Passport/Visa Requirements: Passports, visas and proof of onward passage are needed by Australian, Canadian, U.K. and U.S. citizens. Passports must remain valid at least six months beyond arrival date. Visas are not easy to arrange and cannot be obtained on arrival. For both business and tourist visas, it's best to go through a specialist visa company who can advise on the required paperwork. Reconfirm travel document requirements with your carrier before departure.
Population: 135,031,164.
Languages: English (official), Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and many others.
Predominant Religions: Christian, Islamic, Animist.
Time Zone: 1 hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (+1 GMT). Daylight Saving Time is not observed.
Voltage Requirements: 220/250 volts.
Telephone Codes: 234, country code;
For More Information
Tourist OfficesNigeria does not have tourist offices in Australia, Canada, the U.K. or the U.S.
Nigerian Embassies
Australia: High Commission of Nigeria, 26 Guilfoyle St., Yarralumla, ACT 2600. Phone 2-6282-7411. Fax 2-6282-8471. http://www.nigeria-can.org.au.
Canada: High Commission of Nigeria, 295 Metcalfe St., Ottawa, ON K2P 1R9. Phone 613-236-0521. Fax 613-236-0529. http://www.nigeriahcottawa.com.
U.K.: High Commission of Nigeria, Nigeria House, 9 Northumberland Ave., London WC2N 5BX. Phone 20-7839-1244. Fax 20-7839-8746. http://nigeria.embassyhomepage.com.
U.S.: Embassy of Nigeria, 3519 International Court, Washington, DC 20008. Phone 202-986-8400. Fax 202-362-6541. http://www.nigeriaembassyusa.org.
Foreign Embassies in Nigeria
Australian High Commission, 48 Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja. Phone 9-461-2780. Fax 9-234-9461. http://www.nigeria.highcommission.gov.au.
Canadian High Commission, 15 Bobo St., Maitama. Phone 9-413-9910. Fax 9-413-9911.
British High Commission, Dangote House, Aguyi Ironsi Street, Wuse, Abuja. Phone 9-413-4559. Fax 9-413-4565.
U.S. Embassy, Plot 1075, Diplomatic Drive, Central District, Abuja. Phone 9-461-4262. Fax 9-461-4171. http://nigeria.usembassy.gov.
Additional Reading
The Open Sore of a Continent by Wole Soyinka (Oxford University Press). A powerful personal narrative of the crisis surrounding Nigeria's presidential election of 1993. It covers the two decades of military rule and the strife between the various ethnic groups. Soyinka, a Nobel laureate, also has written a number of plays, including
The Jewel and the Lion,
The Man Died and
Ake: Years of Childhood. His latest book,
You Must Set Forth at Dawn: A Memoir (Random House), covers his more than 40 years of political activism, including during the Biafra War when he was thrown into prison without trial for 27 months.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Penguin). Nigeria's most famous novel, by its most famous writer, is about early European colonialism when the local people first encountered white missionaries. Among Achebe's other works are Arrow of God and Anthills of the Savannah.
The Famished Road by Ben Okri (First Anchor Books). A tale of fiction, it is an elaborate story based on Yoruba religion of a boy living in a Nigerian village who is a spirit child and exists both in the supernatural and the real world. Okri continues the boy's adventures in Infinite Riches and Songs of Enchantment.
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Harper Perennial). A profoundly gripping story set during the Biafra War and told through the voices of three teenage children.
Fela: The Life and Times of an African by Michael Veal (Temple University Press). Biography of famous Nigeria Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti. It covers his early experiences in the U.S. in the 1960s where he discovered black politics and James Brown, as well as his abuse by authorities in Lagos against his anti-establishment music and behavior.
