n.
officially Federal Republic of Nigeria
Country, western Africa.
Area: 356,669 sq mi (923,773 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 129,935,000. Capital: Abuja . There are more than 250 ethnic groups, including Hausa , Fulani , Yoruba , and Igbo . Languages: English (official), Hausa . Religions: Islam, Christianity, traditional religions. Currency: naira. Nigeria consists of plateaus and the lowlands between them, which are major river basins fed especially by the Niger River . It has a developing, mixed economy based largely on petroleum production and agriculture. Manufacturing remains undeveloped. Services, trade, and transportation employ more than two-fifths of the workforce. Nigeria is a federal republic with two legislative bodies; its head of state and government is the president. Inhabited for thousands of years, the region was the centre of the Nok culture from 500 BC to AD 200 and of several precolonial empires, including Kanem-Bornu , Benin , and Oyo . There were also Hausa and Fulani states. Visited in the 15th century by Europeans, it became a centre for the slave trade. The area began to come under British control in 1861 and was entirely British-controlled by 1906. Nigeria gained independence in 1960 and became a republic in 1963, with Nnamdi Azikiwe as president. Ethnic strife soon led to military coups, and military groups ruled the country from 1966 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1999. Civil war between the federal government and the former eastern region, Biafra (196770), ended in Biafra's surrender after the death by starvation of perhaps a million Biafrans. In 1991 the capital was moved from Lagos to Abuja. The government's execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995 led to international sanctions, and civilian rule was finally reestablished in 1999. By far the most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria suffers from rapid population increase, political instability, foreign debt, slow economic growth, a high rate of violent crime, and rampant government corruption.