1981 Edition

Area

924,630 km2; 24% arable (13% of total land area under cultivation), 35% forested, 41% desert, waste, urban, or other

Coastline

853 km

Ethnic divisions

main Negroid groups 75% (of which, Hausa 50%, Djerma and Songhai 21%); Caucasian elements include Tuareg, Toubous, and Tamacheks; mixed group includes Fulani

Labor force

26,000 wage earners; bulk of population engaged in subsistence agriculture and animal husbandry

Land boundaries

4,034 km

Language

French official; many African languages; Hausa used for trade

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

30 nm (fishing 200 nm; exclusive economic zone 200 nm)

Literacy

about 6%

Organized labor

negligible

Religion

80% Muslim, remainder largely animists and a very few Christians

Ethnic divisions

of the more than 250 tribal groups, the Hausa and Fulani of the north, the Yoruba of the south, and the Ibos of the east comprise 60% of the population; about 27,000 nonAfricans

Labor force

approx. 28-32 million (1979)

Language

English official; Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibo also widely used

Literacy

est. 25%

Nationality

noun — Nigerian(s); adjective — Nigerian

Organized labor

between 800,000 and 1 million wage earners, approx. 2.4% of total labor force, belong to some 70 unions

Population

82,396,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 3.3%

Religion

no exact figures on religious breakdown, but last census (1963) showed Nigeria to be 47% Muslim, 34% Christian, and 18% animist

Branches

executive authority exercised by Supreme Military Council (SMC) composed of army officers; Cabinet includes some civilian technocrats

a strong executive president, a bicameral National Assembly with a 95-seat Senate and a 449-seat House, and a separate judiciary

Capital

Niamey

Lagos

Communists

no Communist party; some sympathizers in outlawed Sawaba party

the pro-Communist underground comprises a fraction of the small Nigerian left; leftist leaders are prominent in the country's central labor organization but have little influence on government

Elections

political activity banned Political parties and leaders: political parties banned

national elections held every four years (last held in 1979) to elect a federal president, federal Senate, federal House of Representatives, state governors, and state legislatures Political parties and leaders: National Party of Nigeria (NPN), led by Shehu Shagari; Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), led by Obafemi Awolowo; Nigerian People's Party (NPP), led by Nnamdi Azikiwe; Great Nigerian People's Party (GNPP), led by Waziri Ibrahim; People's Redemption Party (PRP), led by Aminu Kano

Fiscal year

calendar year restoration of civilian rule in October 1979; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Government leader

Lt. Col. Seyni KOUNTCHE, President of Supreme Military Council, Chief of State, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Interior

President Alhaji Shehu SHAGARI

Legal system

based on French civil law system and customary law; constitution adopted 1960, suspended 1974; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

based on English common law, tribal law, and Islamic law; new constitution was promulgated for NIGERIA (Continued)

Member of

AFDB, APC, CEAO, EAMA, EGA, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IPU, ISCON, ITU, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Niger River Commission, NAM, OAU, OCAM, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

AFDB, APC, Commonwealth, EGA, ECOWAS, FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMCO, IMF, ISO, ITC, ITU, IWC— International Wheat Council, Lake Chad Basin Commission, Niger River Commission, NAM, OAU, OPEC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WTO

National holiday

Proclamation of the Republic, 18 December

Independence Day, 1 October

Official name

Republic of Niger

Federal Republic of Nigeria

Political subdivisions

7 departments, 32 arrondissements

19 states, headed by elected governors

Suffrage

suspended

universal over age 18

Type

republic; military regime in power since April 1974

federal republic since 1979

Agriculture

commercial — peanuts, cotton, livestock; main food crops — millet, sorghum, niebe beans, vegetables

main crops — peanuts, cotton, cocoa, rubber, yams, cassava, sorghum, palm kernels, millet, corn, rice; livestock; almost self-sufficient

Budget

(1980/81) revenue $458.8 million, current expenditure $255.9 million, development expenditure $344.6 million

(1980) revenues $22.1 billion, current expenditures $8.6 billion, development expenditures $16.7 billion

Electric power

32,800 kW capacity (1980); 78 million kWh produced (1980), 14 kWh per capita

1,823,000 kW capacity (1980); 5.2 billion kWh produced (1980), 66 kWh per capita

Exports

$557.9 million (f.o.b., 1980); about 65% uranium, rest peanuts and related products, livestock, hides, skins; exports understated because much regional trade not recorded

$23.4 billion (f.o.b., 1980); oil (95%), cocoa, palm products, rubber, timber, tin

Fiscal year

1 October-30 September

Fishing

catch 535,435 metric tons (1979); imports $14.5 million (1974)

GDP

$2.7 billion (1980), $491 per capita, annual average growth rate 1.3% (1971-81)

$92.6 billion (1980 est, current prices), $1,087 per capita; 7.8% growth rate (1980 est.)

Imports

$801.0 million (c.i.f., 1980); fuels, machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, consumer goods

$15.9 billion (f.o.b., 1980); machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, chemicals

Major industries

cement plant, brick factory, rice mill, small cotton gins, oil presses, slaughterhouse, and a few other small light industries; uranium production began in 1971

mining — crude oil, natural gas, coal, tin, columbite; processing industries — oil palm, peanut, cotton, rubber, petroleum, wood, hides, skins; manufacturing industries — textiles, cement, building materials, food products, footwear, chemical, printing, ceramics

Major trade partners

France (over 50%), other EC countries, Nigeria, UDEAC countries, US; preferential tariff to EC and franc zone countries

UK, EC, US

Monetary conversion rate

about 225.8 Communaute Financiere Africaine=US$l (1980)

1 Naira=US$1.8297 (1980)

Airfields

66 total, 62 usable; 6 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 18 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

79 total, 75 usable; 25 with permanent-surface runways; 10 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 19 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

4 major transport aircraft

40 major transport aircraft

Highways

8,220 km total; 2,674 km paved bituminous, 2,658 km gravel, 2,888 km unimproved earth

107,990 km total 30,019 km paved (mostly bituminous surface treatment); 25,411 km laterite, gravel, crushed stone, improved earth; 52,560 km unimproved

Inland waterways

Niger River navigable 300 km from Niamey to Gaya on the Benin frontier from mid-December through March

8,575 km consisting of Niger and Benue rivers and smaller rivers and creeks; additionally, Kainji Lake has several hundred miles of navigable lake routes

Military budget

for fiscal year ending 30 September 1981, $15.4 million; about 3.9% of central government budget

Military manpower

males 15-49, 1,255,000; 676,000 fit for military service; about 60,000 reach military age (18) annually

males 15-49, 17,450,000; 10,030,000 fit for military service; 860,000 reach military age (18) annually

Pipelines

1,918 km crude oil; 102 km natural gas; 3,000 km refined products

Ports

5 major (Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri, Sapele), 10 minor

Railroads

none

3,505 km 1.067-meter gauge

Telecommunications

small system of wire and radiorelay links concentrated in southwestern area; 8,500 telephones (0.2 per 100 popl.); 12 AM stations, no FM, and 2 TV stations; 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station, 4 domestic antennas under construction DEFENSE FORCES

above average system with major expansion in progress; radio relay and cable routes; 154,200 telephones (0.2 per 100 popl.); 25 AM, 6 FM, and 26 TV stations; satellite station with Atlantic and Indian Ocean antennas, domestic satellite system with 18 stations; 1 coaxial submarine cable DEFENSE FORCES