An Introduction to Nigeria
The most populous country in Africa and with the world's largest black population, Nigeria is also the 7th most populous state in the world. It is listed amongst the 'Next Eleven' countries, and by some measures has the world's fastest growing economy. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Africa
1 current African job:
GOVERNMENT: federal republic
AREA: 923,768 sq km
POPULATION: 155,215,573 (July 2011 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: English
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Nigeria
Lagos is the third biggest city in Africa and by far the largest in Nigeria but is not (since 1991) the capital - at 8m its population is around 10 times that of the purpose-built and 'neutral' capital, Abuja.
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The most populous country in Africa and with the world's largest black population, Nigeria is also the 7th most populous state in the world. It is listed amongst the 'Next Eleven' countries, and by some measures has the world's fastest growing economy.
Nigeria's people have a long history - the area has been inhabited by humans since at least 9000 BC and the area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu Migrants who spread across most of Africa in waves between the 1st and 2nd millennia BC - see many other African entries.Nigeria was a British Colony from 1901, achieved independence on October 1st, 1960, and held its fi'st elections as a federal republic in 1965. However, the elections were seen as corrupt, the country saw back-to-back military coups and a civil war began, ending in 1970 and costing some three million lives. With huge oil profits and substantial renegotiation, Nigeria made history in April 2006 by becoming the first African Country to completely pay off its debt (an estimated $30 billion).
GDP: $377.9 billion (2010 est.) - $2,500 per capita (2010 est.)
Religions Muslim 50%, Christian 40%, indigenous beliefs 10%
Currency: Naira (NGN) - 1 GBP = 252.10 NGN
Telephone Code: +234
MR Association(s):
Nigerian Marketing Research Association
The West African Region (Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Togo and Mali) had an MR turnover of $46m in 2009 - a net growth of -2.0% on 2008. Nigeria accounted for $19m of that spend, ranking its MR industry 55th in the world by turnover. 70% of research conducted is domestic, and two thirds (68%) is quant.
Source: ESOMAR
With economic development hindered by years of military rule and mismanagement Nigeria, long a byword for corruption, has seen the restoration of democracy, economic reform and some progress towards achieving its full economic potential. An abundance of natural resources and well-developed financial, legal and communications sectors mean the country is now classified as a mixed economy emerging market, and has already reached middle income status according to the Worldbank. The Nigerian Stock Exchange is the second largest in Africa.
Oil and debt have dominated the last few decades: both boomed in the 1970s, with heavy foreign infrastructure investment to help exploit reserves; then the oil price slumped in the 1980s, the debt burden became crippling and the country eventually defaulted on principal repayments. After negotiations, Nigeria and its creditors reached an agreement in October 2005 which led to 40% of the debt being quickly repaid and the rest cancelled, freeing up at least $1.15 billion annually for poverty reduction programmes.
Nigeria exported an estimated $76.33bn worth of commodities in 2010, 95% of which were petroleum and petroleum based products. The other main exports were cocoa and rubber. The USA was the main export partner accounting for 34% of trade, other export partners included India, Brazil, Spain and France. Imports for the same time were valued at $34.18bn and were made up of machinery, chemicals, transport equipment, food and animals, with China, the USA and the Netherlands the key partners.
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