Geography of Nigeria

General information about Nigeria

The official name is the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Located in the western part of Africa. The area is 923.8 thousand km2, the population is 120 million people. (2001). The official language is English. The capital is Abuja. Public holiday – Independence Day October 1 (since 1960). The monetary unit is the naira (equal to 100 kobo).

Member ok. 60 international organizations, incl. UN (since 1960) and its specialized organizations, the AU, the British Commonwealth, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the OIC, the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, etc.

Geography of Nigeria

Nigeria is located between 2°40′ and 14° E and 14° and 4° N, bordered on the west by Benin, on the north by Niger, on the northeast by Chad, on the east and southeast by Cameroon, on the south by waters of the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. The coastline (853 km) is relatively straight, little indented, with the exception of the Niger Delta region. 2/3 of the territory of Nigeria are vast flattened plateaus, the rest are plains. The narrow coastal plain turns into stepped plateaus: Yo-ruba, Udi, Jos and others. Peaks: Vogel (2042 m), Shere (1735 m), Wadi (1698 m). To the north of the Jos Plateau, the terrain drops off into the Hausa High Plain.

Nigeria is among the top ten world oil exporters (reserves of 22.5 billion barrels – approx. 3% of the world). Natural gas reserves 124 trillion m3 (10th place in the world). The subsoil is rich in coal, uranium, iron ore, columbite, tin, lead, manganese, zinc, gold, tungsten, limestone, asbestos, graphite, kaolin, mica and other raw materials.

Soils in Nigeria are infertile. The coastal plain is covered with red-yellow lateritic soils, the Yoruba plateau and the Northern plateau are red lateritic, the northern plains are red-brown and the northwestern regions are black soils of dry savannahs.

According to bridgat, the climate is tropical, equatorial monsoon. The arrival of the “dry season” or “rainy season” is determined by the tropical front, i.e. the zone of contact of the winds: blowing from the north, from the side of the deserts, hot, dry and carrying a lot of dust “har-mattan” and wet monsoons that originate in the south of the Atlantic. The maximum temperature of the “dry season” (December-January) on the coast at high humidity is +35°C, in the north at lower humidity +31°C, the “rainy season” (April-May) +23°С and +18°C respectively. The greatest amount of precipitation falls in the Niger Delta and in the eastern part of the coast – up to 4000 mm, the least in the northeast, in the Maiduguri region – less than 600 mm per year. In the central part of the country, their level is approx. 1200 mm per year, in the far north and northeast – up to 500 mm.

Nigeria is located in the basin of the middle and lower reaches of the Niger River, which joins its main tributary, the Benue, in the center of the country. Other major rivers of the country are Sokoto, Kaduna, Anambra, Katsina Ala, Gongola, Ogun, Oshun, Imo and Cross. Lake Chad is located in the northeast.

A narrow strip of mangrove and freshwater swamps on the coast gives way to a forest zone (mahogany and oil palm) with wet tropical dry tropical forests turning into deciduous. The zone of humid (Guinean tall-grass), park (with sparse trees – kaya, isoberlinia, mitragina) and desert (dry Sudanese with characteristic umbrella acacias, baobabs and tamarinds, as well as thorny bushes) savannah occupies approx. 1/2 territory. The Hausa High Plain is a semi-desert.

There are 274 species of mammals in Nigeria, incl. elephants, giraffes, rhinos, leopards, hyenas, numerous species of antelopes, scaly anteater, chimpanzee, gorilla, as well as other types of monkeys – monkeys, baboons, lemurs, etc. In the swamps and tropical forests of the south of the country, a large number of snakes and crocodiles live. The world of birds is bright and rich (over 680 species).

Population of Nigeria

Population growth 1.91% (2002 est.). Birth rate 39.22%, mortality 14.1%, infant mortality 72.49 people. per 1000 newborns. Life expectancy 50.59 years, incl. women 50.6 and men – 50.58 years. Age structure: 0-14 years old – 43.6%, 15-64 years old – 53.6%, 65 years and older – 2.8% of the population. In the entire population, there are 3% more men than women. Approx. 1/3 of the population, 57.1% of adults are literate, incl. 67.3% male and 47.3% female (1995 est.).

The ethnic composition of the population of St. 250 nations, the largest: Hausa-Fulani – 29%, Yoruba – 21%, Igbo – 18%, Ijo – 10%, Ibibio – 3.5%, Tiv – 2.5%, Bini, etc. Languages ​​- English, among more than 400 local languages and dialects, the main ones spoken are Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.

50% of the population is Muslim (Nigeria belongs to the Organization of the Islamic Conference), 40% are Christians and 10% are adherents of local religious beliefs.