Geography · Lesson 13

Nigeria: location, relief, drainage, climate, vegetation & soils

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Regional Geography IV-A: Nigeria’s location and position, size, political divisions, peoples; physical setting (geology, relief, landforms, climate, drainage, vegetation, soils)

WAEC: Regional Geography of Nigeria: location, position, size and political divisions; physical setting: geology, relief, drainage, climate, vegetation and soils

NECO: Regional Geography of Nigeria: location, position, size and political divisions; physical setting: geology, relief, drainage, climate, vegetation and soils

What you will learn

Describe the location, position and size of Nigeria and name its neighbours.
State the political divisions of Nigeria and the main peoples.
Describe the geology of Nigeria and relate rock types to minerals.
Describe and explain the relief regions of Nigeria and name major highlands and lowlands.
Describe the drainage of Nigeria: river systems, basins, lakes and dams.
Explain the climate of Nigeria in terms of air masses, the ITD and the factors of climate, and describe the climatic regions.
Describe the vegetation belts of Nigeria and explain their distribution.
Describe the main soil types of Nigeria and their distribution.
Draw and label a sketch map of Nigeria to show physical features.

Key points

Nigeria lies about 4°N–14°N and 3°E–15°E; area 923,768 km²; 853 km coastline.
Neighbours: Benin (W), Niger (N), Chad (NE), Cameroon (E, longest boundary 1,975 km).
36 states + FCT Abuja, 774 LGAs, six geopolitical zones.
Geology: about half Basement Complex (gold, marble, iron ore); half sedimentary (oil, coal, lead–zinc, limestone); Younger Granites (tin).
Highlands: Jos Plateau (avg ≈1,280 m; Shere Hills ≈1,776 m), eastern highlands with Chappal Waddi ≈2,419 m (highest), Obudu, Mandara.
Lowlands: coastal lagoons and Niger Delta, Niger–Benue trough, Chad and Sokoto basins.
Drainage: Niger–Benue (meet at Lokoja), Chad inland, western and eastern coastal rivers.
Dams: Kainji 760 MW, Jebba 578 MW (Niger); Shiroro 600 MW, Zungeru 700 MW (Kaduna).
Climate is controlled by mT and cT air masses and the movement of the ITD.
Rainfall and wet-season length decrease northwards; the north has a larger temperature range.
Vegetation: mangrove, freshwater swamp, rainforest, derived, Guinea, Sudan and Sahel savanna, montane.
Soils: ferrallitic (forest), ferruginous (savanna), hydromorphic, alluvial and sandy soils.

Start here: Location, position and size

Imagine you are flying from Lagos to Maiduguri. In under two hours you cross mangrove creeks, thick forest, farmland with scattered trees, open grassland, and finally dry, sandy plains near Lake Chad. That journey is the story of this topic: Nigeria is a large country that stretches across several natural belts.

Absolute location: Nigeria lies approximately between latitudes 4°N and 14°N and longitudes 3°E and 15°E. (More precisely, about 4°16′N to 13°53′N and 2°40′E to 14°41′E; examiners accept the rounded values.)

Relative location (neighbours)

West: Republic of Benin.
North: Republic of Niger.
North-east: Chad (across Lake Chad).
East: Cameroon.
South: the Atlantic Ocean (the Gulf of Guinea, with the Bight of Benin and the Bight of Bonny/Biafra).

Size

Measure	Value (CIA World Factbook)
Total area	923,768 km² (land 910,768; water 13,000)
Land boundaries	4,477 km: Cameroon 1,975; Niger 1,608; Benin 809; Chad 85
Coastline	853 km

Nigeria is about 1,100 km from north to south and about 1,200 km from west to east at its widest (rounded). It is one of the largest countries in West Africa; only Niger and Mali are larger in area there. It is by far the most populous country in Africa.

Significance of the location

Entirely in the tropics, so temperatures are high all year (except on high plateaus).
The north–south extent of about 10° of latitude produces belts of climate, vegetation and soils, and therefore a variety of crops: tree crops in the south, grains and cotton in the north.
The coastline gives seaports (Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri, Calabar) and access to world trade and to offshore oil.
Being east of Greenwich, Nigeria is ahead of GMT; it uses West Africa Time (GMT + 1).

Worked example 13.1

Using 1° of latitude ≈ 111 km, estimate the north–south extent of Nigeria from 4°N to 14°N.

Difference in latitude = 14 − 4 = 10°.
10 × 111 = 1,110 km.

About 1,110 km

Worked example 13.2

Which neighbour shares the longest boundary with Nigeria, and which the shortest?

From the table: Cameroon 1,975 km is the largest value.
Chad 85 km is the smallest (the boundary is short and mostly in Lake Chad).

Longest: Cameroon; shortest: Chad

⚠️ Common mistake: writing that Nigeria borders Ghana or Togo. Benin lies between Nigeria and Togo; Ghana is further west still.

Try it yourself. Name the water body south of Nigeria.

Show solution

The Gulf of Guinea, part of the Atlantic Ocean.

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Practice questions

1. Nigeria lies approximately between latitudes

4°N and 14°N
0° and 10°N
10°S and 4°N
14°N and 24°N

Show answer

A: 4°N and 14°N
It lies wholly within the tropics.

2. Nigeria’s total area is about

356,669 km²
1.2 million km²
238,537 km²
923,768 km²

Show answer

D: 923,768 km²
CIA World Factbook figure.

3. The country bordering Nigeria to the west is

Chad
Niger
Benin
Cameroon

Show answer

C: Benin
Niger lies to the north and Cameroon to the east.

4. The highest point in Nigeria is

Obudu Plateau
Chappal Waddi
Shere Hills
Mount Cameroon

Show answer

B: Chappal Waddi
Chappal Waddi (2,419 m) is on the Mambilla–Gotel highlands near Cameroon.

5. The rivers Niger and Benue meet at

Lokoja
Onitsha
Jebba
Makurdi

Show answer

A: Lokoja
The confluence town is the capital of Kogi State.

Key words

Location: Where a place is, given by latitude and longitude (absolute) or by its neighbours (relative).
Basement Complex: Very old (Precambrian) crystalline igneous and metamorphic rocks, such as granite and gneiss, that underlie about half of Nigeria.
Sedimentary basin: A large depression filled with layers of sediments that became sedimentary rocks; e.g. the Niger Delta basin.
Younger Granites: Granite intrusions of Jurassic age, much younger than the Basement Complex, found mainly on the Jos Plateau and associated with tin and columbite.
Inselberg: An isolated steep-sided rock hill rising above a plain, e.g. Zuma Rock and Olumo Rock.
Escarpment: A long steep slope at the edge of a plateau.
Trough: A long, low, elongated depression; the Benue Trough is a rift-like basin followed by the River Benue.
Confluence: The point where two rivers meet, e.g. the Niger and Benue at Lokoja.
Delta: A low, fan-shaped area of deposits at a river mouth, crossed by many distributaries.
Distributary: A channel that branches away from the main river and does not return to it.
Inland drainage: Drainage into a lake or basin with no outlet to the sea, e.g. the Chad Basin.
Tropical continental air mass: Hot, dry, dusty air from the Sahara that brings the harmattan (cT).

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