Short answers, pulled from the story.
Nigeria has a population of more than 242 million, making it the most populous country in Africa and the sixth-most populous country in the world. The three largest ethnic groups, the Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo, together make up over 60% of the total.
Nigeria gained full independence from the United Kingdom on the 1st of October 1960, with Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as its first Prime Minister. It gained a degree of self-rule earlier, in 1954, and Elizabeth II remained nominal head of state and Queen of Nigeria.
The name Nigeria derives from the Niger River, and it was coined on the 8th of January 1897 by the British journalist Flora Shaw. Earlier proposed names had included Royal Niger Company Territories, Central Sudan, Niger Empire, Niger Sudan, and Hausa Territories.
In May 1967, Lt. Colonel Emeka Ojukwu declared the Eastern Region independent as the Republic of Biafra, citing the 1966 pogroms against Igbos. The federal side attacked on the 6th of July 1967, and the 30-month war ended in January 1970, with estimates of the dead ranging from one to three million.
Petroleum accounts for about 80% of government earnings in Nigeria, which is the 15th-largest producer of petroleum in the world and the 6th-largest exporter. The country each year loses an estimated 2.5 billion US dollars to gas flaring and over 120,000 barrels of oil a day to crude theft in the Niger Delta.
Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress won the disputed 2023 presidential election with 36.61% of the vote and was inaugurated on the 29th of May 2023. In 2023 his party broke convention by pairing two Muslims on the ticket, with Kashim Shettima as running mate.
Nigeria is a federal republic modelled after the United States, comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, further divided into 774 local government areas. The president serves a maximum of two four-year terms, with power limited by a bicameral National Assembly of a 109-seat Senate and a 360-seat House of Representatives.