The 10 Facts About Nigeria You Should Probably Know

At ComposeMD, it’s all about equal opportunity. And I heard that people got upset when I focused excessively on East Africa with my piece on Swahili. (That’s not remotely true, by the way.) So to try to make amends, I thought I’d swing back across the continent and highlight a true giant of Africa: Nigeria. Here are the 10 facts about Nigeria you should probably know.

 

1

The population of Nigeria is approximately 220 million, making it the sixth most-populated country in the world and the most-populated country in Africa. Its largest city by population is Lagos, which is in competition with Cairo and Kinshasa for Africa’s number one spot.

 

2

Nigeria is a federal republic with a similar governmental structure as the United States. It’s divided into 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. Abuja, a planned city that replaced Lagos as the country’s capital in 1991, has a central geographic location that also happens to balance the distribution of Nigeria’s major ethnic and religious groups (see below).

 

3

More than 250 ethnic groups inhabit the country, with the three largest being Hausa-Fulani (in the north), Yoruba (in the southwest), and Igbo (in the southeast).

 

4

Nigeria has an approximately even split between Islam and Christianity, with small numbers adhering to traditional African religions or other religions. The northern part of the country is dominated by Islam, with the majority of the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group falling in this category. (The jihadist group Boko Haram is based in northeastern Nigeria.)

Christianity is more prominent in the southern part of the country. The Yoruba ethnic group has adherents of Christianity, Islam, and traditional religions. The Igbo ethnic group is predominantly Christian.

 

5

Nigeria, like a lot of the world, spent a decent chunk of the 19th and 20th centuries under indirect and direct British rule. It declared independence on October 1, 1960. Nigerians have found immense success in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada.

 

6

No country is complete without a bloody civil war, and Nigeria dutifully complied. From 1967-1970, the secessionist state of Biafra, largely representing the Igbo people, fought unsuccessfully for independence from the rest of the young republic. As would be expected, the lead up to the conflict was complicated. And needless to say, a lot of people (in the range of one or two million) unnecessarily died.

 

7

Over 500 native languages are spoken in Nigeria. The major native languages correspond to the major ethnic groups, namely Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. English is the official language of the country. Nigerian Pidgin, an English-based creole, is widely spoken as a sort of lingua franca.

 

8

Nigeria has the 32nd largest nominal GDP in the world (and the largest in Africa). When adjusted for purchasing power parity, Nigeria lands at 27th. As expected, when the latter number is expressed per capita, the country plummets to number 143.

Traditionally, oil has been a big part of the economic picture, though in recent times, the oil sector contributes to only about six percent of the country’s GDP. That’s one of the lowest percentages among the 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

 

9

While Hollywood is known for generating massive revenue, and Bollywood is known for pumping out a huge number of films, don’t overlook Nollywood. Nigeria’s film industry is the second largest producer of feature films in the world (after India). If you’re more of a music person, you can’t miss Afrobeat (a genre that combines West African musical style with American jazz and funk) or the unrelated Afrobeats (an overarching term for pop music from West Africa). Just beware that you may have to turn down the bass with the latter.

 

10

Nigeria has made generous contributions to the National Basketball Association (NBA) over the years. The gold standard was Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon, who led the Houston Rockets to the NBA championship in 1994 and 1995. A new legend in the making is Giannis Antetokounmpo, born in Greece to Nigerian parents. Other big names include Andre Iguodala, Bam Adebayo, and Victor Oladipo. Of course, the most popular sport in Nigeria is football (soccer).

 

The bottom line is that Nigeria is a large, ethnically diverse, religiously diverse, linguistically diverse, movie loving, soccer (and basketball) loving, oil exporting, and talent exporting place. In other words, it’s complicated.

(This article was updated on August 11, 2023.)