Nigeria - Tourism and Travel

The Federal Republic of Nigeria is a country on the Gulf of Guinea, in West Africa.

It has an area of 356,669 square miles (9123,768 square kilometers).

The capital of Nigeria is Abuja.

Sandy beaches, lagoons and mangrove swamps fringe the coast of Nigeria.

Nigeria's coastal region is dominated by the Niger Delta.

The Niger River, which originates in Guinea, runs though Mali, Niger and Benin before entering Nigeria. From Nigeria, it divides into many forked strands before it empties into the Gulf of Guinea.

Alluvium that is deposited when the Niger river floods makes the soil fertile.

The Niger River is 2,600 miles (4,181 kilometers) long.

Further inland in Nigeria, there is a belt of rainforest.

This leads to high plateaus with savanna or woodland.

The southern edge of the Sahara desert runs across northern Nigeria.

The Sahel, a region of dry grassland at the southern edge of the Sahara, runs through Nigeria. The dry scrub in this region can be used only for feeding grazing herd animals.

Drought, the use of trees for firewood and overgrazing is transforming the Sahel to desert.

Isolated hills known as inselbergs can be found throughout the Sahel. They were formed when erosion caused the surrounding plain to be worn down, while resistant remnants of a plateau remained.

Nigeria has a tropical climate.

In the south, there is heavy rainfall in the summer

Precipitation is low in the north.

With a population of 154,729,000, Nigeria has more people than any other country in Africa.

Most of the people live in the lowlands along the coast or in the west.

21% of the people are Hausa, 21% are Yoruba, 17% are Ibo and 11% are Fulani.

The official language is English. Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo are also spoken.

50% of the people are Muslim, 40% are Christian and 10% practice traditional beliefs.

Nigeria has many oil resources offshore and in the Niger Delta. It is a member of OPEC. Oil makes up more than 90% of Nigeria's export earnings.

There are mineral deposits and large natural gas reserves, but mining and natural gas industries have not been well developed.

Approximately half of the workforce is involved in agriculture, primarily subsistence agriculture.

Not enough food is produced to supply the population, and more food is imported than exported.

Rubber and cocoa are exported.

Important industries include oil refining, fertilizers, agricultural processing, steel manufacturing, fertilizer and textiles.

Nigeria has a presidential system of government.

It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The official currency of Nigeria is the naira, which equals 100 kobo.

Nigeria has suffered from political instability, which has resulted in high levels of unemployment, poverty and heavy debt.