Nigeria Information: Inside
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Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in Western Africa. The most populated country in Africa, Nigeria re-achieved democracy in 1999 after a sixteen-year interruption by a series of corrupt and brutal military dictators. From 1966 until 1999, Nigeria had been ruled (except the short-lived second republic, 1979-1983) by military dictators who seized (or attempted to seize) power in coups and counter-coups. Nigeria borders the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, Niger in the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the south. Major cities include the capital Abuja, the former capital Lagos, Ibadan, Calabar, Warri, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano, Kaduna, Onitsha, Nnewi, Jos, Ilọrin, Maiduguri, Aba, Bauchi, Owerri, Sokoto, and Benin City.

The country's name first appeared in print in The Times in 1897 and was suggested by the paper's colonial editor Flora Shaw who would later marry Frederick Lugard, the first Govenor General of the Amalgamated Nigeria. The name comes from a combination of the words "Niger" (the country's longest river) and "Area". Its adjective form is Nigerian, which should not be confused with Nigerien for Niger