GEOGRAPHY

Nigeria lies in the tropics approximately between latitudes 4o and 14o north and longitudes 3o and 14o east. It is almost square in shape covering an area of 23,768 km - 1.7 the size of France or three times that of the United Kingdom.
It is bounded by the Republic of Benin to the West, Niger Republic to the North, Chad to the Northeast and Cameroun to the East and the Atlantic ocean to the south.

The Landscape

From South to North:

• The coastal area, approximately 60 kilometres wide, frequently indented by lagoons and by the immense Niger River Delta, which alone covers an area of 25,000 square kilometres (9,600 square miles).
• The forest-covered mountains of the west and east.
• The Jos Plateau in the centre, at an altitude of over 1,200 metres (4,000 feet) and culminating at Shere hill, 1,780 metres (5,800 feet); the Highlands along the eastern border, which rise to 2,040 metres (6,693 feet) at Vogel Peak, south of the Benue River.
• The Land drops steadily away from the plateau northwards to the plain of Sokoto and the Lake Chad Basin, which forms part of the Sahel region, parts of which are semi desert. The River Niger with its tributary, the Benue, form a large ‘Y’ across Nigeria. The country is predominantly characterised by a simple relief.

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