Nigeria Overview

After lurching from one military coup to another, Nigeria now has an elected leadership. But it faces the growing challenge of preventing Africa's most populous country from breaking apart along ethnic and religious lines.

Nigeria has a varied landscape. From the Obudu Hills in the southeast through the beaches in the south, the rainforest, the Lagos estuary and savannah in the middle and southwest of the country and the Sahel to the encroaching Sahara in the extreme north.

The topography of Nigeria consists of plains in the north and south interrupted by plateaus and hills in the centre of the country. The Sokoto Plains lie in the northwestern corner of the country, while the Borno Plains in the northeastern corner extend as far as the Lake Chad basin.

Area:

• Total: 923,768 sq km
• Land: 910,768 sq km
• Water: 13,000 sq km
• Land boundaries: Total- 4,047 km

Border countries:

• Benin 773 km,
• Cameroon 1,690 km,
• Chad 87 km,
• Niger 1,497 km.

Others:

• Coastline: 853

Upon the election of Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerians were euphoric, as it seemed they were finally free from military rule. The emergency was exacerbated by fuel shortages and extended power blackouts that left the country in darkness for weeks. The situation little improved under the new democracy.

A leading oil and petroleum producer in the world, Nigeria organized as a loose federation of self-governing states in modern times. However, crippled with various hot debated issues during transitional tenure, the independent nation faced the overwhelming task of unifying a country with 250 ethnic and linguistic groups.

The Yoruba mythology believes that Ile-Ife is the source of the human race and that it predates any other civilization. Ifẹ produced the terra cotta and bronze heads, the Ọyọ extended as far as modern Togo.