SAMSON DENGIYEFA GIFT

Nigeria is located in West Africa bordering on the Gulf of Guinea, and lies between the Benin Republic and Cameroon. The country has a total of 923,770square km, 13,000square km of which is covered by water. The boundaries of Nigeria extended for 4,047 km and countries with co-joining borders include; the Benin Republic (in the South West), Cameroon (in the South East), the Republic of Chad (in the North East) and Niger Republic (in the North West). The three major ethnic groups are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Igbo. There are, however, other sizable ethnic groups which include Ijaw, Kanuri, Ibibio, Ogoni, Igbira, Jukun, Tiv etc. The major religious groups are Muslim, Christian and indigenous beliefs. The official language is English. This is as result of British colonisation that lasted for more than hundred years; whereas, the other languages associated with the three major ethnics groups are Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. These socio-cultural differences have separated Nigerians from each other and constitute one of the main factors militating against national integration. National integration is a process of creating a sense of national consciousness, uniqueness of identity and loyalty among people of different socio-cultural identities (racial, ethnic, language, religion, and so on) into a single territorial political society