Nigeria: the Case of a Sleeping Giant

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It is widely recorded that Nigeria was formed in 1914 through the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by Lord Fredrick Lugard, the Governor of the Northern Province and that the country derived its name from the river Niger, the country's dominating physical feature. (Ayandele, 1966; Nicolson, 1969; Tamuno, 1972). The name Nigeria was suggested in the 1890s by British journalist Flora Shaw, who later became the wife of the colonial governor. Traditional folklore has it that the name was coined from the expression “Niger area”. The modern history of the country dates from the completion of the British conquest in 1903. The country gained independence in 1960 from British and became a Federal Republic in 1963. After successive governments and many state creation exercises, Nigeria is now a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 States and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. This article examines Nigeria, using secondary data and existing literature, along six areas; Petroleum, Agriculture, Power, Education, Security and health to justify why the country is often referred to as a “sleeping giant”. Nigeria is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroun in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Golf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. It has a total area of 923,768 square kilometers and a population estimated by the United Nations (UN) in 2011 at over 160 million people making it the most populated country in Africa and the 7th in the world. Apart from the sheer population, the country has over 250 ethnic groups, with over 500 languages, dialects and customs, creating a country of rich ethnic diversity. The country which is the world’s 6th largest producer of crude oil is abundantly rich in mineral and material resources such as crude oil,

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