NIGERIA BACKGROUND INFORMATION


Standard 5:

Regions Used to Interpret the Complexity of Nigeria

Introduction

Geography is concerned with spatial differentiation. One way to organize spatial differences is through the designation of regions. The region is perhaps the most common conceptual tool used by traditional geography. Regions designate areas of the Earth’s surface that share characteristics in common. A region may be defined on a single cultural, political, or environmental variable or on a combination of several different traits or attributes. Whichever way they are defined, regions help us generalize about geographic space, reducing the complexity of real life in to a more manageable form. This section sets forth some of the most common regional designations in Nigeria. It is not exhaustive, nor is it the only way that Nigeria’s regions can be defined. As the examples below illustrate, there is often a great deal of debate about how individual regions should be defined. The first section of this essay generally deals with physical regions and the second section deals with human regions. As you can imagine, however, it is not always possible to define human regions apart from physical regions and vice versa. Another important point to note is that this section does not deal much with geographic processes. In this sense, it merely serves to outline the basic regional formations in Nigeria apart from the processes that created and are creating them. Other essays in this series will deal with issues of geographic process.

Physical Regions

As standard 7 illustrates, Nigeria is a country of physical contrasts. These contrasts can be illustrated through the definition of physical regions. These regions can vary in their level of detail and complexity. In general, however, Nigeria’s physical regions are closely related with latitude. Variables like precipitation, relative humidity, and vegetation type are all strongly correlated with north-south location. Let us examine some of Nigeria’s physical regions in a more detailed way.

An important set of regions to begin with is climatic regions. Climatic regions are a good example of north to south variation. As standard 4 and 7 illustrate, precipitation is the key climatic variable in delimiting Nigeria’s regional climates. Precipitation is critical because temperature does not vary all that much throughout the country. In general annual rainfall decreases as one moves from southern Nigeria to northern Nigeria. In addition, rainfall in southern Nigeria tends to be quite substantial, often surpassing more than 60 to 80 inches per year. Thus, we can declare those areas where abundant rainfall is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year to have a tropical rain forest climate. Included within this region are the Niger Delta and the cities of Lagos and Port Harcourt. To the north of the rain forest climatic region is a large region of tropical savanna climate. This region is marked by three key differences from that of the rain forest climate. First, precipitation tends to be lower, averaging between 20 and 60 inches annually. Second, precipitation tends to be far more seasonal in nature. That is, precipitation is concentrated in a wet season of four to eight months followed by a dry season. Third, relative humidity is lower in this broad savanna region. In the extreme northern fringe of Nigeria lies a climatic region that is transitional between savanna climate and desert climate. Here precipitation may be as little as 20 inches per year and relatively humidity is extremely low. This last point illustrates the difficulty in defining regions based on continuous variables (i.e. those variables whose values are on a decimal-based continuum). In the end, regional boundaries often become somewhat arbitrary. In situations like this, it is important to recognize a zone of transition that separates one region from another.

Vegetation regions are another important type of physical region. Because vegetation and climate are often closely related, geographers sometimes designate natural regions that take into account climate, vegetation, and soils. Discussing "vegetation regions," however, incorporates the roles of humans in shaping the landscape. And, since Nigeria is a densely populated country with a long history of human settlement, it is important to incorporate the influence of human societies in shaping Nigeria’s vegetation regions. These regions are defined based on the types and densities of plant species found in a particular region. As one might expect, southern Nigeria is where the country’s tropical rain forests are found. These forests are characterized by a high diversity of tree and plant species and dense vegetative cover. In many areas, however, "derived savanna" has taken the place of tropical rain forest. This change is almost always due to human activities like agriculture, oil exploration, or logging. Thus, human modification complicates our simplified notions of continuous rain forest, fragmenting many forest areas. In this tropical rain forest region, some land has been clear-cut for farming. In other areas, non-economic trees and vegetation have been removed, leaving groomed stands of palm oil trees.

Similar to Nigeria’s climatic regions, the northern two-thirds of the country is covered by savanna vegetation. The main characteristic of this broad region is that trees are much more widely spaced. Trees also tend to be shorter than those found in the rain forest region. Grasses also become shorter as one moves toward the northern border with Niger. Breaking down Nigeria’s broad tropical savanna region further is a difficult task. One three-region division of the savanna region includes the guinea savanna region, the sudan savanna region, and the Sahel savanna region. For more information on these categories, see standard 4’s discussion of Nigeria’s physical characteristics. Physiographic regions are not discussed in this section. Refer to standard 4 for a description of Nigeria’s topography.

Human Regions

The discussion of human regions in Nigeria presents some of the same problems that were confronted in the last section on physical regions. Human characteristics and activities are rarely homogenous over a large region. Thus, in defining things like cultural regions or agricultural regions, our constructs are only an approximation and a simplification of reality. There are many situations, however, when the definition of regions is a deeply divisive issue. People often disagree in their representation and understanding of human geographies. These struggles are not merely over facts. The simple issue of what items to include or omit from a map can be an important point of contention. For example, small ethnic groups may be left out of a simplified ethnic map. This cartographic practice "eliminates" them from the geographic imagination even though the group may exist in fact. Even a simple variable like population density can be highly controversial. This is true in Nigeria, where regional population numbers influence the distribution of resources and political power. Keeping in mind these critical issues, we will now examine some human regions of Nigeria.

Ethnic geography is important to an overall understanding of Nigerian human geography. One definition of an ethnic group is that of a group of people with a common language, common values and beliefs, and a common material culture. This definition can be debated and many do question the concept of ethnic group. Nonetheless, it is important to note that cultural differences do exist and can be studied from a geographic perspective. In this regard, Nigeria is a country of tremendous cultural and ethnic diversity (link to the following map of ethnicity). This map shows the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria and several other smaller groups. Hausaland, Yorubaland, and Igboland are the English names for the homelands of Nigeria’s three largest ethnic groups. Most smaller groups have similar core territories, which they claim as their home regions. As with all human geography, these ethnic regions are neither static nor fixed. This is clearly evident by examining the cases of Yorubaland and Igboland. Prior to British colonial rule, these two ethnic regions never existed in local perception. Both regions were composed of small-scale city-states that did not have a history of political unity. During colonial rule, however, and in the post-independence period, both Yorubas and Igbos have developed a sense of regional identity. These identities change over time, but the important point to note is that they maintain people’s conceptions of a Yoruba region and an Igbo region.

Nigeria’s religious geography provides another important set of regions. In many respects, this geography is much simpler than the country’s complex ethnic geography. This is because most Nigerians are either Christian or Muslim. Anywhere between 80 and 90 percent of all Nigerians are at least nominally Christian or Muslim. The remaining minority group is composed of indigenous adherents. The important thing to note here is that Nigeria does have relatively distinct religious regions. This map showing the distribution of Islam in Africa provides a sketch of Nigeria’s religious regions. In simple terms, the country has three basic regions, a concentrated Muslim area in the North, a concentrated Christian area in the South and a region of transition in the central "middle belt" region. The southwestern Yorubaland also has a sizable Muslim minority that comprises one-third of the population.

A good example of a heterogeneous cultural region is the "middle belt" region. This east-west zone in central Nigeria is composed of dozens of small minority ethnic groups. This region is also part of the zone of transition between the Christian south and the Muslim north. The Nigerian middle belt is a region of intense religious competition between Muslim and Christian missionaries. While the term missionary is often associated with whites when one thinks about Africa, the reality is that most missionaries, both Christian and Muslim are African. Because of the religious competition evident in the middle belt region, this region is symbolic of larger social and cultural trends within Nigeria and Africa. While it has been noted that Nigeria is a country that is religiously divided, it is important to note that the middle belt is a region of transition between these two broadly defined communities. This region is also representative of the continental boundary areas between the advance of Christianity and Islam, respectively. It is also important to note that the use of the concept of religious competition should be used in a cautious way. While many Muslims and Christians are fervent in their faith and their proselytizing, others are much more moderate and accepting of religious difference. It is also important to note that many religious adherents adopt a particular religion partly out of economic motives. Because people have different and conflicting motives for social affiliation like religion, it is important to keep in mind that people cannot be reduced to simple categories like "Christian" or "Muslim."

Nigeria is an agrarian country. As much as 60 percent or more of the population is engaged in agricultural production at some point during the year. Because of this, it is important to outline the agricultural regions of Nigeria. The interplay of economics, culture, climate and soil influence which crops are grown in different regions of the country. In addition, regional environments influence the nature and intensity of livestock production.

Nigerian crop production can be regionally divided into root crop regions and grain crop regions. Root crops are only found in the southern part of the country where precipitation is sufficient and seasonally balanced. Key root crops are yams and cassava. The grain crop region is roughly composed of the northern half of the country. It is here that staple crops like millet, sorghum, and maize are prominent. This regional division between root crops and grain crops is important because it describes the staple food crops for most Nigerians. In the South, yams and cassava are the staple food of most people. In the North, grains are the staple food crop. The important point to note is that these kinds of crops are grown over large areas of Nigeria. In contrast, some cash crops like cocoa, groundnuts, kola, and oil palms are only grown in relatively confined regions. For example, kola production is focused around the southwestern cities of Abeokuta, Ibadan, and Shagamu. Groundnut production is concentrated in an east-west strip between the cities of Katsina, Kano, and Nguru. The cocoa belt is found in the southwest, in Yorubaland. Oil palms are grown and tapped mainly in a 100-kilometer east-west belt in the southern rain forest area.

Herding also has a distinct regional geography. In terms of migrant pastoralism, the northern third of the country is the main region for cattle herding. An important fact to note about this region is that it is seasonal in nature. This is because of the migratory nature of much cattle herding. During the dry season in the North, pastoralists guide their herds southward for greener pastures. Another important point to note about cattle rearing is that the dominant zebu breed of northern Nigeria is highly susceptible to the deadly disease trypanosomiasis, which is found in many parts of southern Nigeria. Because of this geography of disease and competition with other land uses, herding tends to be concentrated in the semi-arid savanna of the North. Standards 11 and 14 provide more details on these agricultural issues.

Examples of non-agricultural economic regions include the oil-producing region and the limited-scale manufacturing regions. Of these, the oil-producing region is much better defined spatially. This region is focused on the delta of West Africa’s largest river, the Niger. Under these swampy lowlands and under the coast near the delta lie substantial reserves of oil and natural gas. At present, several large multi-national oil companies are engaged in production and exploration activities. These companies include Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, and Texaco. Needless to say, this relatively small geographic region has been the source of much of Nigeria’s hopes and problems over the last thirty years. Of particular note are the periodic conflicts between local communities, the federal government, and the oil companies (see standards14 and 16 for more information on problems in Nigeria’s oil-producing region).

It is a little bit difficult to speak about a Nigerian manufacturing region. The main reason for this is that Nigeria has a very small manufacturing base. It is not uncommon for factories to sit idle or at very low capacity utilization (e.g. 25 percent utilization). Second, most large-scale manufacturing activity is focused in a few large cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan. All three of these cities are in the southern part of the country. This pattern indicates the pattern of manufacturing specifically and overall level of economic development generally. The southern part of Nigeria has generally out-performed the North since at least the early period of British colonialism. This does not mean that southern Nigeria is a prosperous region. It is still very poor by world standards. There are several reasons for this uneven regional development. Not least of these are the South’s coastal location and the region’s higher level of education relative to northern Nigeria. For a more detailed discussion of this issue, see standard 11.