West Africa

Nigeria Travel Podcast with Chidi Okafor

Hosted by Chidi Okafor — a new episode every day from Nigeria.

Travelling in Nigeria means crossing a country where equatorial rainforests give way to central plateaus and northern plains, and where the Niger River runs from the northwest to the Gulf of Guinea. The Nigeria Travel Podcast follows one host as he travels this country like a resident, treating movement between places as a way of understanding how it fits together.

The itinerary is broad: he settles in Lagos, learns the central plateau around Abuja, moves north to Kano and the surrounding plains, and later heads to Benin City before travelling into the mountains of the southeast. Each place is treated as a working base, not a stopover, and the distances between them are part of the story.

As the show unfolds, the seasons shape the route: harmattan dust in the north, heavy rain in the south, and the Niger flowing south through the centre. He returns to places he has already seen, follows connections between regions, and lets a second or third visit build the kind of knowledge that only time in a country can provide.

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The basics

Nigeria at a glance

Capital

Abuja

Population 2025

237,527,782

Area

923,768 sq km

Languages

English (official), Hausa, Yoruba

Time zone

UTC+1

Currency

Nairas (NGN)

GDP per capita 2025

$1,224

Life expectancy 2024

54.6 years

Urban population 2025

63.8%

Inflation 2025

23.0%

Internet users 2024

41.2%

Government

Federal presidential republic

Country file

Nigeria in depth

Reference data on the country — geography, people, history, economy and transport.

Geography and climate

Location

Western Africa, bordering the Gulf of Guinea, between Benin and Cameroon

Terrain

Southern lowlands merge into central hills and plateaus; mountains in southeast, plains in north

Climate

Varies; equatorial in south, tropical in center, arid in north

Elevation

Highest point: Chappal Waddi 2,419 m
Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
Mean elevation: 380 m

Area

Total: 923,768 sq km
Land: 910,768 sq km
Water: 13,000 sq km

Size comparison

About six times the size of Georgia; slightly more than twice the size of California

Coastline

853 km

Land borders

Total: 4,477 km
Border countries: Benin 809 km; Cameroon 1,975 km; Chad 85 km; Niger 1,608 km

Natural resources

Natural gas, petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, arable land

Land use

Agricultural land: 76.2% (2023 est.)
Arable land: 40.5% (2023 est.)
Permanent crops: 8.1% (2023 est.)
Permanent pasture: 27.6% (2023 est.)
Forest: 19.1% (2023 est.)
Other: 4.7% (2023 est.)

Natural hazards

Periodic droughts; flooding

Note

The Niger River enters the country in the northwest and flows southward through tropical rainforests and swamps to its delta in the Gulf of Guinea

People and society

Population

Total: 244,344,065 (2025 est.)
Male: 123,511,557
Female: 120,832,508

Nationality

Noun: Nigerian(s)
Adjective: Nigerian

Ethnic groups

Hausa 30%, Yoruba 15.5%, Igbo (Ibo) 15.2%, Fulani 6%, Tiv 2.4%, Kanuri/Beriberi 2.4%, Ibibio 1.8%, Ijaw/Izon 1.8%, other 24.9% (2018 est.)

Languages

English (official), Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo (Ibo), Fulani, over 500 additional indigenous languages

Religions

Muslim 53.5%, Roman Catholic 10.6%, other Christian 35.3%, other 0.6% (2018 est.)

Median age

Total: 19.4 years (2025 est.)
Male: 19.1 years
Female: 19.6 years

Life expectancy

Total population: 62.2 years (2024 est.)
Male: 60.4 years
Female: 64.2 years

Urbanisation

Urban population: 54.3% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 3.92% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Where people live

Largest population of any African nation; significant population clusters are scattered throughout the country, with the highest density areas being in the south and southwest, as shown in this population distribution map

Largest cities

15.946 million Lagos, 4.348 million Kano, 3.875 million Ibadan, 3.840 million ABUJA (capital), 3.480 million Port Harcourt, 1.905 million Benin City (2023)

Background and government

Background

In ancient and pre-colonial times, the area of present-day Nigeria was occupied by a variety of ethnic groups with different languages and traditions. These included large Islamic kingdoms such as Borno, Kano, and the Sokoto Caliphate dominating the north, the Benin and Oyo Empires that controlled much of modern western Nigeria, and more decentralized political entities and city states in the south and southeast. In 1914, the British amalgamated their separately administered northern and southern territories into a Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria.

Nigeria achieved independence from Britain in 1960 and transitioned to a federal republic with three constituent states in 1963 under President Nnamdi AZIKIWE. This structure served to enflame regional and ethnic tension, contributing to a bloody coup led by predominately southeastern military officers in 1966 and a countercoup later that year masterminded by northern officers. In the aftermath of this tension, the governor of Nigeria’s Eastern Region, centered on the southeast, declared the region independent as the Republic of Biafra. The ensuring civil war (1967-1970), resulted in more than a million deaths, many from starvation. While the war forged a stronger Nigerian state and national identity, it contributed to long-lasting mistrust of the southeast’s predominantly Igbo population. Wartime military leader Yakubu GOWON ruled until a bloodless coup by frustrated junior officers in 1975. This generation of officers, including Olusegun OBASANJO, Ibrahim BABANGIDA, and Muhammadu BUHARI, who would all later serve as president, continue to exert significant influence in Nigeria to the present day.

Military rule predominated until the first durable transition to civilian government and adoption of a new constitution in 1999. The elections of 2007 marked the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the country's history. National and state elections in 2011 and 2015 were generally regarded as credible. The 2015 election was also heralded for the fact that the then-umbrella opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, defeated the long-ruling (since 1999) People's Democratic Party and assumed the presidency, marking the first peaceful transfer of power from one party to another. Presidential and legislative elections in 2019 and 2023 were deemed broadly free and fair despite voting irregularities, intimidation, and violence. The government of Africa's most populous nation continues to face the daunting task of institutionalizing democracy and reforming a petroleum-based economy whose revenues have been squandered through decades of corruption and mismanagement. In addition, Nigeria faces increasing violence from Islamic terrorism, largely in the northeast, large scale criminal banditry, secessionist violence in the southeast, and competition over land and resources nationwide.

Government

Federal presidential republic

Capital

Abuja

Time zone

UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

Independence

1 October 1960 (from the UK)

National day

Independence Day (National Day), 1 October (1960)

Economy and cost of living

Overview

Largest African market economy; enormous but mostly lower middle income labor force; major oil exporter; key telecommunications and finance industries; susceptible to global energy price shocks; regional leader in critical infrastructure; primarily agrarian employment

GDP per capita

Real GDP per capita 2024: $5,700 (2024 est.)
Real GDP per capita 2023: $5,600 (2023 est.)
Real GDP per capita 2022: $5,600 (2022 est.)

Inflation

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2024: 33.2% (2024 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2023: 24.7% (2023 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2022: 18.8% (2022 est.)

Unemployment

Unemployment rate 2024: 3% (2024 est.)
Unemployment rate 2023: 3.1% (2023 est.)
Unemployment rate 2022: 3.9% (2022 est.)

Exchange rate

Currency: Nairas (NGN) per US dollar -
Exchange rates 2024: 1,478.965 (2024 est.)
Exchange rates 2023: 645.194 (2023 est.)
Exchange rates 2022: 425.979 (2022 est.)
Exchange rates 2021: 401.152 (2021 est.)
Exchange rates 2020: 358.811 (2020 est.)

Main industries

Crude oil, coal, tin, columbite; rubber products, wood; hides and skins, textiles, cement and other construction materials, food products, footwear, chemicals, fertilizer, printing, ceramics, steel