Embassy Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria In Moscow Russian Federation
Independent Traveller - The major thrust of the policy is to make Nigeria a prominent tourism destination in Africa, generate overseas exchange, encourage even improvement, promote tourism-based rural enterprises, generate employment, speed up rural-urban integration and foster socio-cultural unity among the many numerous areas of the country by way of the promotion of domestic and worldwide tourism. It additionally goals at encouraging lively non-public sector participation in tourism growth.
Institutions
The following Institutional framework has been put in place to boost effective execution of the tourism coverage :
- The Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation.
- State ministries of Commerce and Tourism implement policies and directives from the Federal Ministry of Culture,Tourism and National Orientation.
- They initiate tasks for tourism development in the states.
- The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) is the apex tourism body liable for selling, advertising and disseminating information on the trade locally and internationally,via publication of hand books, brochures and general tips for the operation of the industry. Incentives for Investors The following incentives have been put in place to encourage home and foreign buyers' participation in the tourism business in Nigeria.
- The tourism sector was accorded most popular sector status similar to tax holidays, longer years of moratorium and import duty exemption on tourism-related tools.
- Establishment of a specialised training institute, National Institute for Hotels and Tourism Studies, Bagauda, Kano, where center degree manpower training is supplied.
- State governments are prepared and prepared to fascilitate aquisition of land by way of issuance of certificates of occupancy for tourism growth purposes.
- Some states have particular areas as tourism growth zones, thereby making acquisition of land easier.
Infrastructure
The combination of factors, both geographical and socio-cultural makes Nigeria a great vacationer destination in the continent of Africa. Nigeria, because of its measurement and physical location, spans several vegetational belts. The equitorial climate offers radiant sunshine a lot of the 12 months.
Airports and Airlines
There are airports in the major cities of Nigeria. several domestic airlines and main European and African airways combine to hyperlink Nigeria with the remainder of the world via the international airports in Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Abuja and Maidugiri.
Hotels and Restaurants
There are several good resorts in Nigeria, together with worldwide franchise chain resorts corresponding to Sheraton, Hilton and Meridien. Excellent restaurants offering a extensive range of selection in meals, drinks and entertainment are also in abundance within the major cities. The varied scorching dishes of ethnic cuisines are well patronised.
Beaches
Nigeria is bounded within the South by the Atlantic Ocean, which for about 800km washes the nation's sandy, shoreline. The numerous beaches are distinctive vacationer websites lined with coconut and palm groves, and Golf courses for recreation.
Introduction
Nigeria’s three largest ethnic groups, the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo, characterize 71 p.c of the population. Of the remaining 29 % of the population, about one-third consists of groups numbering more than 1 million members every. The remaining 300-plus ethnic groups account for the final one-fifth of the inhabitants.
The Hausa, concentrated within the far north are the most important of Nigeria's ethnic nations. Most Hausa are Muslims engaged in agriculture, commerce, and small-scale industry. While most live in smaller towns and villages, others occupy a quantity of bigger indigenous cities. Many folks of non-Hausa origin, together with the city-based Fulani, have become assimilated into the Hausa nation through inter-marriage and acculturation. Other Fulani proceed to rely upon their livestock and have retained their own language, Fulfulde, and cultural autonomy.
The Yoruba of south-western Nigeria incorporate seven subgroups— the Egba, Ekiti, Ife, Ijebu, Okun (Kabba), Ondo, and Oyo— each identified with a specific paramount chief and metropolis. The Ooni of Ife is the religious head of the Yoruba. There is a strong sense of Yoruba identity and the majority of Yorubas are educated farmers or traders who stay in giant cities of pre-colonial origin.
The Igbo of south-eastern Nigeria historically reside in small, impartial villages, every with an elected council rather than a chief. The Igbos have a very rich culture and are identified to be the best enterprise oriented group within the country.
Other giant ethnic groups embrace the Kanuri, centered in Borno State; the Tiv, from the Benue Valley near Makurdi; the Ibibio and Efik within the Calabar space; the Edo from the Benin area; and the Nupe, centered within the Bida space. Although small by Nigerian standards, each of those lesser groups has extra members than almost any of Africa's different ethnicities.
Language
Most Nigerians converse a couple of language. English, the nation's official language, is widely spoken, particularly amongst educated individuals. About four hundred native Nigerian languages have been recognized, and a few are threatened with extinction. The commonest of the native languages are Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. Other major languages include Fulfulde, Kanuri, Ibibio, Tiv, Efik, Edo, Ijo, and Nupe. The most widely used languages have a quantity of distinct regional dialects, and in some areas, such because the Jos Plateau and surrounding center belt, hundreds of small groups make for wide linguistic variations across brief distances. The two primary trade languages are pidgin, a distinct language in which English is mixed with native languages, and which is used commonly in the south, and Hausa, used largely in the north.
Religion
Islam, Christianity, and indigenous religions are central to how Nigerians determine themselves.In the late 19th century, Christianity grew to become established in southern Nigeria. In the Yoruba southwest, it was propagated by the Church of England, whereas in the Igbo southeast the Roman Catholic Church dominated. Today, near half of the south-western peoples and far more than half of the south-eastern peoples are Christians, normally alongside lines established by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist missionaries. Christianity is also widespread in the center belt, but it is virtually absent in the far north except amongst migrant populations.
In recent years, Protestant fundamentalism has grown, notably in the middle belt. Nigeria additionally has many impartial African churches, similar to Cherubim and Seraphim, which incorporate African cultural practices corresponding to drumming, dancing, and polygamy (marriage with a couple of wife) into Christianity.
Dominant within the north, Islam continues to spread, particularly in the middle belt and in south-western Nigeria. However, Islamic practices such as the seclusion of women and strict fasting are typically ardently observed only in northern cities. Islamic fundamentalists have increased in latest times, leading to clashes with other Muslims, with Christians, and with the state. The Nigerian government has achieved nice success in decreasing such clashes.
Nigerian society varies tremendously between city and rural areas, across ethnic and non secular borders, and with levels of schooling. Still, most Nigerians share a strong attachment to family and particularly to children, clearly differentiated roles for men and women, a hierarchical social construction, and the dominance of faith in shaping group values.
Polygamy is widely practiced amongst Muslims, among adherents of traditional religions, and among Christians who belong to impartial African church buildings. Among northern Muslims and in many extra conventional societies, most women enter family-arranged marriages close to the age of puberty. The daughters of more educated populations, particularly within the south, tend to marry when they are in their late teenagers or early twenties. Men usually marry at a later age, especially if they arrive from households which are unable to afford the high value of weddings and bride-price (payment given to the bride’s family by or on behalf of the longer term husband).
Social life has traditionally revolved round ceremonies: weddings, infants naming ceremonies, and public performances related to cultural and religious holidays. Young grownup males living in cities take pleasure in going to cinemas, dance golf equipment, and bars for recreation. Some Muslim girls, for example among the Hausa, have their very own social institutions revolving across the bori, a cult of spirit possession. Bori ceremonies provide women with a discussion board for interplay that is relatively free of male control, and provide explanations and cures that assist women cope with problems such because the dying of their youngsters.
Clothing in Nigeria symbolizes religious affiliation, wealth, and social standing. Northern Muslim men wear long, loose-fitting garments such because the kaftan, along with colourful embroidered hats or (among traditional officials) turbans. Most Yoruba males additionally put on elaborate robes and hats, somewhat different in style. Many Nigerians in the south wear casual Western-style dress. Women put on wrap-around clothes or attire, sometimes created from very colorful materials, and delightful head-ties which could be customary into elaborate patterns.
Diets vary regionally and between metropolis and country. Grain-based dishes such as tuwo da miya, a thick sorghum porridge eaten with a spicy, vegetable-based sauce, dominate the northern food plan. Dishes produced from root crops, similar to pounded yam and gari (a granular product created from cassava), are more prevalent in the south. Northerners eat extra meat, either in sauces or as kebabs generally known as tsire. Yogurt and soured milk (nono) produced by Fulani pastoralists kind an necessary part of rural northern diets. Modernization has made cheaper bulk food staples similar to cassava, maize (corn), rice, white bread, and pasta more and more important in both rural and urban areas. Muslims usually don't approve of consuming alcohol, especially northern Muslims, who tend to favor tea and gentle drinks. In the relaxation of the nation, it's common to drink commercially brewed beer or conventional drinks corresponding to beer made from sorghum or millet and palm wine. Kola nuts are used broadly as a stimulant, especially in the north.
Nigerians, notably youth, are avid sports fans and individuals, and by far probably the most beloved recreation is soccer, often known as football. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Nigeria's nationwide group received the gold medal. Several Nigerian footballers have achieved prominence playing professionally in Europe, and all main cities are represented in Nigeria's highly competitive nationwide football league. Nigerians have also excelled internationally at track and field, notably in short-distance races, and in boxing. Other well-liked sports activities are area hockey, basketball, table tennis and lawn tennis.
Arts and Literature
Nigerian arts mirror African, Islamic, and European influences. In northern Nigeria, Islam has shaped structure and calligraphy. As Islam traditionally forbids the illustration of people and animals, art forms corresponding to ceremonial carvings are just about absent in the north. In the south, indigenous peoples produced their own art long before Europeans arrived. Portuguese figures first appeared in Benin bronzes dating to the 16th century. Since the dawn of the colonial era, Western influences have challenged, threatened, and in sure ways enriched Nigerian tradition.
Nigeria's fashionable literature grows out of a tradition of story-telling and historic remembrance that has existed in Nigeria for millennia. Oral literature ranges from the proverbs and dilemma tales of the widespread individuals to elaborate stories memorized and performed by skilled praise-singers hooked up to royal courts. In states the place Islam prevailed, vital written literatures developed. The founder of the Sokoto caliphate, Usuman dan Fodio, wrote practically 100 texts in Arabic within the late 18th and early nineteenth centuries. His prose and poetry examined points such as good government and social relations from an Islamic moralist perspective. The legacy of this Islamic tradition is a widely learn modern literature comprised of spiritual and secular works, together with the Hausa-language poetry and tales of Alhaji Abubakar Imam.
In 1986 Nigerian Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Soyinka is a prolific creator of poetry, novels, essays, and performs that blend African themes with Western types. His uncompromising critiques of tyranny, corruption, and the abuse of human rights have usually angered Nigeria’s military rulers. One of his strongest books, The Man Died (1972), was written while Soyinka was imprisoned through the civil warfare of 1967 to 1970. Chinua Achebe, whose novels embody A Man of the People (1966) and No Longer at Ease (1960), is one other Nigerian author whose work commands a wide international audience. Other important novelists embrace Cyprian Ekwensi, Nkem Nwankwo, Elechi Amadi, Flora Nwapa, and Clement Ogunwa, who write principally in English. John Pepper Clark, Gabriel Okara, Christopher Okigbo, and Ken Saro-Wiwa are well-known poets.
Music and Dance
Virtually all Nigerian cultures have their own traditions of music and dance, which are central to the means in which Nigerians remember their past and celebrate their present. Songs and dances are played on drums, flutes, trumpets, stringed devices, xylophones, and thumb pianos, and are sometimes linked to specific places and occasions, such as the harvest. Although traditional music and dance continue in modern Nigeria especially in rural areas and on ceremonial events, their central place in Nigerian life is threatened by the spread of radios, tape recorders, video cassette recorders (VCRs), and different mass-culture media, particularly among youth. Sometimes, nevertheless, fashionable media enable musicians using conventional instruments and types to achieve a mass viewers.
Popular music in Nigeria started in the late Nineteen Forties with the arrival of highlife music from Ghana. Highlife blended Western sounds ranging from massive bands and guitars with African beats and devices. Among the leading early bands have been those of Rex Jim Lawson and Victor Olaiya. During the Nineteen Sixties and 1970s, King Sunny Ade and I. K. Dairo, amongst others, established a new fashion of music often identified as juju. A rhythmic dance music type, juju blends Western instruments with components of traditional African music. In the Eighties and Nineties Fela Anikulapo Kuti commanded a big following, both in Nigeria and internationally, with a form of Afro-Beat impressed by funk, jazz, and highlife and accompanied by provocative lyrics in Yoruba and pidgin. Popular music stars of latest years embrace Victor Waifo, Charlie (Boy) Oputa, Onyeka Onwenu, Christie Essien Igbokwe, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, Femi Kuti (Fela's son) and Lagbaja.
Theatre and Film
Contemporary theatre in Nigeria grows out of an extended custom of masquerades, festivals, and story-telling. Masquerades, which emphasised costume and dance somewhat than dialogue, were a key instrument of social management and political commentary, especially in conventional southeastern Nigerian cultures. In the southwest, Alarinjo, a court masquerade and professional well-liked theater, was common, particularly within the 14th century Oyo kingdom. The traditional Ozidi dramas of the southern Ijaw took three days and nights to carry out, after a quantity of years of rehearsal. The theatrical traditions of the northern Hausa, nonetheless practiced at present, embody the performances of traveling minstrels generally identified as 'yan kama' and public ceremonies of the bori spirit possession cult. Kwagh-hir, an amalgamation of traditional masquerades, puppet theatre, acrobatics, dancing, and music, is a modern adaptation of conventional Tiv theatre arts.
Culture and Arts
As a nation of diverse individuals and tradition, the various ethnic traits provide alternative for cultural tourism of compelling points of interest. Throughout Nigeria, there are cultural and historic sites which have been preserved. In many communities annual traditional festivals are held. There are well-known regattas and fishing festivals. Many areas of the nation are good in crafts, carvings and sculpture. Many museums exhibit the famous Benin and Ife bronzes and terra cota, conventional artwork, craft, music, dance and drama.
Investment Opportunities
The following particular investment potentials exist inside the country;
- Overland Safaris;
- National parks;
- Game and gorilla viewing;
- Deep sea recreational fishing;
- Lake and river fishing;
- Archaeological tours;
- Beach resorts and resorts;
- Transportation - water, land and air;
- Surfing and snorkelling;
- Theme parks and exposition centres.