53 Things About Nigeria @53 -

As Nigeria celebrates her 53rd
Independence anniversary
today, Daily Times serves our readers 53
unique things about the nation. Happy
reading:
1. The most commonly spoken phrase in
Nigeria is "How far?”
2. Nigeria is home to seven percent (7%) of
the total
languages spoken on earth. Taraba State
alone has more
languages than 30 African countries.
3. The Walls of Benin (800-1400AD), in
present day Edo
State, are the longest ancient earthworks in
the world.
4. The Yoruba tribe has the highest rate of
twin births in
the world. Igbo-Ora, a little town in Oyo
state, has been
nicknamed ‘Twin capital of the World’
because of its
unusually high rate of twins that is put as
high as 158 twins per 1000 births.
5. Sarki Muhammad Kanta The Great of
Kebbi, was the only ruler who resisted
control by Songhai, West Africa’s
greatest empire at that time. He founded
and ruled the Hausa city-state of Kebbi
around 1600 A.D.
6. Africa’s oldest known boat is The Dufuna
canoe, which was discovered in Dufuna
village, Yobe State, by a Fulani Herdsman in
May 1987, while he dug a well.
7. Sungbo’s Eredo, a 160 km rampart
equipped with guard
houses and moats, is reputed to be the
largest single pre-colonial monument (or
ancient fortification if you like) in Africa. It
is located in present-day Ijebu-Ode, Ogun
State.
8. The Jos Plateau Indigobird, a small
reddish-brown bird, is found nowhere else
on the planet but Plateau State.
9. The Anambra waxbill, a small bird of
many beautiful
colours, is found only in Southern Nigeria
and nowhere else on earth.
10. The Niger Delta (which is the second
largest delta on the planet), has the highest
concentration of monotypic fish families in
the world, and is also home to 60 percent
of Nigeria’s mangrove forests.
11. Nigeria’s mangrove forests are the
largest in Africa and
third largest on earth.
12. According to the World Resources
Institute, Nigeria is
home to 4,715 different types of plant
species, and over 550 species of breeding
birds and mammals, making it one of the
most ecologically vibrant places of the
planet.
13. Ile-Ife, in present day Osun State, was
paved as early as 1000AD, with decorations
that originated from ancient America.
14. Though the country has three dominant
tribes, Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and the Ibo
(Igbo), there are over 250 ethnic groups.
15. Nigeria derives her name from the
Niger River which is the largest and the
longest river in West Africa and is about
4,180 kilometres long.
16. The Nigerian movie industry which
produces between
150-200 movies every week is known as
Nollywood – it is ranked as the world’s
second-largest producer of movies and
trails just behind the Indian Bollywood
industry.
17. Areas surrounding Cross State River
and Calabar towards the south of Nigeria
are home to the largest diversity of
butterflies in the world.
18. Sarki Abdullah Burja of Kano (ruled
1438-1452 AD), the 18th ruler of Ancient
Kano, created the first Golden Age in
Northern Nigeria and ushered in a period
of great prosperity. During his reign, Hausa
became the biggest indigenous language
spoken in Africa after Swahili.
19. Two of the world’s rarest species of
animals live in the mysterious Nigerian
forests - the Drill monkey that lives in the
Afi Mountain ranges and the lowland
Gorilla.
20. Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets became the
first team from
Africa to win a FIFA competition when they
won the U16
(now U17) World Cup in China in 1985.
21. Nigeria is the first African nation to
have won the
football gold medal of an Olympics
achieving this feat at
Atlanta’96.
22. The 50,000-seater ‘Faith Tabernacle” of
Winners
Chapel Churches is the largest church
auditorium in the world. Its 2008 Guinness
Book world record has not been broken
even in 2013.
23. The University of Nigeria was the first
full-fledged
indigenous and first autonomous university
in Nigeria. The
origins of the university are in Yaba
College, founded in 1932 in Yaba, Lagos as
the first tertiary educational institute in
Nigeria.
24. Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s
Finance Minister is
Forbes’ 83rd Most Powerful Woman in the
World.
25. Nigeria’s Mrs Esther Taiwo Olukoya and
Mrs Emily Kehinde Olukoga-Ogunde, who
looked almost identical, are probably the
third set of twins in the world to hit the
century age and perhaps the first in Africa.
26. A Nigerian man, Aliko Dangote –
founder of Dangote
Group, is the richest man in Africa and
richest black man in the world.
27. The richest woman in Africa, Folorunsho
Alakija, is a
Nigerian. She is worth about $600 million
(N97 billion).
28. Iwe–Irohin, Nigeria's first newspaper
was established by a missionary, Henry
Townsend in 1859.
29. It is on record that Daily Times Nigeria
is the only Nigerian newspaper to attain a
500,000 copy circulation with one title. The
Daily Times had emerged a colossus.
30. Nigerian terror sect, Boko Haram
carried out its first
known attack in Borno in January 2011.
31. A Nigerian university, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-
Ife, Osun State has the most beautiful
campus in Africa. It was founded in 1962.
32. The Igbos of Eastern Nigeria launched a
series of massive riots that put paid to
Colonialism in Nigeria. This was led by the
women of Aba, protesting the heavy
taxation of the colonial lords. They marched
on the colonial offices and chased the
administrators away.
33. President Musa Yar'Adua is the first
democratically
elected president to die in office.
34. Okobaba Sawmil, situated at Ebute
Meta Lagos, Nigeria is the largest sawmill in
Africa.
35. The largest Christian gatherings in the
world have been held in Nigeria - (Holy
Ghost Festivals; Redeemed Christian Church
of God; 5 to 12 million People).
36. If you go to some areas in the Niger-
Delta and step firmly on the soil, crude oil
will gush out.
37. Goodluck Jonathan is the first
democratic president that was not elected
after assuming the mantel of leadership
with the death of President Musa Yar’Adua
in 2010. He went on to win the Presidential
election a year later.
38. Late Musa Yar'dua was the first
president to declare his assets according to
the provision of 1999 constitution of
Nigeria.
39. The pastor of the largest church in the
United Kingdom is a Nigerian; Matthew
Ashimolow of the Kingsway International
Christian Centre.
40. Since Nigeria made her first FIFA World
Cup finals
appearance at USA’94; she has gone on to
appear in three other finals but has never
gone beyond the second round.
41. Liberty Stadium Ibadan Oyo State,
Nigeria is the first
stadium to be built in Africa. The stadium
was opened in
1960 during the tenure of Chief Obafemi
Awolowo as the
Premier of the Western Region.
42. Hubert Ogunde was the first
professional theatre man in Nigeria who
lived entirely by the art.
43. According to reports, the late MKO
Abiola sent $10m to Youeri Museveni to
help topple the despot, Idi Amin Dada.
44. Nigerian pidgin (which uses a primary
English lexicon) is also a common lingua
franca. Roughly a third of Nigeria's
population speak Pidgin English which is a
simplified form of the language.
45. Some traditional cultural expressions
are found in the
various masquerades of Nigeria, such as
the Eyo
masquerades, the Ekpe and Ekpo
Masquerades of the Efik/Ibibio/Annang/
Igbo peoples of coastal south-eastern
Nigeria, and the Northern Edo
Masquerades. The most popular Yoruba
wooden masks are the Gelede
masquerades.
46. The country is listed among the "Next
Eleven" economies, and is one of the
fastest growing in the world with the
International Monetary Fund projecting
growth of 9 per cent in 2008 and 8.3 per
cent in 2009.
47.In Intercontinental Hotel, Nigeria has
the tallest hotel in
West Africa built at a cost of N30 billion
located in Lagos,
with a 23-storey building containing 358
rooms and 37
suites and a Presidential suite.
48. Lagos is the second fastest growing city
in Africa and the seventh fastest growing
city in the world. The newest reports of the
Nigeria Census estimate the population is
now 21 million, making Lagos the largest
city in Africa.
49. Nigeria has the highest maternal
mortality rate in Africa. Nigeria accounts for
10 per cent of maternal deaths in the
world, ranking the second highest after
India.
50. The Power Holding Company of Nigeria
(PHCN) generates only 3,200 megawatts
while the nation needs at least 8,000
megawatts.
51. Nigeriahas more writers and authors
than the rest of
West African combined. And in Professor
Wole Soyinka has the region’s first Nobel
Prize winner.
52. Nigeria has the 4th largest number of
doctors in the
world.
53. There are more Muslims in Nigeria than
there are in Saudi Arabia - 60 million v 20
million. In fact, there are more Muslims in
Nigeria than there are in any other country
in Africa.
* Facts compiled by Sodiq Oyeleke and Lara
Samuel
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.ng/
article/53-things-about-nigeria-5

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10