Geography and Environment of Nigeria

Nigeria's 356,669 square miles stretch across several climatic regions: a narrow coastal belt of mangrove swamps; a somewhat wider section of rolling hills and tropical rain forests; a still larger dry central plateau, with open woodlands and savanna; and a strip of semi-desert on the fringes of the Sahel. Lagos is located in the coastal belt and Abuja is in the central plateau. The country's major geographical features are the Niger and Benue Rivers. The two rivers form the upper arms of a flattened letter Y, coming together in the south-central part of the country, and proceed due south as the Niger River, fanning out into a large and intricate delta as the waters reach the Gulf of Guinea. Most of Nigeria's oil deposits are found in the Niger delta or in the coastal waters. The country's highest peaks are in the eastern highlands bordering Cameroon, with elevations up to 7,936 feet. The most extensive upland area is the Jos Plateau in east-central Nigeria, a region 2000 to 4000 feet above sea level with elevations up to 5841 feet.

Detailed geography