Nigeria

1 Chapter Basic knowledge

    • Basic knowledge

      Official name.

      The official name is Federal Republic of Nigeria.  The name comes from the Niger river, a native term "Ni Gir" meaning "River Gir". 


      National Flag.

      The flag has three equal vertical bands of green (hoist side), white, and green; green represents the forests and abundant natural wealth of the country, white stands for peace and unity.



      Capital.

      The capital of Nigeria is Abuja, it is in the central part of the country, in the Federal Capital Territory. The city is 480 km northeast Lagos the former capital until 1991.The city Abuja takes its name from a nearby town, now renamed Suleja. And the city lies at 360 m above sea level and has a cooler climate and less humidity than is found in Lagos, that is the reason why the city was changed, and because it had less population density levels.


      Total Area.

      Nigeria is in the Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon. Total area, the sum of all land and water areas delimited by international boundaries and coastlines of Nigeria is 923,768 sq. km, with 910,768 sq. km of land and 13,000 sq. km of water. The land use by 2011 was agricultural land 78%, arable land 37.3%, permanent crops: 7.4%, permanent pasture: 33.3%, forest: 9.5% and other 12.5%.


      Population.

      The population by 2018 was 195,874,683, the country has the largest population of any African nation; the highest density areas being in the south and southwest. The population is projected to grow from more than 185 million people in 2016 to 392 million in 2050, becoming the world’s fourth most populous country.


      Population per year.

      Population

      Male

      Female 

      Year

      200,963,599

      50.67%

      49.33%

      2019

      195,874,683

      50.66%

      49.34%

      2018

      190,873,244

      50.66%

      49.34%

      2017

      185,960,241

      50.65%

      50.65%

      2016



      Population Structure by age and sex.



      Climate.

      The climate varies; equatorial in the south, tropical in the center, and arid climate in the north. The natural hazards are periodic droughts and sometimes flooding by the Niger river that enters the country in the northwest and flows southward through tropical rain forests and swamps to its delta in the Gulf of Guinea.



      Koppen climate types of Nigeria.



      Time difference.

      Nigeria is in the West Africa Time, Time Zone 1, (UTC +1). Daylight Saving Time has not been used since 1970. Nigeria is five hours ahead of Washington D.C. USA. and Singapore is 7 hours ahead of Nigeria.


      Currency.

      The monetary unit is the Naira, divided into 100 kobo, the symbol is ₦, Nigeria has the following banknotes ₦5, ₦10, ₦20, ₦50, ₦100, ₦200, ₦500, ₦1000 and coins 50 kobo, ₦1, and ₦2.


      Banknotes

      Coins

      ₦1000

      ₦2

      ₦500,

      ₦1

      ₦200

      50 kobo

      ₦100

       

      ₦50

       

      ₦20

       

      ₦10

       

      ₦5

       

      Ethnic Groups.

      By 2013 the ethnic groups were Hausa 27.4%, Igbo (Ibo) 14.1%, Yoruba 13.9%, Fulani 6.3%, Tiv 2.2%, Ibibio 2.2%, Ijaw/Izon 2%, Kanuri/Beriberi 1.7%, Igala 1%, other 28.9% and unspecified .2%.


      Language. 

      The official language is English, other languages are Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, and over 500 additional indigenous languages.


      Religion.

      By 2013 the percentage of religions was Muslim 51.6%, Roman Catholic 11.2%, other Christian 35.7%, traditionalist .9%, unspecified .5%.



       
    • Political system of Nigeria

      Under the 1999 Constitutions there is an Executive, Legislative and Judicial branch. The executive power is vested in a president who serves as both the head of state and the chief executive and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has a four-year term, and nominates the vice president and members of the cabinet a federal Executive Council appointed by the president but constrained constitutionally to include at least one member from each of the 36 states. The current President is Maj. Gen. (ret.) Muhammadu BUHARI since 29 May 2015 and the Vice President is Oluyemi "Yemi" OSINBAJO.


      The legislative branch has a bicameral National Assembly, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate has 109 seats, 3 each for the 36 states and 1 for Abuja-Federal Capital Territory; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 4-year terms. The House of Representatives has 360 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 4-year terms.


      The Judicial Branch has the Supreme Court that consists of the chief justice and 15 justices, it is the highest court. The judge’s selection is by the president upon the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, a 23-member independent body of federal and state judicial officials; judge appointments are confirmed by the Senate and judges serve until age 70. The Nigerian legal and judicial system contains three codes of law, the customary law, the Nigerian statute law (includes much of the British colonial legislation), and Sharīʿah (Islamic law).  The subordinate courts are the Court of Appeal; Federal High Court; High Court of the Federal Capital Territory; Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory; Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory; state court system similar in structure to federal system.


       
    • History of Nigeria (15th century - Hyundai)

      The country is located on the western coast of Africa and is the most populous country of Africa. People began settling the region around 9000 BC, but it flourished until the 9th century under the ruling of the Kanem-Bornu Empire. The first European explorers arrived in the 16th century from Spain and Portugal and quickly established trade connections. Slavery was used in Nigeria since it was used for trading European goods, especially guns and gunpowder, it was used but the British started to encourage palm oil in the Niger delta states to replace the trade in slaves. But it was difficult for the British, because it was discovered that the demand for palm oil was in fact stimulating an internal slave trade, because slaves were responsible for collecting palm fruits, manufacturing palm oil, and transporting it to the coast, whether by canoe or by human porterage.   A consul was maintained at Fernando Po to oversee the lucrative palm oil trade in the region called the Oil Rivers. Missionaries were active at that time in the area.  By the 1870s the Niger trade was becoming profitable, and a few French companies noticed, this led French Roman Catholic missionaries to establish in Ouidah (Whydah), they arrived in Lagos and considered missionary work on the Niger, but the British, were not really happy about it and responded by defending their right to free navigation on the river at the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884 to 1885.

      And after the British government assumed the direct control of the Royal Niger Company, the northern areas were renamed the Protectorate of Northern Nigeria, and the land in the Niger delta and along the lower reaches of the river was added to the Niger Coast Protectorate, which was renamed the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. Lagos remained the capital of the south, with Zungeru the new capital of the north. Modern Nigeria dates from January 1, 1914, when the British Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were joined, following the recommendations of Sir Frederick Lugard, the two protectorates were amalgamated to form the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria under a single governor-general resident in Lagos (Between 1919 and 1954 the title reverted to governor).

      The country became truly independent until October 1, 1960, and in 1963 adopted a republican constitution but elected to stay a member of the Commonwealth. From the beginning, there was ethnic and religious tension, that intensified between the unbalanced north and south. Many military coups followed in the next years, increasing violence in the area, and consequently leading to the Nigerian Civil War in 1967. Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in 1999 with the election of Olusegun Obasanjoas as the new president and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in 1999 with the election of Olusegun Obasanjoas as the new president and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. Obasanjo was reelected in 2003, but with numerous reports of voting irregularities, Obasanjo tried to change the constitution to be able to remain for a third term as president and the proposed amendment was rejected by the Senate in 2006. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was then selected to stand as the PDP’s candidate in April 2007, He won on May 29 of 2007. but as well, numerous reports of irregularities and fraud were reported by international observers. On May 5, 2010, Adua passed away, and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as president. 

      The current president of Nigeria is Muhamadu Buhari, who has been re-elected president in 2019 for a second four-year term after hard-fought elections. Muhamadu Buhari has promised to focus his efforts on continuing to fight corruption and insecurity and strengthen economic growth.


       
    • Education system

      Education System.

      The Nigerian educational system has undergone major structure changes over the last 30 years, the educational system used at the primary and secondary levels used to be very similar to the British system and in 1982 the first National Policy on education was developed and adopted.

       

      Primary Education.

      Begins at the age of six and ends at the age of 11, taught at the primary level are Mathematics, English language, Islamic knowledge Studies, Bible Knowledge, Science and Hausa-Fulani. But still, according to UNICEF about 10.5 million children are not in school even though primary education is officially free and compulsory.

       

      The Secondary education.

      Students are required to enter secondary school after spending a minimum of nine years of primary education and passed a prescribed national entrance examination. The secondary level is divided into 2, Junior Secondary from ages 12 to 14, grades 7th to 9th and the Senior Secondary from ages 15 to 17 and grades 10th and 12th.

       

      Higher Education.  

      The government has majority control of university education and in addition to the number of universities, there are 13 Federal and 14 State owned Polytechnic Colleges respectively.

      Depending on area of study programs are 4 to 6 years. Social Sciences/Humanities 4 years, Engineering/Technology 5 years, Pharmacy 5 years, Medicine 6 years, Law 5 years. The Master´s degree program is 1 to 2 years and the Doctorate degree program 2 to 3 years.