Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is the most populous country in Africa. It is geographically situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea to the south in the Atlantic Ocean. It covers an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi), with a population of over 211 million. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the second-largest in Africa.
Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, titled Turakin Sokoto from 1962, was the first democratically elected President of Nigeria, after the transfer of power by military head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1979 giving rise to the Second Nigerian Republic.
Muhammadu Buhari is a Nigerian politician who has been President of Nigeria since 2015.
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida GCFR is a retired Nigerian Army general and politician. He served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 until his resignation in 1993. He rose through the ranks to serve from 1984 to 1985 as Chief of Army Staff; going on to orchestrate his seizure of power in a palace coup d'ètat against Muhammadu Buhari.
Chimaroke Nnamani is a medical doctor and Nigerian politician from Enugu State. He was elected Governor of Enugu State in the 1999 Enugu State gubernatorial election from 1999 to 2007. He subsequently served as a People's Democratic Party (PDP) Senator for Enugu East Senatorial District from 2007 to 2011 and was re-elected in 2019.
Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai is a Nigerian politician who is the Governor of Kaduna State, in office since 2015. He was previously the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007; and the director of the Bureau of Public Enterprises. He is a co-founder of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Human rights in Nigeria are protected under the current constitution of 1999. While Nigeria has made major improvements in human rights under this constitution, the American Human Rights Report of 2012 notes several areas where more improvement is needed, which includes: abuses by Boko Haram, killings by government forces, lack of social equality and issues with freedom of speech. The Human Rights Watch's 2015 World Report states that intensified violence by Boko Haram, restrictions of LGBTIQ rights and government corruption continue to undermine the status of human rights in Nigeria.
Nigerian Railway Corporation is the state-owned enterprise with exclusive rights to operate railways in Nigeria.
Railways in Nigeria consist of a 3,505 km Cape gauge national railway network and 669 km of standard gauge. The Cape gauge network is in poor condition due to lack of maintenance. In 2019, the single operational standard gauge line from Abuja to Kaduna generated as much revenue as the entire Cape gauge railway network combined. The Nigerian government plans to extend the standard gauge to replace most of the Western Line, while the Eastern Line will be rehabilitated as a Cape gauge line. All trains in Nigeria are operated by the Nigerian Railway Corporation.
Audu Maikori is a Nigerian lawyer, entrepreneur, social activist, public speaker and creative industry expert. He is the co-founder and President of the Chocolate City Entertainment. He is well known as Founder of Chocolate City, Entertainment lawyer and regarded as the "Simon Cowell" in Nigerian Idol's first season. He won multiple awards during his career, including the International Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2007.
The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army.
Adenike Grange is a former Nigerian Minister in charge of the Federal Ministry of Health.
Occupy Nigeria was a socio-political protest movement that began in Nigeria on Monday, 2 January 2012 in response to the fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government of President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday, 1 January 2012. Protests took place across the country, including in the cities of Kano, Surulere, Ojota, Abuja, Minna, and at the Nigerian High Commission in London. The protests have been characterised by civil disobedience, civil resistance, strike actions, demonstrations and online activism. The use of social media services such as Twitter and Facebook was a prominent feature of the protests. Post Occupy Nigeria and 2015, the Nigerian Government under the new president, Muhammadu Buhari have increased fuel prices from N87 to N145 with little resistant possibly due to the fact that Nigerians are beginning to realize that fuel subsidies are actually inimical to the country's growth rather than a mechanism towards helping the poor.
Reno Omokri is a Nigerian lawyer, bestselling author and human rights activist. He is also the star of a travel documentary series, Reno Around the World, broadcast in The United Kingdom and Nigeria.
Mercy Banku Abang is a journalist from Nigeria. She is known for her self-funded journalism focused on vulnerable populations. She is described as one of Nigeria's most syndicated freelance journalists and Nigeria's most syndicated storyteller. Mercy is the 2017 United Nations Journalism Fellow. She has gone on several election observation missions in West Africa. She has interviewed notable Nigerians in her program "Conversations with Abang Mercy", which has had guests such as Reno Omokri, Dele Momodu and Chude Jideonwo. In 2017, she was named Woman of the Year in Journalism. In 2012, she was named as one of 10 Young Nigerian Women to Watch.
Nnamdi Okwu Kanu is a British-Nigerian political activist who advocates for the secession and independence of Biafra from Nigeria. He is the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which he founded in 2014. The main aim of IPOB is to restore the separatist state of Biafra which existed in Nigeria's Eastern Region during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967–1970.
The Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway is a 1,343 kilometres -long standard gauge railway under construction in Nigeria. Once complete, the railway will connect the Atlantic Ocean port city of Lagos to Kano, near the border with Niger, passing through the national capital of Abuja. The railway replaces the Cape gauge Western Line built by the British in 1896–1927, which has a lower design capacity and is in a deteriorated condition.
Omoyele "Yele" Sowore is a Nigerian human rights activist, pro-democracy campaigner, former presidential candidate, and founder of an online news agency Sahara Reporters.
End SARS is a decentralised social movement, and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria. The slogan calls for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuses. The protest takes its name from the slogan started in 2017 as a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #EndSARS to demand the disbanding of the unit by the Nigerian government. After experiencing a revitalisation in October 2020 following more revelations of the abuses of the unit, mass demonstrations occurred throughout the major cities of Nigeria, accompanied by vociferous outrage on social media platforms. About 28 million tweets bearing the hashtag have been accumulated on Twitter alone. Solidarity protests and demonstrations by Nigerians in diaspora and sympathizers occurred in many major cities of the world. The protests are notable for its patronage by a demographic that is made of entirely young Nigerians. The movement has since expanded to include demands for good and accountable governance.
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was a Nigerian Police Force unit created in late 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and firearms. It was part of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), headed by the then Deputy Inspector General of Police Anthony Ogbizi.
