Nigeria 

Key facts

POPULATION (Census 2006): 140,431,790
AREA: 923,768 sq km
CAPITAL: Abuja
LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTION TO GDP: -
CURRENCY: naira (NGN)
HEAD OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT: President Goodluck Jonathan
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: republic
PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM: bicameral
STATE STRUCTURE: federal
LANGUAGES: English (official) Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba Edo, Efik, Fulani, Idoma, Ijaw, Kanuri (recognised).
NATIONAL ELECTIONS: last: 2007; turnout: 57.5%; next: 2011
LOCAL ELECTIONS vary from state to state.

Summary

Nigeria is a federal republic with three spheres of government; federal (central), state and local. Democratically elected local government is protected by provisions of the constitution while development areas and autonomous communities are created by individual state legislation. At the state level, the relevant ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs or bureau of local government affairs is responsible for the administration of the state-level Acts governing local authorities. Local government exists in a single tier across all states. There are 768 local government authorities (LGAs) and six area councils. The funds raised by taxes are collected by all levels of government, with local government being responsible for collecting licence fees for haulage, trade and motor vehicles. All revenue collected is pooled into the Federal Account which is in turn split across the three spheres of government, approximately 20.60% is for local government. The core functions of local government include pre-school, primary and adult education; public health; town planning; roads and transport; and waste disposal.

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Additional information since publication:

National elections were held in April 2011, the results are avaliable at the INdependant National Election commission: www.inecnigeria.org/results/gubernatorial