The People

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. Density is 300 persons per square mile (116 per km 2 ). Although slightly more than half of the population live in rural areas, the urban population is increasing rapidly as many rural people seek better lives in the cities.

Indigenous black African peoples make up nearly all of Nigeria's population. The people belong to some 250 ethnic groups; some show considerable racial intermingling with people of the Mediterranean ethnic group. There are few Europeans. The largest ethnic group consists of the Hausa (21 per cent of the population), who live in the northern section of the country. The Fulani (9 per cent) and the Kanuri (4 per cent) also live in the north. The Yoruba (20 per cent) live in the southwest and the Ibo (16 per cent) in the southeast. Other southern groups are the Tiv, Edo, Ibibio, and Ijaw.

English is the official language. It is spoken in the large cities and used extensively in commerce and by the press. There are some 250 indigenous tongues, but three languages—Hausa, Ibo, and Yoruba—are used in their respective regions as second tongues by other ethnic groups. Many southern Nigerians with little formal education use pidgin English as a second tongue.

Almost half of the population is Islamic. Islam prevails in the north and has a large following in the southwest. About one-third of the population is Christian, approximately evenly divided between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Many of the Protestants belong to churches of African origin that combine Christianity with animist beliefs. Less than one-fifth of the population is wholly animist.

The majority of Nigeria's people are literate. The operation of primary and secondary schools is the responsibility of the states, but the federal government determines overall educational policy. Many of the schools are run by Christian missions and voluntary societies under the regulation of the states.

Elementary education begins at age six and lasts six years. For the first two years the language of instruction is the local tongue; thereafter it is English. The length of secondary schooling depends on the type of program a student pursues. Most secondary students take a general curriculum and finish in three years. Students who qualify for and plan to go to college take the three-year general curriculum followed by two years of college-preparatory work.

Nigeria has one of Africa's largest systems of higher education, with more than 30 universities and about as many colleges and polytechnical schools. About three-quarters of the institutions were founded in the 1970's and 1980's. Most of the institutions of higher learning are under federal control. The leading universities are the University of Ibadan (founded 1948), the University of Lagos (1962), and the University of Nigeria (1960), in Nsukka.

Nigerian crafts have achieved international renown. Cast bronze and brass statues from the medieval Nigerian kingdoms of Ife and Benin rank as some of the finest African art. Today ivory carving and cast-brass sculpturing are highly developed Yoruba crafts. Pottery making and wood carving are superbly developed crafts throughout Nigeria. Especially notable are elaborately carved ceremonial masks.

Much of Nigeria's written literature is based on the country's rich heritage of oral folk tales and poetry. The Yoruba novelist Amos Tutuola became internationally known in the 1950's for his fantasy stories derived from folk traditions. The best-known Yoruba writer is Wole Soyinka, whose novels, poetry, and plays won him a Nobel Prize in 1986. Nigerian music consists largely of indigenous forms used in village ceremonies and religious rites.