NIGER (Continued)
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: none
Highways: 8,220 km total; 2,674 km paved bituminous, 2,658 km gravel, 2,888 km unimproved earth
Inland waterways: Niger River navigable 300 km from Niamey to Gaya on the Benin frontier from mid-December through March
Civil air: 4 major transport aircraft
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
Telecommunications: small system of wire and radio-relay 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
Military manpower: males 15-49, 1,255,000; 676,000 fit for military service; about 60,000 reach military age (18) annually
Military budget: for fiscal year ending 30 September 1981, $15.4 million; about 3.9% of central government budget
NIGERIA
(See reference map VII) |
LAND
924,630 km2; 24% arable (13% of total land area under cultivation), 35% forested, 41% desert, waste, urban, or other
Land boundaries: 4,034 km
WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 30 nm (fishing 200 nm; exclusive economic zone 200 nm)
Coastline: 853 km
PEOPLE
Population: 82,396,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 3.3%
Nationality: noun—Nigerian(s); adjective—Nigerian
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 non-Africans
Religion: no exact figures on religious breakdown, but last census (1963) showed Nigeria to be 47% Muslim, 34% Christian, and 18% animist
Language: English official; Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibo also widely used
Literacy: est. 25%
Labor force: approx. 28-32 million (1979)
Organized labor: between 800,000 and 1 million wage earners, approx. 2.4% of total labor force, belong to some 70 unions
GOVERNMENT
Official name: Federal Republic of Nigeria
Type: federal republic since 1979
Capital: Lagos
Political subdivisions: 19 states, headed by elected governors
Legal system: based on English common law, tribal law, and Islamic law; new constitution was promulgated for