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Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria,is a federal constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and oneFederal Capital Territory. The country is located in West Africa and sharesland borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in theeast, and Niger in the north. Its coast lies on the Gulf of Guinea, part of theAtlantic Ocean, in the south. The capital city is Abuja. The official languageof Nigeria, English, was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unityof the country. Nigeria has a varied landscape. From the Obudu Hills in thesoutheast through the beaches in the south, the rainforest, the Lagos estuaryand savannah in the middle and southwest of the country and the Sahel to the encroachingSahara in the extreme north. The currency unit of Nigeria is the NigerianNaira.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and theeighth most populous country in the world with a population of over140 million. It is a regional power and it is also listed among the"Next Eleven" economies. The economy of Nigeria is one of the fastestgrowing in the world with the International Monetary Fund projecting a growthof 9% in 2008 and 8.3% in 2009.

Petroleum plays a large role in the Nigerian economy,accounting for 40% of the GDP. It is the 12th largest producer of petroleum inthe world and the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest provenreserves. The country joined OPEC in 1971. However, due to crumblinginfrastructure, corruption, and ongoing civil strife in the Niger Delta, itsmain oil producing region, oil production and export is far from 100% capacity.

Mineral resources that are present in Nigeria but not yetfully exploited are coal and tin. Other natural resources in the countryinclude iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, and arable land. Despite hugedeposits of these natural resources, the mining industry in Nigeria is almostnon-existent. About 60% of Nigerians are employed in the agricultural sector.Agriculture used to be the principal foreign exchange earner of Nigeria.Perhaps, one of the most daunting ramifications of the discovery of oil was thedecline of agricultural sector. So extensive was this neglect that Nigeria,which was a net food exporter in the 1960s grew 98% of his own food, now mustimport much of the same cash crops it was formerly famous for as the biggestexporter. Nigeria also has significant production and manufacturing facilitiessuch as factories for the French car manufacturer Peugeot as well as for theEnglish truck manufacturer Bedford, now a subsidiary of General Motors. There'salso a housing boom in Nigeria, even though there have been high levels ofconstruction during the past few years in Lagos and Abuja, and the supply ofexpatriate housing has greatly increased. The profitability of housing is drawing many developers into aconstruction boom.