Nigeria is a country in equatorial West Africa. It is the continent's most populous nation. It has a southern coastline on the Gulf of Guinea, and has Benin to the west, Cameroon to the southeast, Chad to the northeast, and Niger to the north.

Regions
Administrative divisions
36 states and 1 territory*; Abia, Abuja Federal Capital Territory*, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara
Cities
Abuja - Capital
Benin City
Calabar
Lagos - Former colonial capital.
Port Harcourt
Sapele
Warri
Jos
Ibadan
Kano
(Aba)
Other destinations
Kainji National Park
Yankari National Park

Climate
Varies; equatorial in the south, tropical in the center, arid in the north. Natural hazards include periodic droughts and flooding.

Terrain
Southern lowlands merge into central hills and plateaus; mountains in the southeast, plains in the north. The Niger river enters the country in the northwest and flows southward through tropical rain forests and swamps to its delta in the Gulf of Guinea.

Highest point
Chappal Waddi 2,419 m.
History
Nigeria is a former British colony and a member of the British Commonwealth.

Independence
1 October 1960 (from UK)
National holiday
Independence Day (National Day), 1 October (1960)
On 12 December 1991 the capital was officially transferred from Lagos to Abuja; most federal government offices have now made the move to Abuja.

Following nearly 16 years of military rule, a new constitution was adopted in May 1999, and a peaceful transition to civilian government was completed. The president faces the daunting task of rebuilding a petroleum-based economy, whose revenues have been squandered through corruption and mismanagement, and institutionalizing democracy. In addition, the Yar'adua administration must defuse longstanding ethnic and religious tensions, if it is to build a sound foundation for economic growth and political stability.

Get in

Rainy day at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, LagosMost travellers will need a visa and these can be tricky to get. In 2007,the Nigerian government refused a visa for Bill Gates [2], wanting proof he would not stay and become a drain on their welfare system.

By plane
International airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, and Port Harcourt.
Nigerian Airlines; Virgin Nigeria and Bellview Airlines makes local and International Flights (to Other African countries and London)
Several European airlines fly to Nigeria; British Airways(London Heathrow - Abuja, Lagos), Virgin Atlantic(London Heathrow - Lagos), KLM(Amsterdam - Abuja, Lagos, Kano), Air France(Paris-Charles de Gaulle - Lagos), Alitalia(Milan-Malpensa- Abuja, Lagos), Turkish Airline(Istanbul-Lagos), Lufthansa(Frankfurt - Abuja, Lagos), Iberia Airlines(Madrid-Lagos)
Airline from the United States; North American Airlines (Baltimore/Washington, New York-JFK - Lagos), Delta Air Lines (Atlanta - Lagos from 3-Dec-07)
Other Inter Continental Airlines fly to Lagos. They include; China Southern Airlines(Beijing, Dubai), Emirates(Dubai), Middle East Airlines(Beirut), Qatar Airways (Doha)
Besides these, there are other airlines (in addition to VNA and Bellview) that operate domestic and regional flights to places like Abidjan, Accra, Banjul, Conakry, Dakar, Douala, Freetown, Johannesburg, Libreville, Monrovia.
Currently Port Harcourt international is closed for rehabilitation works.
There are also airports in most states of the federation and local air travel is widespread.

By train
Most of the trains in Nigeria are for transporting cargo.
The new president, Yar'adua, however, says that he plans to invest and aggressively pursue a nationwide train network which should be ready by 2011.
At moment it is not advisable to travel on train especially if you are foreign national.
By bus
Getting around is relatively easy, except that there could be delays owing to traffic jams within most major cities. As usual, there are multitudes of coaches and buses that will take you to any part of Nigeria you wish (ABC Transport Services is well known for its services among others). Lagos state government also operates a transit system (BRT buses) which serves the Lagos metropolis.

By boat
Transport by boat isn't widespread unless you venture into the riverine areas of Nigeria.

Get around
It would be best to travel around in your own car or a hired one but there are various other modes of transport. The "okada" (motorcycle) is not for the faint-hearted (no helmets) and should only be used for short distance journeys. "Okadas" will get you to where you want to go quickly and you will get there in one piece. In Lagos, there are lots of buses and taxis. There are two main types of buses, the molue and the danfo. Most smaller cities have more taxis than buses but getting around isn't an issue once you know where you want to go or you can communicate in the languages (English, Yoruba,Igbo, Hausa, Pidgin).

By car
Lots of aggressive street sellers surround the car when you get to crossroads. You shouldn't have a problem if you keep the windows and doors locked however.

See
Lagos: Bar Beach, Badagary Beach, Tarkowa bay Beach
Lekki: Lekki Beach, Eliko Beach
Talk

Languages
English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, Efik, Ejagham, Urhobo


Lagos Market
Nigerian currencyNigeria's currency is the naira. On 1 August 2007 there were 127.10 naira to the US dollar.

It is advised to cash all your naira back into US dollars at the airport before you leave Nigeria. The rate is irrelevant, as the naira is worthless outside Nigeria. Naira bills/coins may be of interest to currency collectors, but other than that, they will be nothing more than colorful souvenirs of your trip. Be warned that some of the dollar bills you'll get from street vendors will likely be counterfeit, so stick with established banks for your currency exchange needs.

If you have a VISA card, you can withdraw money from Standard Chartered Bank ATM Machine's in Lagos - Aromire St., off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja & Ajose Adeogun St. in Victoria Island Branch, Abuja and Port Harcourt (in Naira). This will save you a lot of stress carrying large sums of money and it is secured.

MasterCard / Maestro users can also withdraw Money from ATMs at several branches of Zenith Bank. Look for the red ATM sign outside, or ask the on-site security officer at any branch. Also look for Ecobank.

It is advisable you know where to buy things well in advance of your going out. This can save you exposure to hoodlums who can attack based on your lack of knowledge of places. Nigerian Yellow Pages provides list of businesses, contact addresses and phone numbers. The best thing to do is to locate the business, call their representative, who can give you detailed information on how to locate them.

Bargaining
On the market, you are supposed to haggle for your goods (a notable exception is bread: its price is fixed). As a general rule, the real price is about half the price that was first asked. The seller may exaggerate the price when he or she thinks that you are a rich tourist ignorant of the real price. After agreeing on a price, don't walk away without buying, this is considered very rude.

Eat
Nigerian chicken stew.There are many types of traditional cuisine to enjoy. For example: Okra soup, plantain (fried, boiled, roasted), pepper soup, amala, eba, efo, pounded Yam (Iyan - Yoruba for "pounded yam"), jollof rice, ground nut soup, ogbono soup, Isi Ewu (goat's head stew), egusi soup, suya (kebab), ewedu, edikangikong, ground-rice, puff-puff, chin chin, ikokore, owerri soup (Ofe Owerri), which is the most expensive African Soup in Nigeria. Not to forget 404 pepper soup - it will make you act like Oliver Twist.

Drink
Nigeria is one of the places where Guinness is brewed outside of Ireland. And they do it pretty well, although it's not the same product. Namibian breweries have also recently received a license to brew Guinness. The Guinness-brand (with logo and copyrights where they should be) is also used to brew both an alcohol-free malt version of the black stuff, and an extra strong (about 7.5%) version of Guinness in Kenya (in the case of the latter) and Tanzania (in the case of the former).
Beer is actually big business in Nigeria, although the move toward evangelism is making its mark. Lagos is relatively unaffected due to its cosmopolitan nature. Heineken, Star, Harp and other international beers are available.
Malt beverages (non alcoholic) are very common in Nigeria.
The other cheap drink of choice is gin, which is locally made. Some locals will swear to it making their step uncle's dog blind, though, so be careful.
Never drink the water sold in plastic bags. It probably hasn't been boiled, and may carry some nasty diseases. The bottled water and other soft drinks are safe.
Other drinks to consider include: palm wine, wine, zobo (red soft drink, is a tea of dried roselle flowers), kunun, Kai Kai.

The northern states have implemented sharia (islamic) law, which means that alcohol is prohibited. Ironically, the only places where you can drink a beer in these states are the police staff bars and the army barracks, because these are institutions under federal law.

Contact
You will hardly be able to find your way in Nigeria unless you have been provided directions in advance.

The country code for Nigeria is 234.

Dialing out from Nigeria: you will need to dial +9 (followed by the) International Code (followed by the) phone digit numbers.

Dialing into Nigeria: callers use +234 (followed by the) phone digit numbers. There is also a company in Nigeria Elixir Communication Worldwide http://elixirworldwide.com that offers mobile phones for the blind and visually challenged. All the mobile operators have a roaming agreement with other mobile operators around the world.