100 Facts About Nigeria History, Economy And Culture

100 Facts About Nigeria History, Economy And Culture. Nigeria is often called the “Giant of Africa.” This name comes from the vastness of its land, the diversity of its peoples and languages, its huge population.

About Nigeria

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is the most populous country in Africa; geographically situated between the Sahel to the north, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean; covering an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi), with a population of over 211 million.

Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the second-largest in Africa.

100 Facts About Nigeria History, Economy And Culture

Interesting Fun Facts About Nigerian history, economy and culture for everyone and kids

Nigeria, with a population of 214,248,405 people (2023), is the most populous Black country and the world’s seventh most populous country, following Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia, the United States, India, and China, in that order (1.3bn).
Nigerians make about one-fifth of Africa’s overall population.
Nigeria has the fourth-highest number of languages in the world, with 521. There are 510 live languages, two-second languages with no native speakers, and nine extinct languages included in this list.
In 1472, the Portuguese arrived in Nigeria. The British began conquering Nigeria’s south in 1880. By 1903, the north had been overrun.
Wole Soyinka is a Nobel Laureate from Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote is the world’s richest Black individual, with a net worth of $16.1 billion.
Yoruba people and their lineages have the world’s highest percentage of twinning (having twins).
According to the 2006 Census, Nigerians are the most educated ethnic or racial group in the United States.
According to Ibraheem A. Waziri’s study, the Northern knot, or Arewa emblem, has Christian origins. The knot is based on the Church Celtic knot.
Malam Umaru Altine, a northern Fulani man, was the first elected Mayor of Enugu, in the east, and was even re-elected for a second term.
Pre-tribalism: John Umoru of Etsako in today’s Edo State (Western area) was elected to the Eastern Nigerian House of Assembly to represent Port Harcourt.
In 1914, the Colonial Cantonments Proclamation created “foreign quarters,” or “Sabon Gari,” which formalized Nigeria’s Sabon Garuruwa system of “foreigner” residential segregation.
Crispin Curtis Adeniyi-Jones (1876-1957), a medical director from Sierra Leone, was honored by the street ‘Adeniyi-Jones’ in Ikeja (a Saro). He was a co-founder of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (NNDP) and earned one of the three Lagos legislative council seats in 1923, representing Nigerians for 15 years.
Saros was the term given to ‘Creole’ African literati who migrated from Sierra Leone in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Repatriated Brazilian and Cuban slaves were known as Amaros; they are now known as the ‘Aguda’ people of Lagos. This Brazilian group contains deportees from Portugal’s valiant “Malê Revolt.”
In 1911, Nigeria had a population of only 16 million people. By 2050, it is expected to surpass the United States and become the world’s fourth-biggest economy.
Today, the population of Lagos is about equal to the total population of all Eastern states put together.
In 1872, Lagos had a population of 60,000 people. By 2015, it will be the world’s third most populous metropolis.
Nigeria’s north (719,000 sq km) accounts for 80 percent of the country’s land area. It is four times the size of the South.
Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, the 1st Republic Aviation Minister, concealed former South African President Nelson Mandela in Nigeria for six months to avoid imprisonment by the apartheid administration.
Gangsta: In 1984, under the disciplinary Buhari/Idiagbon government, a sophisticated attempt was made to kidnap and repatriate Umaru Dikko, the ex-civilian regime’s minister of transport, from the United Kingdom, anesthetized in a freight crate, for embezzlement of $1 billion under the Shagari regime.
Valor: Known as the “Forgotten Army,” Nigerians fought with international troops in the Second World War as part of the 81st and 82nd West African Divisions.
In 1918, 30,000 Abeokuta Ebga warriors staged a massive revolt against the colonial authority over colonization, taxes, and slave labor. Rail and telegraph cables were damaged, and one British soldier was killed. The British awarded medals to their men for putting down the insurrection. For his active engagement, Awape Adediran, a Molashin/Kingmaker, was imprisoned.
Mrs. Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti, an activist, traveled much, including to the Soviet Union (Hungary, USSR and China where she met Mao Zedong). Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States were all enraged by these exchanges. America labeled her a communist and denied her entry into the country.
Mrs. Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti, Fela’s mother, was one of the delegates that negotiated Nigeria’s independence in the United Kingdom.
Nigeria’s north used to be the most literate section of the country. According to Lord Luggard, the north had 25,000 Qur’anic Arabic schools with around 250,000 students.
Sardauna of Sokoto, for example, stated that he prefers foreign employees to Igbos because he believes Igbos are dominant. This was back when Nigeria was divided into regions with regional governments.
In Nigeria’s first military coup, Kaduna Nzeogwu assassinated Sardauna.
In 1966, a devious Igbo-owned bakery allegedly produced a loaf of bread with a label depicting Nzeogwu as the Saint in the medieval legend “Saint George and the Dragon,” killing Sardauna, the “dragon,” resulting in violent anti-Igbo rioting.
Idrîs Aloma (1571-1603), King of Kanem-Bornu, discovered weapons while on pilgrimage. He returned with some firearms and Turks to teach his soldiers how to use them.
Until 1984, a travel visa was not necessary to visit the United Kingdom.
In 1975, a brand new vehicle was sold for N2000. In 1975, a ticket to London cost less than N100.
In 1976, 75 kobo equaled one British pound, whereas 60 kobo equaled one US dollar.
At the start of Babangida’s presidency in 1985, a dollar was worth 90 kobo.
In 1977, Nigeria received its first loan from the World Bank.
IMF proposals that Nigeria deflates its currency were rebuffed by General Buhari and Idiagbon.
The coupled with Nigeria adopting SAP limitations, loans, and crushing foreign monetary conditions, which was important to the colonialists accused of being in favor.
Nigeria boasts five of the top ten wealthiest pastors in the world, with net worths ranging from $10 million to $150 million, according to Forbes. David Oyedepo, E. A. Adeboye, Chris Oyakhilome, Mathew Ashimolowo, and Temitope Joshua are the pastors.
Nigeria has the world’s fourth-highest number of poor people living on less than a dollar a day. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 100 million people are homeless (National Bureau of Statistics).
Nigeria, Africa’s third-largest economy, ranks 160th out of 177 nations in terms of HDI (Human Development Index).
Nigerian parliamentarians are the highest paid in the world.
Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world, based on the amount of money spent out of an annual income of $81 billion.
Nigeria is the country with the most mugus, or persons who have been scammed, in history. Successive administrations have continued to plunder a larger portion of the country’s wealth, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars.
Nigeria was named the worst nation to be born in 2013 based on projected wellbeing and prosperity.
Presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, and Jonathan’s 4th republic campaigns were all sponsored by Aliko Dangote. Dangote offered Buhari money, but he declined.
According to Kano legend, Magajiya Maimuna, a renowned warrior princess, led her troop from Zaria to capture Kumbwada.
Queen Hajiya Haidzatu Ahmed, who presides over up to half a million people, rules Kumbwada in Kano today. Males are kept off the throne by a throne curse that makes them ill and dies. Sadly, Kumbwada, which is governed by a woman, is Nigeria’s poorest chiefdom.
The Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) is Nigeria’s most important African trading partner.
In the administration of English-speaking The Gambia, there are numerous Nigerian officials.
In Accra, there is a Yoruba chief of Nigerian descent. Chief Brimah is the only non-Ghanaian to have a seat on Ghana’s traditional council.

Cross River State: The Nsibidi (Nsibiri) writing system is said to have started with the Ejagham (Ekoi) people in the Southeast, and then extended to the Efik, Igbo, Ibibio, Efut, Banyang, and Annag peoples.
The Nok, West Africa’s earliest civilisation, thrived between 1000 BC and 300 BC and was discovered in 1928 in Nigeria’s North and North Central area. Nok sculptures were recently on exhibit in Germany (not Africa), which was disappointing.
The Benin Iya, or moat, was completed in 1460 and is a historic global defensive marvel. It is the world’s biggest archeological construction, spanning 1,200 kilometers and with walls as high as 18 meters.
Sungbo’s Eredo is a 100-mile system of up to 70-foot ditches and walls surrounding Ijebu-Ode in Ogun state (6°49′N, 3°56′E). Bilkisu Sungbo, the Queen, has been compared to the Biblical Queen Sheeba (Queen Bilkis in Quran).
In 1904, Lord Lugard estimated that there were 170 walled towns left in the Kano region of northern Nigeria. Kano was described as a “western Sudanese commercial center” by him. ‘I have never seen, nor even imagined, anything like that in Africa,’ he added of the structure’s wall.
Osun: In 1000AD, Queen Luwo, twenty-first Ife’s Ooni (ruler), carpeted the streets with quartz pebbles—and shattered crockery. Decorations from Ancient America were used in architecture.
Borno: Ngazargamu, the capital of Kanem-Borno, was one of the biggest cities in 1658 AD, with 660 well-planned, broad, and unbending streets and a population of “approximately quarter of a million people.”
In 1246 AD, the Kanemi of Borno caused a stir in Tunisia when he presented Al-Mustapha, King of Tunis, with a giraffe as a gift.
Sokoto: In 16th-century Surame, a Sokoto metropolis built by empire emperor Muhammadu Kanta Sarkin Kebbi, two-story structures with constructions glazed with tsoluwa (laterite gravel), 10 mile perimeter city walls, some as high as 20 feet Surame is “one of the miracles of human history, inventiveness, and ingenuity,” according to UNESCO.
Kano: In 1851, this city, one of Africa’s biggest, produced 10 million pairs of sandals and 5 million skins for export.
Kebbi: The Sorko Sea Lords of Kebbi State in Nigeria built ships (Kanta) that were used on long-distance expeditions, including the famous voyage of Songhai Empire’s Mansa Abubakari II to the Americas in 1311 AD, decades before Columbus.
Yobe: The 8500-year-old Dufuna canoe, the oldest found watercraft in Africa and the third oldest in the world, was discovered in 1987 in Dufuna village, Fune LGA, by a Fulani herdsman.
Ondo: The 13,000-year-old Iwo-Eleru cave skull, the oldest human fossil remains found in West Africa, has ‘ancient’ (140,000-year-old Laetoli) features, but lived in more modern times, perplexing evolution scientists.
Benin Kingdom: The Benin Kingdom’s high-quality, extremely complex bronze work, which dates back to the 13th century, is a world wonder. The empire’s history is also highlighted by great works in iron, wood, ivory, and terra cotta items.
Benin Kingdom: In 1619, Lourenco Pinto, captain of a ship carrying missionaries to Warri, characterized Benin kingdom as “greater than Lisbon,” with “all the avenues running straight and as far as the eyes can see.”
Akwa Ibom: In 1867, King Jaja of Opobo (1821–1891) established the Opobo city-state, which exported palm oil to Britain without the use of British middlemen.
The Benin Haplogroup or Haplogroup 19 suggests that Ancient Greeks had Nigerian ancestors. ‘The Benin Haplotype (originating in Nigeria, West Africa) accounts for HbS related chromosomes in Sicily and Northern Greece,’ according to Jide Uwechia.
Ilorin’s Oba Afonja enlisted the aid of Fulani soldiers to fight the Oyo Empire. After conquering Oyo, the warriors gained control of Ilorin, and Sheikh Alimi, their leader, became the first Emir.
The Songhai Empire ruled over much of northern Nigeria. Between 1512 and 1517, Muhammad Kanta conquered Kebbi and other kingdoms.

Nigeria was transformed from a Parliamentary to a Presidential style of government during the Obasanjo military dictatorship.
Parliamentary governance was prevalent in traditional pre-colonial Nigeria. The King might be made or impeached by the council of elders.

That’s all about the cool Interesting Fun Facts About Nigerian history, economy, and culture for everyone.

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