1. Nigeria, with a 2013 estimated population of
174,507,539 is the most populous Black nation and the
7th most populated nation in the entire world, trailing
after—from least to most—Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia,
USA, India and China (1.3bn).
2. Nigerians are 1/5th the total population of Black
Africa.
3. Nigeria, with 521 languages has the fourth most in
the world. This includes 510 living languages, two
second languages without native speakers and 9 extinct
languages.
4. The Portuguese reached Nigeria in 1472. In 1880 the
British began conquering Nigeria’s south. The north was
conquered by 1903.
5. Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian Nobel laureate. He wrote
‘Telephone Conversation!’
6. With a net worth of $16.1bn, Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote
is the richest Black person in the world.
7. Yoruba and their bloodlines worldwide have the
highest rate of twinning (having twins) in the world.
8. The 2006 Census found Nigerians to be the highest
educated ethnic or racial group in America.
9. The Northern knot, Arewa insignia has Christian
origins, investigation by Ibraheem A. Waziri revealed. It
is adapted from the Church Celtic knot.
10. Pre-tribalism: Malam Umaru Altine, a northern
Fulani man was the first elected Mayor of Enugu, in the
east, and was even re-elected for a second term.
11. Pre-tribalism: John Umoru, from Etsako in today’s
Edo State (Western region) was elected for the House of
Assembly to represent Port Harcourt in the Eastern
Nigerian House of Assembly.
12. The Colonial Cantonments Proclamation of 1914
established ‘foreign quarters,’ ‘Sabon Gari,’
institutionalizing the Sabon Garuruwa system of
‘foreigner’ residential segregation in Nigeria.
13. Crispin Curtis Adeniyi-Jones (1876-1957) who the
street in Ikeja, ‘Adeniyi-Jones’ was named after, was a
medical director from Sierra Leone (a Saro). As a co-
founder of NNDP, he won one of the Lagos 3 legislative
council seats in 1923 and represented Nigerians for 15
yrs.
14. Saros was the name given to 19th and 20th century
‘Creole’ African literati migrants from Sierra Leone.
15. Amaros was the name for repatriated Brazilian and
Cuban slaves; the ‘Aguda’ people of Lagos today. This
Brazilian community includes deportees of the brave
“Malê Revolt” in Portugal.
16. British colonization was not all voluntary ‘happy
slave trade,’ but involved brutal terror against non-
cooperation and stiff opposition. Captain Lord Esme
Gordon Lenox, ‘With The West African Frontier Force,’
describes: “…we stormed down to Amassana, which was
a town supposed to be friendly and fined them 25 goats
and 20 chickens for non-assistance, then returned to
Agbeni and burned half…October 1st was spent in
continuance of yesterdays incendiraism by burning every
town or farm we could see. I shudder to think of how
many houses we have destroyed in these two days. On
our way back to Egbbeddi in the afternoon we passed
by Sabagreia and told our old friend Chief Ijor that most
likely we should burn down Sabagreia the next day…”
17. Nigeria’s population was just 16 million in 1911. It
is projected to hit 444 million by 2050, surpassing the
US and becoming the 4th largest in the world.
18. The population of Lagos today is about more than
the total population of all Eastern states combined.
19. Lagos’ population in 1872 was 60,000. By 2015 it
will be the third largest city in the entire world.
20. Nigeria’s north (719,000 sq. km), occupies 80% of
Nigeria’s land mass. In size it is four times the South.
21. 1st republic Aviation Minister, Chief Mbazulike
Amaechi hid former South African President, Nelson
Mandela, for six months in Nigeria to evade his arrest
by the apartheid regime.
22. Gangsta: In 1984 under the disciplinary Buhari/
Idiagbon government, there was a sophisticated attempt
to kidnap and repatriate ex-civilian regime minister of
transport, Umaru Dikko from the UK, anesthetized in a
freight crate, for the embezzlement of $1bn under the
Shagari regime.
23. Valor: Part of the ‘Forgotten Army,’ Nigerians
volunteered to fight with the allied forces among the
81st and 82nd West African Divisions, in the Second
World War.
24. The Adubi war in 1918 was a major uprising by
30,000 Abeokuta Ebga warriors against the colonial
government for colonization, taxation and slave labor.
One British was killed and rail and telegraph lines
destroyed. The British rewarded their soldiers with
medals for quelling the uprising. Awape Adediran a
Molashin/ Kingmaker was imprisoned for his active
involvement.
25. Activist Mrs. Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti travelled
widely, including to the Eastern bloc (Hungary, USSR
and China where she met Mao Zedong). These
interactions angered Nigeria, Britain and America.
America called her a communist and refused her a U.S.
Visa.
26. Mrs. Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti, legendary Fela’s
mother, was one of the delegates that negotiated
Nigeria’s independence in Britain.
27. Once upon a time, the north was the more literate
part of Nigeria. According to Lord Luggard, there were
25,000 Qur’anic Arabic schools with about 250,000
pupils in the north.
28. Sardauna of Sokoto said he preferred foreign
workers to Igbo’s because he felt Igbo’s are
domineering. This was while Nigeria existed as regions
with regional administrations.
29. Kaduna Nzeogwu killed Sardauna in Nigeria’s first
military coup.
30. In 1966, a mischievous Igbo owned bakery allegedly
made a loaf of bread with a label that depicted
Nzeogwu as the Saint in the ‘Saint George and the
Dragon’ medieval tale, killing Sardauna, the ‘dragon,’
this labeled bread provoked deadly anti-Igbo riots.
31. Idrîs Aloma (1571-1603) King of Kanem-Bornu went
on pilgrimage and came across firearms. He brought
some guns back, along with Turks to train his army on
how to use them.
32. Travel Visa was not required to travel to the United
Kingdom till 1984.
33. A brand new car sold for N2000 in 1975. A ticket to
London was less than N100 in 1975.
34. In 1976, 75 kobo exchanged for one British Pound
and 60 kobo for one US dollar.
35. A dollar was 90 kobo at the beginning of
Babangida’s tenure in 1985.
36. Nigeria took its first loan from the World Bank in
1977.
37. Obasanjo’s first term and Babangida’s regime
oversaw the weakening of the naira.
38. General Buhari and Idiagbon rejected IMF demands
that Nigeria devalue its currency.
39. Babangida’s coup in 1985 was invaluable to the
colonialists suspected to have been in support as it led
to Nigeria accepting SAP restrictions, loans and
crippling foreign monetary conditions.
40. Nigeria has 5 of the 10 richest pastors in the entire
world, with net worth’s according to Forbes, from
$10-150 million. They are Pastors, David Oyedepo, E. A.
Adeboye, Chris Oyakhilome, Mathew Ashimolowo and
Temitope Joshua.
41. Nigeria has the 4th highest number of poor, living
under a dollar a day in the entire world. 100 million are
‘destitute’ according to figures from the NBS (National
Bureau of Statistics).
42. Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa is 160th out
of 177 countries in HDI (Human Development Index).
43. Nigeria has the highest paid legislators in the entire
world.
44. Based on amount squandered, of an income of $81
billion per year, Nigeria is the most corrupt nation in the
world.
45. The nation with the most defrauded people, aka
‘mugus,’ in history, is Nigeria. Successive
administrations continue to loot a greater percentage of
the nation’s wealth, running in hundreds of billions of
dollars.
46. Nigeria in 2013 was rated the worst country to be
born based on welfare and prosperity projection.
47. Aliko Dangote funded Presidents Obasanjo, Yar’Adua
and Jonathan’s 4th republic campaigns. Buhari rejected
funding from Dangote.
48. Usman dan Fodio (1754–1817) was trained in
classical Islamic science, philosophy and theology and
wrote over 100 books on society, culture, religion,
governance and politics. He could only declare Jihad
when he was made leader in Gudu {In Islam you can
only declare Jihad if you are an official Muslim leader}.
49. The Borno Empire rejected Dan Fodio’s colonization
jihad. Al-Hajj Muhammad al-Amîn ibn Muhammad al-
Kânemî not only militarily defended his Empire, but also
did so by religious, theological, legal and political
debates, challenging why a Muslim Empire should
colonize another.
50. Kano history has it that a great warrior princess
Magajiya Maimuna led her cavalry from Zaria to
conquer Kumbwada.
51. Kumbwada in Kano today is ruled by Queen Hajiya
Haidzatu Ahmed, who presides over up to half a million
subjects. A throne curse which makes men sick and die,
keeps males off the throne. {Sadly, the woman ruled
Kumbwada is the least funded chiefdom in Nigeria}.
52. The Igbo ethnic group are the ‘Jews’ of Nigeria.
Eager for a home state and highly entrepreneurial;
during the Biafra secession attempt in the 60’s, this
industrious people were already constructing indigenous
tanks and other weaponry.
53. There are several Nigerian officials in the
government of English speaking The Gambia.
54. There is a Nigerian origin, Yoruba chief in Accra.
Chief Brimah is the only foreign Chief with a seat in the
Ghanaian traditional council.
55. Cross River State: The Ejagham (Ekoi) people in the
Southeast are believed to have originated the Nsibidi
(Nsibiri) writing system which later spread to the Efik,
Igbo, Ibibio, Efut, Banyang and Annag peoples.
56. Discovered in 1928, Nigeria’s North and North
Central region hosts West Africa’s oldest civilization; the
Nok civilization which flourished between 1000 BC and
300 BC. {Nok sculptures recently went on display
disappointingly in Germany (not Africa).}
57. Finished in 1460 the Benin Iya or moat is a historic
world defense wonder. Spanning 1,200 kilometers with
walls as high as 18 metres, it is the world’s largest
archeological structure.
58. Sungbo’s Eredo in Ogun state (6°49′N, 3°56′E) is a
100 mile system of up to 70 ft trenches and walls
around Ijebu-Ode. It’s Queen, Bilkisu Sungbo has been
attributed to the Biblical Queen Sheeba (Queen Bilkis in
Quran).
59. Lord Luggard estimated in 1904 that there were 170
walled towns still in existence in the whole of just the
Kano province of northern Nigeria. He described Kano:
‘Commercial emporium of the western Sudan.’ Of its
wall, he said, ‘I have never seen, nor even imagined,
anything like it in Africa.’
60. Osun: Queen Luwo, the twenty-first Ooni (ruler) of
Ile-Ife paved the streets with quartz pebbles—and
broken pottery, in 1000AD. The architecture had
decorations that originated from Ancient America.
61. Borno: The capital city of Kanem-Borno,
Ngazargamu, was one of the largest cities in 1658 AD;
the metropolis housed “about quarter of a million
people” and had 660 well planned, wide and unbending
streets.
62. In 1246 AD the Kanemi of Borno created a sensation
in Tunisia when he sent a gift of a giraffe to Al-
Mustapha, king of Tunis.
63. Sokoto: Two-story buildings with constructions
glazed with tsoluwa, (laterite gravel), 10 mile
circumference city walls, some as high as 20 feet, is
how 16th century Surame, a Sokoto metropolis created
by empire ruler, Muhammadu Kanta Sarkin Kebbi, was.
UNESCO describes Surame as “one of the wonders of
human history, creativity and ingenuity.”
64. Kano: In 1851, this city, one of the largest in Africa,
made 10 million sandal pairs and 5 million hides for
export every year.
65. Kebbi: Nigeria’s Sorko Sea lords of Kebbi state,
made ships (Kanta) which were used for far away
expeditions, including the 1311 AD, 2000 ship, famous
voyage of Songhai Empire’s Mansa Abubakari II to the
America’s, decades before Columbus.
66. Yobe: The oldest discovered boat in Africa, and 3rd
oldest on the world, the 8500 yr old Dufuna canoe was
discovered by a Fulani herdsman in 1987 in Dufuna
village, Fune LGA.
67. Ondo: Confusing evolution scientists, the 13,000 yr
old Iwo-Eleru cave skull, the oldest human fossil
remains found in West Africa, has ‘ancient’ (140,000 yr
old Laetoli) features, yet lived in more modern times.
68. Benin Kingdom: The high quality and highly
sophisticated bronze work of the Benin Kingdom dating
as far back as the 13th century is a world wonder.
Great works in iron, wood, ivory, and terra cotta
products also highlight the empire’s history.
69. Benin Kingdom: Lourenco Pinto, captain of a ship
that carried missionaries to Warri in 1619, described
Benin kingdom, ‘Great Benin where the king resides is
larger than Lisbon, all the streets run straight and as far
as the eyes can see….’
70. Rivers/Akwa Ibom: King Jaja of Opobo, (1821–
1891) Jubo Jubogha, an Igbo from Imo state founded
Opobo city-state in 1867 and shipped palm oil to Britain
independently of British middle men.
71. Ancient Greeks appear to have Nigerian roots as
supported by the Benin Haplogroup or Haplogroup 19.
According to Jide Uwechia, ‘The Benin Haplotype (which
originates from Nigeria, West Africa) accounts for HbS
associated chromosomes in Sicily Northern Greece.’
72. Ilorin’s ‘Oba’ Afonja utilized Fulani warriors to help
rebel against the Oyo Empire. The warriors after
defeating Oyo took over Ilorin and Sheikh Alimi, their
leader became the first Emir.
73. Much of north Nigeria was part of the Songhai
Empire. Muhammad Kanta annexed Kebbi and other
states between 1512 and 1517.
74. The Obasanjo military regime converted Nigeria from
a Parliamentary system to a Presidential system of
government.
75. Much of traditional pre-colonial Nigeria operated a
parliamentary form of government. The council of elders
could make or impeach the King.
76. General Johnson Thomas Umurakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi
on 24 May 1966, with Decree No. 34, dissolved Nigeria’s
regions, creating provinces. He unified Regional Public
Services under a single Commission. Riots were
provoked in Kano and mutiny in Abeokuta; eventually
there was a coup.
77. In 1967 Gowon split the four regions into 12 states.
78. Gowon’s Decree No. 8 of 1967 after the Aburi
conference restored Nigeria as a confederacy.
79. Late President Murtala Muhammed’s dad, Pam
Azatus Iyok was from Dogon-Gaba, near Vom in Plateau
state, Nigeria’s Middle Belt. Pam became a Muslim and
married Ramat from Kano. Murtala Muhammed’s wife,
Hafsat Ajoke was a Yoruba lady.
80. Ex- President Yakubu Gowon from Jos state (Middle
Belt) is a Christian. General Obasanjo was his Army
chief who helped him defeat the Biafra attempted
secession from 1967-1970.
81. Nigeria has been ruled for 30 years by Christians
(25 years if Azikiwe is excluded).
82. Mujahid Asari Dokubo, the leader of the southern
Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND)
and the most vocal enemy of the north, is a Muslim.
83. Nigeria is not roughly divided between a Muslim
north and a Christian South. The far north, east and far
south do have concentrations, but the rest of the nation
defies such demarcations.
84. In the Southwest, Osun, Lagos, Ogun and Oyo have
a higher population of Muslims than Christians
according to counts. Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau in
the north have Christian majorities.
85. According to the Senate joint committee, Nigeria’s
chief terrorist leader, Abubakar Shekau is not a
Nigerian; he hails from Niger republic. {Shekau is
believed by security services to be deceased.}
86. According to current demographics, after Hausa-
Fulani (29%), Yoruba (21%), Igbo (18%) and Ijaw (10%)
comes Kanuri (4%) and then Ibibio (3.5%) and Tiv
(2.5%).
87. Not really a northern caucus, but it was late M. K.
O. Abiola that orchestrated and sponsored the Buhari /
Idiagbon coup and then again the Babangida coup
overthrow of Buhari. –Shagari memoir, “Beckoned to
Serve;” Babangida, “Karl Maier – Midnight in
Nigeria.” (Max Siollun)
88. The leading caucus is basically a childhood
friendship: President Obasanjo was childhood friends
with President Babangida, President Abacha and
Commander Danjuma.
89. President Babangida was childhood friends with
President Abdulsalam.
90. President Obasanjo graduated Abdulsalam who later
became President and went on to hand over power to
democratically arranged President Obasanjo.
91. Under the Presidential system, Nigerians have had 7
years total Northern rule and 11+ years Southern rule.
92. Total civilian rule, Parliamentary and Presidential,
Nigeria has had 12 years Northern and 11+ years
Southern rule.
93. 6 coups is the highest number of any nation in
Africa. Nigeria along with Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Uganda
and Mauritania are the nations with 6 coups.
94. The Biafra war included a ‘Mid West invasion.’ The
Midwest was either a battle field or in Biafra’s sights—
Dr. Nowamagbe A. Omoigui relays.
95. The Biafra 12th battalion headed by Lt Col Victor
Adebukunola Banjo captured Benin and set out to
capture Ibadan and Lagos.
96. The Biafra 13th battalion, led by Ivenso entered
Kwara, now Kogi and captured Okene, Atanai and Iloshi.
97. Cameroon was an administrative part of Nigeria in
1945, hence the NCNC party (National Council of
Nigeria and the Cameroons). Towards independence the
UN mandated British held former German territory,
south Cameroon opted to join French Cameroon and not
Nigeria.
98. J.C. Vaughn, Ernest Ikoli, H.O. Davies, Obafemi
Awolowo and Samuel Akinsanya founded the Nigerian
Youth Movement (NYM) in 1934 to promote national
unity particularly between Yoruba and Igbo.
99. Azikiwe left Nigerian Youth Movement (NYM)
because he claimed the organization had been seized by
Yoruba’s and it discriminated against Igbo’s including
himself.
100. Oyo defeats Ashanti: In 1764 the Ashanti army
marched on Dahomey, Togo. At Atakpamé, the Ashanti
army was ambushed and sacked by Dahomean infantry
and female elite soldiers allied with forces from the Oyo
Empire. Ashanti King Kusi Obodum was destooled after
the defeat.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/centenary-100-interesting-facts-nigeria-perry-brimah

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Datas121: .

You soon book your ass. Mtcheeeeeeeew

OP,what is interesting in this list? And by the way,the total population of Lagos being larger than the eastern states combined is a fiction and not a fact.

Interesting.

Sealeddeal: OP,what is interesting in this list? And by the way,the total population of Lagos being larger than the eastern states combined is a fiction and not a fact.

i luv this interesting fact about nigeria

Gf

So, Ndigbo made bread depicting how Nzeogwu ( a tagged saint) killed the whole premier of Northern Nigeria .... No wonder ....