SOME AMAZING FACTS ABOUT NIGERIA THAT MOST NIGERIANS DON'T KNOW

Here are some facts about Nigeria that most Nigerians have never heard about:

1. Nigeria is home to seven percent of the total languages spoken on earth. Taraba State alone has more languages than 30 African countries put together. The importance of this fact is more appreciated when one understands that language is the 'soul of culture'

2. South Eastern Nigeria is the densest area in Africa after the Nile Valley in Egypt.

3. Nigeria has the highest rate of twin births in the world. Igbo-Ora, a little town in Oyo State has been nicknamed Twin Capital of the World because of its unusually high rate of twins that is put as high as 158 twins per 1000 births.

4. Nigeria is divided into three by two Rivers.

5. Africa's oldest known boat is the Dufuna Canoe which was discovered in Dufuna village, Yobe State, by a Fulani herdsman in May 1987, while he dug a well in his compound. Various radio-carbon tests conducted in laboratories of reputable universities in Europe and America indicate that the canoe is over 8000 years old, thus making it the oldest in Africa and 3rd oldest in the world.

6. Archaeological evidence shows that human existence in Nigeria has a history which starts from 9000 BC. The Nok civilization (around 500 BC-200 AD) is the earliest known civilization here.

7. The Jos Plateau Indigobird, a small reddish-brown bird, is found nowhere else on the planet but Plateau State, Nigeria. 

8. The Walls of Benin (800-1400AD), in present day Edo State, are the longest ancient earthworks in the world and probably the largest man-made structure on earth. They enclose 6500 square kilometres of community lands that connected about 500 communities. At over 16000km long, it was thought to be twice the lenght of the Great Wall of China, until it was announced that the Great Wall is about 21,000km long.

9. The Anambra Waxbill, a small bird of many beautiful colours, is found only in Southern Nigeria and nowhere else on earth.

10. The Niger Delta (which is the second largest delta on the planet), has the highest concentration of monotypic fish families in the world, and is also home to sixty percent of Nigeria's mangrove forests. You should know too that Nigeria's mangrove forests are the largest in Africa and the third largest in the world.

11. According to the World Resources Institute, Nigeria is home to 4,715 different types of plant species, and over 550 species of breeding birds and mammals, making it one of the most ecologically vibrant places in the plant.

12. Ille Ife, in present day Osun State, was paved as early as 1000AD, with decorations that originated from ancient America suggesting there might have been contact between the Yorubas and The Ancient Americans half a millennium before Columbus discovered America.

13. Nigeria has the second largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt), with an estimated circulation of several million copies daily.

14. The Drill Monkey is only found in the wild in Southeast Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon.

15. It is widely believed that the areas surrounding Calabar, Cross River State, contain the world's largest diversity of butterflies.

16. Sungbo's Eredo, a 160 km rampart equipped equipped with guard houses and moats, is reputed to be the largest single pre-colonial monument (or ancient fortification if you like) in Africa. It is located in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State and when it was built thousands of years ago, it required more earth to be moved during construction than that used for building the Great Pyramid of Gaza (One of the Seven Wonders of the World). The most astonishing fact that Sungbo's Eredo was the biggest city in the world (bigger than Rome and Cairo) during the middle ages when it was built.

17. Nigeria has the 10th largest proven reserves of petroleum, in the world. Petroleum plays an important role in the country’s economy and contributes to around 40% of Nigeria’s GDP and accounts for around 80% of government earnings.

18. Sarki Abdullah Burja of Kano (ruled 1438-1452 AD), the 18th ruler of Ancient Kano, created the first Golden Age in Northern Nigeria and ushered in a period of great prosperity. During his reign, Hausa became the biggest indigenous language spoken in Africa after Swahili.

19. Contrary to popular belief, there is no desert in Nigeria-not even in the northern part of Nigeria. The closest thing we have is a Sahel Savannah zone. But it is getting drier gradually, hence the hullabaloo about desertification in that part of Nigeria.

20. Iwe–Irohin, Nigeria's first newspaper was established by a missionary, Henry Townsend in 1859.