NIGERIA : THE LAND FILLED WITH MILK AND HONEY

BACKGROUND :

DATE OF INDEPENDENCE : 1st October,1960

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT/CAPITAL : Abuja

LARGEST CITY : Lagos

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE : English

NATIONAL LANGUAGE : Igbo, Hausa and Yoruba

TOTAL AREA : 923,769 KM SQUARE

POPULATION (2020 ESTIMATE ): 206,630,269 Million

CURRENCY : Naira (NGN)

TIME ZONE : UTC +01 :00 (WAT)

• NIGERIA or FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, is a sovereign country in West Africa with neighbouring  Niger in the North,Chad in the North East,Cameroon in the East and Benin in the West.

• Its  southern coast is on the Gulf of Guinnea in the Atlantic OceanIt has a total of 36 states  with Federal Capital Territory in Abuja that it it 37 states.Lagos is its most populous city while also double as one of  the largest metropolitan areas in the world. 

• The modern state originated with British colonialization in the 19th century, taking its present regional shape with the fusion of the  Nigeria Protectorate and  Southern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914 by Lord Fredrick Luggard. 
• The British set up administrative and legal structures while practising indirect rule  through traditional  rulers in the community.
• Nigeria  gained  independent federation on October 1st, 1960. Its witnessed a civil war from 1967 to 1970, followed by a succession of democratically-elected civilian government and  military dictatorships,

• However, a stable democratically elected government was voted into power in 1999 and  thereafter, the country witnessed for the first time a situation where an incumbent President lost out in a second term bid  election in the year 2015,a situation that was unheard of in the Africa countries among its politicians.

THE PEOPLE , LANGUAGES & RELIGION

• Nigeria has different ethnic group of more than 250 speaking about 500 distinct languages, all identifying with a wide variety of cultures.
• The three largest ethnic groups are Igbo in the Eastern part,Hausa in the Northern part and  Yoruba in the Western part of Nigeria, these three groups together totalling over 60% of the entire population.
• Official language is English while the citizens are mostly either Muslims or Christians with few traditional religion practitioners as Minority.
• It is estimated that 50% of Nigerians are Muslims who are predominantly from the North while 40% are Christians mostly from the South and the remaining 10% are traditional worshippers.

FOOD 

• Food in Nigeria is traditionally eaten by hand. However, with the growing influence of Western culture, forks and spoons are becoming more common, even in remote villages.Whether people eat with their hand or a utensil, it is considered dirty and rude to eat using the left hand.
• Although the ingredients in traditional plates vary from different part of the country, most Nigerian food tends to be based around a few staple foods accompanied by a stew.
• Take for instance in the south, cash crops like yams, sweet potatoes and cassava form the base of the meal while  oil based stew with meat, fish or chicken  always accompany such food.
• Fruits such as oranges, mangoes, tomatoes,  vegetables, bananas are very common in the southern part of the country.
• Nigeria Jollof rice is reputed to be the best in the entire Africa, where Ghana’s own is a major contender of the number of position but remain second.
• In the North, grains like Sorghum,Maize ,Millet are boiled into porridge which form the base of the diet from this part of the country.
• It is also usually served  with soup flavour onions, tomatoes, okra etc, Meat is also included in the soup although mostly on special occasions.
• The FulaniS also enjoy fresh milk and Yoghurt which is generated from their battles even though they may not have access to refrigerator.

ETIQUETTE

Age is greatly respected in Nigeria. In an area where the average life expectancy is 52.6 years, those who live into their senior years are seen as having earned special rights and they must be place in high esteem  and admiration. This is true of both men and women.

• Socially, greetings are of the utmost importance. A handshake and a long list of well wishes for a counterpart’s family and good health are expected when meeting someone especially in the first few minutes. 
• Whether you are talking to an office staff or  a  road side mechanic, it is considered rude and disrespectful not to engage in a proper greeting before getting down to business.

 

The usage of left hand to pass things to someone ,shaking hands, eating are unacceptable across all the ethnic groups in Nigeria, irrespective of the religion. The left hand is reserved for personal toiletries and is considered dirty.

 

17  FACTS ABOUT NIGERIA

• Some natural resources include Petroleum,Tin,Iron Ore,Lead,Zinc,Natural Gas and Arable Land good for Agriculture.

• The Oil and Gas sector represent about 10% of GDP and Petroleum export revenue  account for around 86% of total income from export.

• The country’s film industry, known as Nollywood, is one of the largest film producers in the world, second only to India’s Bollywood.

• Nigeria is home to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Africa.His net worth is about $12 Billion .

• Literacy rate stood at 62% while its currency is known as Naira.

• Professor Wole Soyinka was the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he won in 1986 and he is also a prominent social critic and political activist.

• Lagos ,the former capital of Nigeria before being moved to Abuja, is the country’s largest and most populous city and has been dubbed”Africa’s Big Apple” in reference to New York City.

• Major cash crops include Rice,Beans, Sesame, Cashew, Maize, Melon, PalmKernel, PalmOil ,Rubber Nuts, Cocoa,  Beans, Groundnuts, Kola nut, Maize, Sorghum, Yam ,Banana and Soybeans. etc.

• Nigeria is home  7% of the total language on earth.

• According to World Resources Institute,Nigeria is home to  4,715 different  types of plant species, and over 550 species of breeding birds and mammals, making it one of the most ecologically vibrant places of the planet.
• The Niger Delta which is the second largest delta on the planet, has the highest concentration of monotypic fish families in the world.

• The Yoruba tribe has the highest rate of  twin births in the world. Igbo-Ora, a little town in Oyo State, has been nicknamed Twin capital of the World because of  its unusually high rate of twins that is put as high  as 158 twins per 1000 births.

• Sarki Muhammad Kunta, The Great of Kebbi, was the only ruler who resisted control by Songhai, West Africa’s  greatest empire at that time. He founded and ruled Hausa city-state of Kebbi  around 1600 AD.

• The Anambra Waxbill, a small bird of many beautiful colours, is found only in southern Nigeria and nowhere else on earth.

• The World’s fastest supercomputer was designed by a world-renowned inventor and scientist, Philip Emeagwali, a full-blown Nigerian whose patency was awarded in 2015. This means Nigeria has the patency to the world’s fastest computer: a Nigerian.

• The designer of the famous car, Chevrolet Volt, Jelani Aliyu, is a super talented Nigerian from Sokoto State.

• In the US, Nigerians are the most educated immigrant community. Not one of the most educated, the most educated.60% of Nigerians in the US have college degrees. This is far above the American national average of 30%.

• Nigeria was the first African country to win gold medal for football in the Olympics. The national team has won the African Cup of Nations a total of three times.

THE BAD

• Nigeria is sitting on the 10th position at the World highest infant  Mortality rate while her position remain 12th on shortest  life expectancy which stand at 52.6 years and sadly 3.1% of its adult population are living with AIDS/HIV.

• In 2020, nationwide protests calling for the disbandment of the dreaded  police unit called SARS, the  special unit responsible for combatting robbery and crime. This attracted  global attention and ultimately led to the dissolution of the unit. Although, the demands of the youth have not been fully met, it was indeed a  relief to an extent for Nigerians as the nefarious attitude of the men of the police  has greatly be reduced to the minimum since the end of the protest. 

• While the authorities made limited progress towards justice and accountability for police abuses, instances of harassment and attacks against protesters by security forces in Nigeria cities gives  cold to the citizen over their purported commitment to reform of the security sector. 

THE GOOD

• Nigeria is a founding member of the Africa Union and a member of many other international organisation ,including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the ECOWAS AND OPEC, Nigeria is also a member of the informal MINT group of countries, and  the “Next Eleven” economies which are set to become among the biggest in the world.

• Nigerians are known to be intelligent and  extremely hard working people anywhere they find themselves, they have strong desire to survive irrespective of the circumstance. Their attitude to never give up in trying time is unusual.This is in addition to the friendly and accommodating spirit that is present in all the over 250 ethnic groups in the country.

• According to  the Gallop Polls of 2010 and 2011 and World Values Survey, both reports found Nigerians to be  the most optimistic nation and the  most happiest people on earth respectively.  

In conclusion, you cannot talk of any African countries without mentioning Nigeria.The  country play a prominent role in shaping the entire continent.Its vast bandits rich culture and  happy people, its music and its lovely food!

Please feel free to let us know in the comment section any Nigeria state you will like us to cover in our next post!