About Nigeria
The Busiest Country in Africa
Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa, home to more than 220 million people within 356k square miles (about the size of Texas + Oklahama). For comparison, the US has 300 million people spread over 3 million square miles.
The capital city of Nigeria is Lagos, and has a population of nearly 26 million people—almost double that of New York City.
A Country Divided
Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Muslims and Christians. The country is also made up of over 400 tribal groups, each with their own distinct language and culture. Over the last 20 years, Nigeria has seen a lot of violent clashes between the different tribes and religions. Much of the violence has been concentrated in the middle belt area of the country. We are located right in the heart of the middle belt.
Other Threats to the Region
Nigeria faces many struggles, including political unrest, poverty, and hunger. Violent crime - including armed robbery, assault, carjacking, and hostage taking – is not uncommon throughout the country.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Many people are surprised to learn that English is the national language of Nigeria. There are also over 400 tribal languages in Nigeria, and we try our best to speak Hausa, which is the major local tribal language in our area, but we get around with English pretty well.
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We live in a large city so we don’t see too many wild animals nearby (but we’ve seen them while traveling!). We do have a pet monkey and two huge African turtles at our house.
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We eat all sorts of food. We love many types of Nigerian food, but we still often make our favorite American food in our home. Two popular Nigerian dishes we eat are jollof rice and pounded yam. Red stew and rice is a family favorite. John loves Moi Moi. The kids love suya.
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Warm! We live up on a plateau where it is cooler, so we average 90 degrees year round. Off the plateau is usually above 100 degrees. We also have a dry season and a wet season; it rains almost every day for 6 months and then it is dry for the other 6 months.
