100), Gboko (Benue, 485,700), Owerri (Imo, 474,800), Jalingo (Taraba, 439,000), Asaba (Delta, 407,100), Oyo (Oyo, 383,700), Ado (Ekiti, 378,500), Sokoto (Sokoto, 360,500), Minna (Niger, 322,200), Uyo (Akwa Ibom, 320,000), Calabar (Cross River, 318,400), Bauchi (Bauchi, 294,400), Ogbomosho (Oyo, 269,300), Katsina (Katsina, 213,600), Gombe (Gombe, 197,400), Makurdi (Benue, 171,000), Okene (Kogi, 122,100), Birnin Kebbi (Kebbi, 119,100), Yola (Adamawa, 111,800) and Nsukka (Enugu, 39,700).
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 183
Life expectancy: 52 years
Net primary enrolment: 59% (2010)
Population:
168,834,000 (2012); 50 per cent of people live in urban areas and 15 per cent in urban agglomerations of more than one million people; growth 2.6 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 42 per 1,000 people (47 in 1970); life expectancy 52 years (40 in 1970). Nigeria is one of the most ethnically diverse countries. There are some 250 ethnic groups, with the Hausa–Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo making up 70 per cent.
Language:
English (official language), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and more than 200 other languages and dialects.
Education:
There are nine years of compulsory education starting at the age of six. Primary school comprises six years and secondary six, with two cycles each of three years. Some 80 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2009). The school year starts in September. By October 2013, the National Universities Commission had accredited 40 federal universities, 38 state universities and 51 private universities, including four federal universities of technology, three federal universities of agriculture and the National Open University of Nigeria. The longest-established universities are the University of Ibadan (1948); University of Nigeria (Nsukka,1960); Ahmadu Bello University (Zaria,1962); University of Lagos (1962); and Obafemi Awolowo University (Ile-Ife, 1962). The first state university, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, was founded in 1979 and the first private universities, in 1999. Literacy among people aged 15–24 is 72 per cent (2010). In 1968 Nigeria hosted the Fourth Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Lagos. Commonwealth Education Ministers meet every three years to discuss issues of mutual concern and interest.
