Nigeria-Brief History

Nigeria christened after River Niger came into formal existence in 1914 when the British colonial government merged together the Lagos colony, the Northern and Southern Protectorates in what was known as the amalgamation, whose principle purpose was ease of governance. They then divided the new entity into four provinces. The Northern province, The Eastern province, Western province and the Lagos colony.
Prior to British colonization of the area now known as Nigeria, the people lived in their separate kingdoms and empires namely:
The Northern Empire, the Calabar Kingdom, the Oduduwa Empire and the Benin Empire.

The Northern empire was made up of the Borno empire and the Hausa states of Kano, Zazzau, Gobir, Katsina, Bironi and Daura. Other groups in this empire include Kebbi, Nupe, Gwari, and Yelwa.
The Calabar Kingdom, one of the oldest kingdoms, home to the first church built in Nigeria dating back to 1850, Calabar is said to have the oldest contact with the Europeans. It is said Calabar was founded by twins and had influence into present day Ibo lands of Abia and Imo states, as well as the Cameroons.
The Oduduwa empire was the home of the Yorubas. This empire consisted of two main groups. The one indigenous people whose central religious and cultural center was Ile Ife, and the invading Berbels who founded Borno and the Hausa states.
The Benin empire's influence reached what is today known as Ghana as far back as the 16th century. This empire was and still is second to none in its mastery of African sculpturing. This empire is arguably the home of the most sophisticated African antiques and artifacts. Following the amalgamation of 1914, in 1922 the British introduced the concept of direct election into the Lagos and Calabar legislative councils and in 1948 gave the provinces advisorial responsibility to the central government. In 1951, the provinces were accorded regional status and this was the beginning of party politics in Nigeria.
Under this dispensation, The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) took control of the eastern regional government. The Northern region was controlled by the Northern Peoples Congress. The western region was controlled by the Action group.
In 1957, the east and the west began to govern themselves and in 1959 the Northern region embraced self governance.
All through this period, the British colonial government had administered the Northern and Southern Cameroon as part of Nigeria. However, in October 1960, prior to Nigeria's independence the Cameroonians were given the option to choose if they wanted to remain with Nigeria or not through a referendum. The Southern part of Cameroon opted to leave Nigeria while Northern Cameroon (present day Taraba state) stayed with Nigeria.

Geography: Today Nigeria is a country of approximately 100 million people (1995 est.), with a total area of 923,770 sq. km and comparatively twice the size of the state of California. It is bordered in the west by Republic of Benin with 773 Km, in the east by Cameroon with 1,690 Km, in the North by Niger with 1,497 Km and in the North east by Chad with 87 Km. with a total coastline of 853Km. The total land area being 910,770sq Km.
Climate: Nigeria lacks uniform climate with the northern part being arid, equatorial in the south
and tropical in the center.
Natural resources: Coal, Limestone, Lead, Zinc, Tin, Columbite, Iron ore, natural gas and
petroleum.

The Cabinet: 

Capital: Abuja replaced Lagos as the Capital on December 12 ,1993.

States: Nigeria has 36 states plus the federal capital territory. Abia, Abuja (Federal Capital Territory), Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambara, Bauchi, Borno, Bayelsa, Benue, 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, and Yobe & Zamfara

Economy: Oil exports accounts for 95% of Nigeria's revenues with cocoa and rubber accounting for the remainder of export revenues. Political instability and poor to bad management has reduced Nigeria to a country with an inflation rate of over 50% with unemployment at about 40% according to 93/94 estimates.

1996 Budget: Nigeria's budget for fiscal year 1996 is N41 billion as compared to N39 billion for 1995. The '96 budget is based on $16 per barrel with projected total revenue of N214 billion at an official exchange rate of N22 to $1. Non-oil revenue is projected at N126 billion bringing the total projected revenue to N340 billion .
According to the Administration, the expenditure budget will focus more on "development of the economy". For 1996, the budget allocation for capital expenditure has been budgeted at N48 billion while recurrent expenditure was put at N77 billion. N52 billion was set aside for external debt service.
1997 Budget: According to the government, the performance of the economy in 1996 was generally satisfactory. "The full impact of the various policies and programs of 1996 are yet to be felt given the lag that usually characterize such effects. Once these policies begin to bear fruit, the living conditions of Nigerians will improve".
The government claims that "during 1996, considerable progress was made in improving the investment climate by repealing, and in some cases removing, restrictive laws. In its view, the evidence of seriousness in the matter of accountability enunciated in 1995 continued throughout 1996.

1999 Budget:   " Fiscal 1998 was a year of mixed economic blessings. Our foreign reserves at the end of November 1998 stood at US$7.6billion. The year witnessed some measure of macro economic stability and consolidation of the economic gains attained in 1996 and 1997. Significant progress was also recorded in implementing economic reforms. These include the removal of restrictions on competition as well as private sector participation in various sectors of the economy. Additional measures to address financial sector distress were adopted.

However, the economy suffered some set-backs which adversely affected the implementation of the 1998 budget and the
realisation of the set targets. The global decline in the international crude oil prices, the reduction in our OPEC quota and the
temporary closure of oil wells in the Niger-Delta led to a sharp reduction in government foregin exchange earnings from crude
oil. Consequently, the budgeted 1998 revenue of N216.336 billion from oil could not be realised. Indeed, by October 31,
1998, actual receipts from crude oil amounted to only N134.44 billion." 

FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS IN NIGERIA

Federal Government Institutions