After going from one coup d’état to another, Nigeria now has a leader chosen by the population. The government continues, however, to face the challenge of preventing Africa’s most populous country from dissolving along ethnic lines and religious practices.
In recent years, thousands of people have died in attacks carried out by armed jihadist groups in the northeast of the country, especially the Islamist Boko Haram. His actions included kidnapping students from schools in the region, both to use them in his attacks and to obtain ransom money.
The aspirations of separatist groups such as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and a resurgent wave for independence in the Biafra region have also intensified. The adoption of Islamic law – the sharia – in several states in northern Nigeria fueled divisions in the region and caused the flight of thousands of Christians.
Credit, FLORIAN PLAUCHEUR/Getty images
The city of Lagos, which ceased to be the Nigerian capital in the 1990s, is the largest economic center in the country
The situation of insecurity joined Nigeria’s economic problems, making the entry of foreign investment even more difficult. The former British colony is one of the largest oil producers in the world, but a very small portion of the population, including those in producing areas, benefited from the fruits of this natural wealth.
Football has provided a new way for Nigeria to promote itself in the international community. Its national team, nicknamed the “Super Eagles” (in Portuguese, “super eagles”), reached fifth place in the Fifa rankings in the mid-1990s and reached the round of 16 of the World Cup three times. Players like Nwankwo Kanu and Daniel Amokachi became international stars and successfully performed in Europe.
Nigerian music has also promoted the name of the country around the world over the years, with artists such as Fela Kuti in the late 20th century and Wizkid in the 21st century standing out.
Getty Images
Capital: Abuja
Population186 million
Area923,768 square kilometers
main languagesEnglish (official), Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa
main religionsIslam, Christianity, indigenous beliefs
Life expectancy52 years old (male), 54 years old (female)
CoinNigerian Naira
Source: UN, World Bank
![Election campaign banner with photo of ent]to President Buhari in the background and photo of candidate Bola Tinubu in the foreground](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/12766/production/_128822657_gettyimages-1247351916_afp_976.jpg)
Credit, AFP
Bola Tinubu won a surprising victory in the 2023 presidential election
After a fierce electoral campaign, Bola Tinubu, from the APC (All Progressive Congress) party, won the presidential elections held in early 2023, winning 37% of the votes.
Second was PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar with 29% of the vote, narrowly beating Peter Obi of the Labor Party who got 25%.
Analysts believe that Tinubu’s victory was only possible due to the division of the PDP, the main opposition party at the end of 2022.
With the attrition of the then president Muhammadu Buhari caused mainly by record inflation motivated by a deep economic crisis, political scientists were betting on the fall of the APC, which ended up not materializing.
Bola Tinubu is considered an experienced, astute and hard-working politician, believed to be responsible for the election of President Buhari eight years ago.
Credit, Getty Images
Muhammadu Buhari, former head of a military government, held power for two terms.
Former leader of a military regime in Nigeria in the 1980s, after the 1983 military coup, Muhammadu Buhari won a historic victory in the 2015 elections. It was the first time that an opposition candidate won a Nigerian presidential election.
Coming to power through democracy differs significantly from Buhari’s first experience in charge of the country. In 1983, he helped overthrow President-elect Shehu Shagari and shortly thereafter took the post of Chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria, which he held for two years. Buhari has sought to fight crime and corruption, but has also been accused of serious human rights abuses. In 1985, he was overthrown by another military man, General Ibrahim Babangida.
Since being elected, Buhari has distanced himself from his military background, vowing to respect democracy and govern as a civilian leader. Among his biggest challenges since taking office is fighting extremist militants in northern Nigeria, especially the Boko Haram group, which in 2015 pledged allegiance to the radical Arab group known as the Islamic State.
Nigeria’s media market is one of the busiest in Africa. State radio and television operate at both the federal and regional levels, and all 36 Nigerian states have at least one radio network and one TV station.
There are hundreds of radio stations and TV networks, as well as cable and satellite TV services. Radio is a particularly important source of information for the population, and international outlets such as the BBC are popular. However, rebroadcasting of foreign radio stations is prohibited.
State TV claims to reach tens of millions of viewers, while major private networks lead the market in some cities. There are more than one hundred national and local print publications, some of them state-owned. They include respected daily newspapers, sensationalist tabloids, and publications that champion the interests of specific ethnic groups.
Credit, LUIS TATO/Getty Images
Nigeria’s media market is one of the most vibrant on the African continent
Reporters Without Borders says journalists in Nigeria are often threatened, subjected to physical violence or denied access to information by authorities or the police. The militant Islamist group Boko Haram has already threatened the Nigerian media.
As of July 2019, there were 122.7 million active internet users, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission. Cell phones are frequently used to access the World Wide Web, and most users are young, well-educated, and live in urban areas.
Around 24 million Nigerians were active social media users in January 2019, representing 12% of the population (according to agencies We Are Social and Hootsuite). Also according to this survey, WhatsApp was used by about 85% of social media users, and Facebook by 78%.
Brazil recognized Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the year the country withdrew from the United Kingdom. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil was the only South American country invited to participate in the independence proclamation event. The following year, 1961, Brazil opened its embassy in the African country, whose representation on Brazilian soil was inaugurated five years later.
Since then, the two countries have maintained an active relationship, with important contacts at the highest levels of government. Presidents João Figueiredo, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff made official visits to Nigeria, as did Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo, during the Jair Bolsonaro government.
In the late 1990s, the Brazilian Petrobras decided to increase its investments abroad, and Nigeria was one of the focuses of this expansion. A large oil producer, the country also stands out for the exploration of wells in deep Atlantic waters, an area in which Petrobras also had knowledge and interest.
After two decades, however, under a new reality affected by a major corruption scandal and changes in its strategy, Petrobras ended its activities in the African country. In January 2020, the sale of its 50% stake in Petrobras Oil & Gas BV marked the end of the Brazilian company’s operations in Africa.
Important dates in Nigerian history:
about 800 BC – The Jos Plateau region is populated by the Nok people – a civilization from the Neolithic and Iron Age periods.
11th century onwards – Formation of city-states, kingdoms and empires, including the Hausa kingdoms and the Borno dynasty in the north, and the Oyo and Benin kingdoms in the south.
1472 – Portuguese navigators reach the Nigerian coast – the Portuguese presence would give rise to the name of what would become the largest city in the country, Lagos.
16th to 18th centuries – The slave trade results in the forced transport of Nigerians to the Americas to work on plantations.
1850’s – The United Kingdom establishes a presence and consolidates its authority over the region, which it transforms into the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. In 1922, part of the former German colony Cameroon is added to the British protectorate as part of the League of Nations mandate.
1960 – Independence of Nigeria. Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa leads a coalition government, but six years later he is killed in a coup d’état.
1967 – Three southeastern Nigerian states secede from the country as the Republic of Biafra, under the leadership of Colonel Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu. At the end of a bloody three-year civil war, in which more than 1 million civilians died as a result of the blockade imposed on the region, Ojukwu flees the country, and the region remains part of Nigeria.
Credit, Getty Images
Colonel Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu led the breakaway republic of Biafra through three years of civil war
1975 – General Gowon is deposed by Brigadier Murtala Ramat Mohammed, who begins the process of transferring the federal capital from Lagos to Abuja.
1976 – General Mohammed is assassinated in a failed coup attempt. He is replaced by his deputy, Lieutenant General Olusegun Obasanjo, who collaborates in the adoption of a presidential Constitution, in the style of the United States.
1983 – General Muhammadu Buhari seizes power in a coup without armed confrontation. A period of instability followed, ending with the 1999 elections.
1999 – Parliamentary and presidential elections. Olusegun Obasanjo assumes the Presidency.
2000 – Adoption of sharia, Islamic law, by several northern Nigerian states, a measure criticized by Christians. The tension surrounding the measure leads to the death of hundreds of people in clashes between Christians and Muslims.
2001 – Tribal warfare in Benue State, in east-central Nigeria, forces thousands of people to flee. Troops sent to end the conflict kill more than 200 unarmed civilians, apparently in retaliation for the kidnapping and killing of 19 soldiers.
2009 – Jihadists from the Islamist group Boko Haram launch a campaign of violence that spreads to neighboring countries.
2013 – The government declares a state of emergency in three northern states – Yobe, Borno and Adamawa – and sends troops to fight Boko Haram.
Credit, PHILIP OJISUA/Getty Images
The kidnapping of more than 200 girls in 2014 sparked protests in the Poaís and an international campaign
2014 – April – Boko Haram kidnaps more than 200 girls from a school in the city of Chibok, in an incident that sparks outrage within Nigeria and the international community. A huge campaign on social networks, involving even celebrities and the then first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, demands the release of the young students.
2014 – November – Boko Haram launches a series of attacks in northeast Nigeria, capturing several towns near Lake Chad and carrying out operations in neighboring Chad and Cameroon in early 2015. In 2015, the group abandons its commitment to the Al-Qaeda network and swears allegiance to the Islamic State organization.
2015 – February-March – Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger form a military coalition and push Boko Haram out of the cities and into the Sambisa forest. Muhammadu Buhari is elected president – the first opposition candidate to win a presidential election in Nigeria.
2019 – Buhari is re-elected Nigerian president.
2023 – Bola Tinubu, also from the ruling APC party, achieves a surprising victory in the presidential elections.