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Nigeria, the most
populous nation in Africa and the seventh most populous nation in
the world with 206.1 million citizens (2020), is situated in West Africa
with a coast line on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders
with Benin to its west, Chad and Cameroon to its east and Niger to
the north. As ever, following independence from the UK on 1st October 1960, political instability ensued with coups and counter coups
many of which were due to various ethnic groups wanting
independence from a country they held little allegiance to and,
even today, Nigeria suffers from ongoing ethnic, tribal and
religious tensions that regularly spill out into open conflict. These tensions reflect the fact that most Nigerians see themselves as
belonging to the Yoruba (westerners), Igbo (easterners) and Hausa
(northerners) rather than Nigeria itself. The situation is most chronic in the
north-east of the country with regular attacks against Christians being
carried out by Boko Haram, a
fundamentalist Islamic group with suspected
links to with Al Qaeda, who are committed to the establishment of strict Sharia
law throughout Nigeria.
Despite significant
oil wealth,
most of which bypasses the population into the hands of wealthy oil companies
resulting in the establishment of groups such as MEND (Movement for the
Emancipation of the Niger Delta) which is committed to taking the oil
industry back for the local Nigerian people and using revenues to help clear up
the environmental disaster in the Delta, 40%, or 83 million, Nigerians live in poverty (2020).
In terms of education, the Nigerian government reported in 2021 that an estimated 10,193,918 children were out school making Nigeria the country with the highest number of Out-of-School Children in sub-Sahara Africa. There are many reasons for this, however a major factor is the number of children (an estimated twelve million between
the ages of 10-14yrs) who are forced into domestic servitude; some even sold to keep
their family's head above water with Gabon, Cameroon, Niger, Italy, Spain,
Benin and Saudi Arabia being known destinations. Some parents sell their
children in the belief that they will have a better life away from often single
houses in urban areas that are home to up to ten other families with no private
space, bedrooms and shared sanitation facilities. Most Nigerian woman have 5.32 children (2019). For more about
Nigeria check out our profile articles below.
Nigeria Profile: Volunteer in Nigeria
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Nigeria Profile: Nigeria History
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Nigeria Profile: Life in Nigeria
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Nigeria Profile: Nigeria Children
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Nigeria Profile: Street Children Nigeria
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Nigeria Profile: Abuja Profile
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Nigeria Profile: Lagos Profile
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Nigeria Profile: Lagos Airport
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Nigeria Profile: Niger Delta
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Nigeria Profile: Nigeria Quiz
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Nigeria Profile: Child Sponsor Nigeria
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Nigeria Profile: Nigeria Map
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Nigeria Profile: Nigeria News
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