Tuesday, 29 December 2015

14 Surprising Facts about Nigeria You Need to Know








1. Nigeria, with a 2013 estimated population of 174,507,539 is the most populous Black nation and the 7th most populated nation in the entire world, trailing after—from least to most—Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia, USA, India and China (1.3bn).

2. According to evidence from archaeological sites and discoveries, Nigeria has a history of human existence that has been dated back as far as 9000 BC. The Nok civilization is the earliest civilization in the country, which took place around 500 BC up to 200 AD.

3. Nigeria, with 521 languages has the fourth most in the world. This includes 510 living languages, two second languages without native speakers and 9 extinct languages.

4. The Portuguese reached Nigeria in 1472. In 1880 the British began conquering Nigeria’s south. The north was conquered by 1903.

5. Nigeria’s north (719,000 sq. km), occupies 80% of Nigeria’s land mass. In size it is four times the South.

6. The population of Lagos today is about more than the total population of all Eastern states combined.

7. Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of crude oil in the world (averaging 2,525,000 barrels per day) and the 8th largest exporter. Nigeria has the 10th largest proven reserves of petroleum worldwide. Petroleum plays an important role in the country’s economy and contributes to more than 85% of the total government’s revenue.


8. The Third Mainland Bridge (in Lagos State) connecting Lagos Island to the mainland is the longest bridge in Africa—it measures about 11.8km. The bridge starts from Oworonshoki which is linked to the Apapa-Oshodi express way and Lagos-Ibadan express way, and ends at the Adeniji Adele Interchange on Lagos Island. There is also a link midway through the bridge that leads to the Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba. The bridge was built by Julius Berger Nigeria PLC and opened by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1990

9. The Niger Delta (which is the second largest delta on the planet), has the highest concentration of monotypic fish families in the world, and isalso home to sixty percent of Nigeria’s mangrove forests. You should know too that Nigeria’s mangrove forests are the largest in Africa and third largest on earth.

10. The Yoruba tribe has the highest rate of twin births in the world. Igbo-Ora, a little town in Oyo state, has been nicknamed Twin capital of the World because of its unusually high rate of twins that is put as high as 158 twins per 1000 births.

11. The longest and largest river in West Africa is the river Niger from where Nigeria derives her name. River Niger spans about 4,180 km (2,600 mi) from its source is in the Highlands of Guinea in southeastern Guinea. It courses in a crescent through Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria, and eventually emptying into the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean after passing through a massive delta, known as the Niger Delta or the Oil Rivers.

12. A dollar was 90 kobo at the beginning of Babangida’s term in 1985.

13. Nigeria took its first loan from the World Bank in 1977.

14. Nigeria has the 4th highest number of poor, living under a dollar a day in the entire world. 100 million are ‘destitute’ according to figures from the NBS (National Bureau of Statis
tics).

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