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Ethnicity In Nigeria

Decent Essays

Nigeria is part of the 16 countries in West Africa. Nigeria has different groups of ethnicity and has a population of about 186 million. Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups. The ethnic groups have different belief and practices (VANGUARD,2017). The country is well known for its oil natural resources which provides most of their gross domestic product. The largest groups are the Hausa in the north, the Yoruba in the southwest and the Igbo (or Ibo) in the southeast, who account for around a fifth of the population each. The languages of these three groups can therefore be used in government. Other large groups include the Ijaw in the east and the Fulani in the north. Nigeria is divided into 36 states. In this essay I will discuss the cultural in the northern states, southern states and other cultural practices strongly encourage.
In the 13 northern states, the vast majority of people are Muslim. The Hausa have been Muslims for almost a thousand years, having been converted to Islam by Arab traders and merchants from the 10th century. Sharia law was introduced into the northern Nigerian states from 2000. This is a code for how Muslims should lead their lives. It is thought to have been drawn up by Muslim scholars in the early centuries of Islam, with parts of it taken directly from the Koran. As in other countries, northern Nigeria uses the code as a basis for its criminal law. However, some of the harsher penalties, such as death-by-stoning for adultery, have never been

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