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Nigeria
Nigeria is the most populated Black country in the world and Africa most populated country with a population of about 140 millions. Nigeria has about 250 different ethnic groups. The three main tribes are Housa, Yoruba and Ibo.
Nigeria is located just above the equator with a land space of 923,768 sq. km. (356,700 sq. mi.). It borders on the Gulf of Guinea (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean) in the south, on Benin in the west, on Niger in the northwest and north, on Chad in the northeast, and on Cameroon in the east. Abuja is the capital and Lagos is the largest city, while other major cities are Aba , Abeokuta , Ado , Benin , Enugu , Ibadan , Ife , Ilesha , Ilorin , Iwo , Kaduna , Kano , Maiduguri , Mushin , Ogbomosho , Onitsha , Oshogbo , Port Harcourt , and Zaria
Nigeria has 36 states apart from the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. They are; Abia State, Adamawa State, Benue State, Akwa Ibom State, Anambra State, Bauchi State, Bayelsa State, Borno State, Cross River State, Delta State, Ebonyi State, Edo State, Ekiti State, Enugu State, Gombe State, Imo State, Jigawa State, Kaduna State, Kano State, Katsina State, Kebbi State, Kogi State, Kwara State, Lagos State, Nassarawa State, Niger State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Osun State, Oyo State, Plateau State, Rivers State, Sokoto State, Taraba State, Yobe State, Zamfara State
Nigeria with a coastline stretching over 800 miles and a good ecosystems such as such the mangrove and rain forests of the south while the rich savannah plains in the middle and brown sand dunes of the Sahara in north can be seen in a day. These Combine with the mountain ranges, deep valleys and hundreds of rivers, lakes and waterfalls that dot the country and you have a tourist haven that is unspoiled and virtually undiscovered. Adventure beckons at every turn.
Nigeria is blessed with vast and abundant natural resource which includes; Petroleum, natural gas, tin, columbite, iron ore, coal, limestone, lead, zinc and rich agricultural products such as; cocoa, palm oil, yams, cassava, sorghum, millet, corn, rice, livestock, groundnuts, cotton but petroleum is the main stay of the economy accounting for over 90 of the foreign exchange earning of the country.
Nigerians are generally warm and hospital people while returns on investments in Nigeria is the highest in the world
History of Nigeria
Nigeria is made up of different ethnic groups with history dating back to 2000 BC. The pre-independent Nigeria is made up ethnics group with rich culture and civilization dating back to many centuries before the colonial invasion. Iron-working cultures, such as the Nok, were thriving in central and southern Nigeria. The Nok produced sub-Saharan Africa's earliest terracotta sculptures of human figures, establishing what was to become an important tradition of highly-skilled artistry, preserved in many later West African societies. The Kanuri Empire and the Oyo Empire are some of the hallmark of civilization and government that existed in Nigeria long before the advert of the European colonial masters.
Around the 1470 Portuguese explorers arrived off the coast of modern-day Nigerias. Soon, European powers were regularly visiting the West Africa coast and exchanging spirits, cloth, hardware, guns, and gunpowder for slaves. This mark the begining of enslavement and colonization of the West Africa coast including the Nigeria area.
However, Nigeria as a nation came into existence in 1914 when Lord Luggard amalgamated the Northern and the Sourthern protectorate of Nigeria to form the Nigeria nation.
After persistent struggle champion by the Nigeria leaders among whom are The late Nnamdi Azikwe, late Obafemi Awolow, late Saduana of Sokoto and many others, Nigeria gained independece in 1960.
In 1963, Nigeria became a republic, but by 1966 the first republic came to an end with the coup led by Aguiyi Inrosi.
The counter coup of 1966 brought Ironsi regime to an end and installed Gowon regime.
In 1967 Nigerian erupted in a civil war between the federal army and the biafra army made up of the Igbo of the south east who wanted to seceed from Nigeria to form a seperate biafra state. However, the war came to an end in 1971 with Nigeria remain as one indivisible entity.
The Gowon government abolished the region system creating 12 states out of the 4 regions that were previously in existence.
After many failed promises of taken Nigeria back to democracy, the Gowon nine year coming to an end in 1975 through the coup led by Muritala Muhammed.
Muritala regime was however short live with a coup in February of 1976 led by Dimka. The coup though took the live of the then head of state was not successful and the culprits were subsequently executed and the then Chief of General staff, General Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in as the new Head of State.
General Obasanjo handed over power to a democratically elected government headed by Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1979, which mark the begining of the second republic.
The second republic however, lasted only 4 years as the Shehu Shagari regime was sack by General Buhari led coup in December 1983.
The regime of Buhari was also terminated in 1995 by a coup led by Badamosi Babangida who was before then the chief of Army staff.
Babangida took Nigerians through a tidious transition program that led to the June 12 election after many aborted attempt. The June 12 election itself widely believed to have been won by Chief Moshood Abiola and adjuned to be the freest and fairest election in Nigeria history was suprisingly annuled by Babangida under a spurious allegation that the election were marked with sharp malpractices and irregularities.
This annulment plunged Nigeria into a series of crises which led to the exist of Babangida from the seat of government and the end of the third republic leading to the installation of Chief Earnest Shonekan as the Head of the interim government.
The interim government only lasted to 3 month as it was subsequently sack by General Abacha as the military reign continues.
General Abacha like General Babangida before him took Nigeria on a tedious transition program leading to the emergence of five political parties that subsequently adopted him as the sole candidate of all of them.
However, the transition process came to an abrupt end when General Abacha suddenly died in June 1998
The dead of Abacha trust the mantle of leadership on General Abdusalam. General abdusalam unlike Babangida and Abacha before him promise and conducted a brief transition program which culminated in the emergence of the incubent president General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) as the democratically elected president of Nigeria in May 1999 and the begining of the fourth republic.
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