Nigeria

About this destination

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It lies on the South Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Guinea). Its neighbouring countries are Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Abuja has been the capital since 12 December 1991. Before that, the port city of Lagos held that function. Nigeria became independent from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960. Many different languages are spoken in the country, including Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, with English as the administrative language and widely used lingua franca. The name of the country first appeared in 1897 in The Times and was proposed by the colonial editor Flora Shaw.