Nigeria attained independence from British colonial rule on October 1st 1960 following the amalgamation of its diverse peoples since the annexation of Lagos in 1861. Its creation as a country under the name ‘Nigeria’ followed the amalgamation of the Protectorates of Northern Nigeria and the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria on January 1, 1914. The amalgamation unified the two protectorates into a single British Colony of Nigeria under the administration of a Governor General, the first of which was Sir Frederick Lugard (British Colonial Report—Annual, 1916; Falola and Heaton, 2008).60 Nigeria is as a result, often described as a creation of British colonialism.
In a 1914 report presented to the British imperial government on the amalgamation, Frederick Lugard gives a vivid background to the process and series of amalgamations which culminated in the creation of Nigeria. In the report, Lord Lugard explained:
The geo-political entity "Nigeria" is a colonial creation whose origins are to be found in the three British proto-colonial economic polities:
the Colony of Lagos, which was under the supervision of the Colonial office, the Niger Coast (Oil Rivers) Protectorate under the Foreign Office, and the territory of the Royal Niger Company, a royal chartered company vested by Her Majesty's Government with judicial and administrative powers (Dorward, 1974: 2).
Nigeria is as such, an encapsulation of ethno-linguistically and geographically diverse groups and localities with pervasive heterogeneities among its people (See figure 9). It is in view of its pluralism that Blench (2003: 2) describes Nigeria as “the third most ethnically and linguistically diverse country in the world, after New Guinea and Indonesia”. With ethnic groups and distinct linguistic units numbering between 248 and 500 respectively, Blench argues that Nigeria is a country in which ethno-linguistic diversity has a very significant effect in almost every area of the economy, intergroup relations and national integration in Nigeria.61
60 According to Afigbo (1980) the merging of southern protectorates followed revocation of the control charter held by the Royal Niger Company on 31st December, 1899 due to its mismanagement of its assumed territories in the region. Hence the merger of the southerly territories with the territories of the Niger Coast Protectorate on January 1, 1900, forming a new Protectorate—the protectorate of Southern Nigeria with four administrative divisions: Western, Central, Eastern and Cross River with its headquarters at Calabar.
61 The figure of 248 comes from Coleman (1958). The Index of Nigerian Languages (Hansford et al. 1976) gave a count of 394 languages, while the new edition (Crozier & Blench 1992) gives 440. The Ethnologue for 2000 lists 515 living languages, while the as yet unpublished Third Edition of the Index records 466. Wente-Lukas and Jones (1985) is an ethnic inventory and records some 550 ethnic groups. Coleman is probably the source of the oft-quoted figure of 250 languages frequently given in the Nigerian Press, and the Federal Government itself recognises no official figure. Indeed, one of the pillars of the colonial service was that officials did not reach
126 Figure 9: Ethno-linguistic groups in Nigeria
Source: Victoria (2015).62
The diversity of the post-colonial Nigeria led Osimen, Balogun and Adenegan (2013: 79) to argue that “the 1914 amalgamation exercise embarked upon by Lord Lugard, of the areas of North and South of the river Niger and Benue was a unification without unity, or at best unity in diversity”. This factor accounts to a large extent, for the constant tension among its various groups since independence. Despite attempts made over the years towards engendering national integration including institutional and structural reforms such as state creation, the federal character principle and the national youth service scheme among others, competing centrifugal loyalties have remained important factors shaping conflict among groups in the country. Nigeria is today made up of 36 states, a Federal capital territory, and 774 local government areas (See map in figure 10).
their full salary until they were fluent on the ‘local’ language, local being defined as one of these official linguae francae. A consequence of this system was that ‘native courts’ could be held in the vernacular, a situation that does not hold true in most parts of the country today, where plaintiffs are forced to operate in English, a system they consider highly unsatisfactory.
62 Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) is one of the ways in which the solar radiation (sun’s energy) reaching the earth's surface can be represented. GHI is the total amount of shortwave radiation received from above by a surface horizontal to the ground. It is usually measured per unit area on a given surface. SI unit (metric measurement) is generally used for all of these quantities, and are usually watts per square meter (W/m2). In this map of Nigeria, kWh/m2 (kilowatt per square meter) is used. As can be seen on the map, the northern part of Nigeria, closer in distance to the Sahara Desert (and generally known as the Sahel Savanna) receives the most irradiation per sq. meter and it is naturally Nigeria's hottest region.
127 Figure 10: Map of the 36 states of Nigeria
NHC, London (2015).
Nigeria’s expansive size and location also plays an important role in its climatic characteristics and diversity. It is Africa’s most populous country and a power hub with a population estimated of over 170 million people63. It is also the largest economy on the continent with a GDP estimated in 2014, at $515, 431 billion dollars (Lees, 2014). Globally, Nigeria’s population is the seventh largest and its economy is considered to be among the fastest growing in the world (UN, 2015). It is also known as the world’s largest agglomeration of black people (Nigerian Watch, 2014).
Nigeria has a total surface area of 91.07 million hectares and a land mass of about 923,768km², with a coastline totalling 850km in length bounded south at the Atlantic Ocean Nigeria (Cleaver and Shreiber, 1994). Aregheore (2009) puts Nigeria’s land usage distribution as follows: total irrigated land of about 9570 km2; about 35% arable land; 15%
pasture; forest reserve of about 10%; settlements of about 10% and an uncultivable land size
63 Although the last population census by the National Population Commission (NPC) of 2006 puts the total population at 140, 431, 790 million <http://www.population.gov.ng/>, there has been yearly estimates by many agencies based on the 2006 figure. A 2014 estimate by the Global Britanica puts it at 177, 156, 000 million <http://global.britannica.com/place/Nigeria>, while the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for example, estimates the country’s population to be about 181,562,000 million as at July 2015
<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html>. Accessed, 16, September, 2015.
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of about 30%. It also has a sizeable arable land of about 33%; about 3% for permanent crops;
44% for permanent pastures; 12% for forests and woodland and 8% for other uses. Its borders are shared with four countries including Benin Republic to the west, Niger Republic to the north, Cameroon to the east, Chad Republic through Lake Chad in the northeast, and a southern boundary formed by the Atlantic Ocean. As a result of its size and ecological diversity, it has been argued that “no single generic model or adaptation scheme could reasonably apply to the whole country” (Sayne, 2011: 3).
Table 2: Facts and Figures about Nigeria
Demographics Total Population 180, 202, 000 (2015 est.)64 Distribution of
population by sexes Male: 92, 789 Female: 89 413 Number of Ethnic
groups and share of population.65
Over 250 ethnic groups.
Hausa and the Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo (Ibo) 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%
Population density 188.9/km2 , 489.3/sq mi Geographic Geographic
Location Between 3o and 14o East Longitude and 4o and 14o North Latitude.
Longest: East to West: about 767 kilometres; North to South: 1,605 kilometres.
Contiguous states Nigeria shares its borders with The Republic of Benin, Niger, Cameroon, and Chad. The lower course of the Niger River flows south through the western part of the country to the Gulf of Guinea.66
Climate Varied across regions: equatorial in south, tropical in central region, and arid in the north.
Natural hazards and environmental issues67
Periodic droughts; desert encroachment and 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
Geo-Physical
Areas68 Total: 923,768 sq km; Land: 910,768 sq km; Water: 13,000 sq km Land use69 Agricultural land: 78%, arable land 37.3%; permanent crops 7.4%;
permanent pasture 33.3%, forest: 9.5%, other: 12.5% (2011 est.), Socio-economic statistics
Urbanization70 Urban population: 47.8% of total population.
64 According to the United Nations 2015 World Population
Prospects.<http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/Key_Findings_WPP_2015.pdf> Accessed, 16, September, 2015.
65 World Fact book. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html. Accessed, 16 September, 2015.
66 See Onyia (2015: 186)
67 World Fact book, Op cit.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
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Rate of urbanization: 4.66% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) Distance from
sea level71 Lowest
Highest Atlantic Ocean 0 m
At Chappal Waddi at 2 419m
Source: Author’s compilation from World Factbook or as otherwise footnoted.72