British influence and control over what would become Nigeria and Africa's most populous country grew through the 19th century. A series of constitutions after World War II granted Nigeria greater autonomy; independence came in 1960. Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. The government continues to face the daunting task of reforming a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement, and institutionalizing democracy. In addition, Nigeria continues to experience longstanding ethnic and religious tensions. Although both the 2003 and 2007 presidential elections were marred by significant irregularities and violence, Nigeria is currently experiencing its longest period of civilian rule since independence. The general elections of April 2007 marked the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the country's history. In January 2010, Nigeria assumed a nonpermanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2010-11 term.

Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon

10 00 N, 8 00 E

Africa

slightly more than twice the size of California

853 km

varies; equatorial in south, tropical in center, arid in north

southern lowlands merge into central hills and plateaus; mountains in southeast, plains in north

natural gas, petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, arable land

2,930 sq km (2008)

286.2 cu km (2003)

periodic droughts; flooding

soil degradation; rapid deforestation; urban air and water pollution; desertification; oil pollution - water, air, and soil; has suffered serious damage from oil spills; loss of arable land; rapid urbanization

the Niger enters the country in the northwest and flows southward through tropical rain forests and swamps to its delta in the Gulf of Guinea

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is composed of more than 250 ethnic groups; the following are the most populous and politically influential: Hausa and Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%

English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, over 500 additional indigenous languages

Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%

155,215,573 (July 2011 est.)

1.935% (2011 est.)

35.51 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)

16.06 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)

-0.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)

Lagos 10.203 million; Kano 3.304 million; Ibadan 2.762 million; ABUJA (capital) 1.857 million; Kaduna 1.519 million (2009)

840 deaths/100,000 live births (2008)

4.73 children born/woman (2011 est.)

5.8% of GDP (2009)

0.395 physicians/1,000 population (2008)

0.53 beds/1,000 population (2004)

urban: 75% of population

rural: 42% of population

total: 58% of population

urban: 25% of population

rural: 58% of population

total: 42% of population (2008)

urban: 36% of population

rural: 28% of population

total: 32% of population

urban: 67% of population

rural: 72% of population

total: 68% of population (2008)

3.6% (2009 est.)

3.3 million (2009 est.)

220,000 (2009 est.)

26.7% (2008)

NA

federal republic

36 states and 1 territory*; Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Federal Capital Territory*, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara

1 October 1960 (from the UK)

Independence Day (National Day), 1 October (1960)

adopted 5 May 1999; effective 29 May 1999

mixed legal system of English common law, Islamic law (in 12 northern states), and traditional law

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

bicameral National Assembly consists of the Senate (109 seats, 3 from each state plus 1 from Abuja; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) and House of Representatives (360 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)

Supreme Court (judges recommended by the National Judicial Council and appointed by the president); Federal Court of Appeal (judges are appointed by the federal government from a pool of judges recommended by the National Judicial Council)

Accord Party [Augustine MAZIE, acting]; Action Congress of Nigeria or ACN [Bisi AKANDE]; All Nigeria Peoples Party or ANPP [Ogbonnaya ONU]; All Progressives Grand Alliance or APGA [Victor C. UMEH]; Alliance for Democracy or AD [Mojisoluwa AKINFENWA]; Conference of Nigerian Political Parities or CNPP [Abdulkadir Balarabe MUSA]; Congress for Progressive Change or CPC; Democratic Peoples Party or DPP [Jeremiah USENI]; Fresh Democratic Party [Chris OKOTIE]; Labor Party [Dan NWANYANWU]; National Democratic Party or NDP [Aliyu Habu FARI]; Peoples Democratic Party or PDP [Dr. Okwesilieze NWODO]; Peoples Progressive Alliance [Larry ESIN]

Academic Staff Union for Universities or ASUU; Campaign for Democracy or CD; Civil Liberties Organization or CLO; Committee for the Defense of Human Rights or CDHR; Constitutional Right Project or CRP; Human Right Africa; National Association of Democratic Lawyers or NADL; National Association of Nigerian Students or NANS; Nigerian Bar Association or NBA; Nigerian Labor Congress or NLC; Nigerian Medical Association or NMA; the press; Universal Defenders of Democracy or UDD

ACP, AfDB, AU, C, CD, D-8, ECOWAS, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, MONUSCO, NAM, OAS (observer), OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, UN, UN Security Council (temporary), UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNISFA, UNITAR, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

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

eagle

Oil-rich Nigeria has been hobbled by political instability, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and poor macroeconomic management but in 2008 began pursuing economic reforms. Nigeria's former military rulers failed to diversify the economy away from its overdependence on the capital-intensive oil sector, which provides 95% of foreign exchange earnings and about 80% of budgetary revenues. Following the signing of an IMF stand-by agreement in August 2000, Nigeria received a debt-restructuring deal from the Paris Club and a $1 billion credit from the IMF, both contingent on economic reforms. Nigeria pulled out of its IMF program in April 2002, after failing to meet spending and exchange rate targets, making it ineligible for additional debt forgiveness from the Paris Club. In November 2005, Abuja won Paris Club approval for a debt-relief deal that eliminated $18 billion of debt in exchange for $12 billion in payments - a total package worth $30 billion of Nigeria's total $37 billion external debt. Since 2008 the government has begun to show the political will to implement the market-oriented reforms urged by the IMF, such as modernizing the banking system, curbing inflation by blocking excessive wage demands, and resolving regional disputes over the distribution of earnings from the oil industry. GDP rose strongly in 2007-10 because of increased oil exports and high global crude prices in 2010. President JONATHAN has pledged to continue the economic reforms of his predecessor with emphasis on infrastructure improvements. Infrastructure is the main impediment to growth and in August 2010 JONATHAN unveiled a power sector blueprint that includes privatization of the state-run electricity generation and distribution facilities. The government also is working toward developing stronger public-private partnerships for roads. Nigeria's financial sector was hurt by the global financial and economic crises and the Central Bank governor has taken measures to strengthen that sector.

$377.9 billion (2010 est.)

$348.7 billion (2009 est.)

$326 billion (2008 est.)

$216.8 billion (2010 est.)

8.4% (2010 est.)

7% (2009 est.)

6% (2008 est.)

$2,500 (2010 est.)

$2,300 (2009 est.)

$2,200 (2008 est.)

50.48 million (2010 est.)

4.9% (2007 est.)

70% (2007 est.)

43.7 (2003)

50.6 (1997)

13.6% of GDP (2010 est.)

9.5% of GDP (2010 est.)

-3.4% of GDP (2010 est.)

17.8% of GDP (2010 est.)

15.3% of GDP (2009 est.)

13.7% (2010 est.)

11.5% (2009 est.)

4.25% (31 December 2010 est.)

6% (31 December 2009 est.)

17.585% (31 December 2010 est.)

18.362% (31 December 2009 est.)

$34.65 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$33.45 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$74.08 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$71.98 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$70.1 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$61.9 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$50.88 billion (31 December 2010)

$33.32 billion (31 December 2009)

$49.8 billion (31 December 2008)

cocoa, peanuts, cotton, palm oil, corn, rice, sorghum, millet, cassava (tapioca), yams, rubber; cattle, sheep, goats, pigs; timber; fish

crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; rubber products, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel

5.3% (2010 est.)

20.13 billion kWh (2008 est.)

18.14 billion kWh (2008 est.)

0 kWh (2009 est.)

0 kWh (2009 est.)

2.458 million bbl/day (2010 est.)

279,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)

2.102 million bbl/day (2009 est.)

187,700 bbl/day (2009 est.)

37.2 billion bbl (1 January 2011 est.)

23.21 billion cu m (2009 est.)

7.216 billion cu m (2009 est.)

15.99 billion cu m (2009 est.)

0 cu m (2009 est.)

5.292 trillion cu m (1 January 2011 est.)

$21.85 billion (2010 est.)

$13.15 billion (2009 est.)

$73.7 billion (2010 est.)

$56.12 billion (2009 est.)

petroleum and petroleum products 95%, cocoa, rubber

US 37.4%, India 10.5%, Brazil 7.8%, Spain 6.9% (2010)

$53.46 billion (2010 est.)

$30.78 billion (2009 est.)

machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals

China 15.4%, Netherlands 9.7%, US 9.3%, France 4.8%, UK 4.2% (2010)

$34.92 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$44.76 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$9.16 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$7.846 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$69.4 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$63.35 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$9.521 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$8.606 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

nairas (NGN) per US dollar -

150.88 (2010)

148.9 (2009)

117.8 (2008)

127.46 (2007)

127.38 (2006)

1.05 million (2010)

87.298 million (2010)

nearly 70 federal-government-controlled national and regional TV stations; all 36 states operate TV stations; several private TV stations operational; cable and satellite TV subscription services are available; network of federal-government-controlled national, regional, and state radio stations; roughly 40 state-government-owned radio stations typically carry their own programs except for news broadcasts; about 20 private radio stations also operate; transmissions of international broadcasters are available (2007)

.ng

1,378 (2010)

43.989 million (2009)

54 (2010)

4 (2010)

condensate 26 km; gas 2,756 km; liquid petroleum gas 97 km; oil 3,441 km; refined products 4,090 km (2010)

8,600 km (Niger and Benue rivers and smaller rivers and creeks) (2009)

Bonny Inshore Terminal, Calabar, Lagos

the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial and offshore waters in the Niger Delta and Gulf of Guinea as high risk for piracy and armed robbery against ships; in 2010, 19 commercial vessels were boarded or attacked with most occurring in the vicinity of the port of Lagos; crews were robbed and stores or cargoes stolen

Nigerian Armed Forces: Army, Navy, Air Force (2008)

18 years of age for voluntary military service (2007)

1.5% of GDP (2006)

Joint Border Commission with Cameroon reviewed 2002 ICJ ruling on the entire boundary and bilaterally resolved differences, including June 2006 Greentree Agreement that immediately cedes sovereignty of the Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon with a phase-out of Nigerian control within two years while resolving patriation issues; the ICJ ruled on an equidistance settlement of Cameroon-Equatorial Guinea-Nigeria maritime boundary in the Gulf of Guinea, but imprecisely defined coordinates in the ICJ decision and a sovereignty dispute between Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon over an island at the mouth of the Ntem River all contribute to the delay in implementation; only Nigeria and Cameroon have heeded the Lake Chad Commission's admonition to ratify the delimitation treaty which also includes the Chad-Niger and Niger-Nigeria boundaries; location of Benin-Niger-Nigeria tripoint is unresolved

a transit point for heroin and cocaine intended for European, East Asian, and North American markets; consumer of amphetamines; safe haven for Nigerian narcotraffickers operating worldwide; major money-laundering center; massive corruption and criminal activity; Nigeria has improved some anti-money-laundering controls, resulting in its removal from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF's) Noncooperative Countries and Territories List in June 2006; Nigeria's anti-money-laundering regime continues to be monitored by FATF