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50 free Nigeria trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, home to more than 240 million people, 250 ethnic groups and 500 languages, the continent's biggest city, its second-largest film industry in the world and the music that now fills global charts. This quiz covers the geography (Lagos and Abuja, the Niger and Benue, the Delta, Chappal Waddi, the 36 states), the pre-colonial states (Nok, Nri, Ife, Oyo, Benin, Kanem-Bornu and the Sokoto Caliphate), and the modern history from Flora Shaw's coining of the name and Lugard's 1914 amalgamation through independence on 1 October 1960, the coups of 1966, Biafra, the oil boom, Abacha and the return of democracy in 1999. Culture gets its due: Nollywood and Living in Bondage, Fela Kuti's Afrobeat and today's Afrobeats stars, jollof rice and the rivalry with Ghana, Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka's Nobel, Nigerian Pidgin, the Super Eagles' Olympic gold in Atlanta, the green-white-green flag designed by a student and the anthem restored in 2024. Easy questions ask which city is largest; hard ones want the year Abuja became capital and the battle where Ibadan halted the Sokoto jihad. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Nigeria, Lagos, Abuja, Nollywood, Fela Kuti, jollof rice, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, the flag and the national football team, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital of Nigeria?
Abuja
It replaced Lagos as capital on 12 December 1991.
Q 02What is Nigeria's largest city?
Lagos
Its metropolitan area is among the largest in the world.
Q 03Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and ranks where in the world?
Sixth
Its population passed 242 million.
Q 04How many states make up the Nigerian federation, alongside the Federal Capital Territory?
36
Five cities have more than a million people: Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Benin City and Port Harcourt.
Q 05Which three ethnic groups together make up over 60 percent of Nigerians?
Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo
The country has more than 250 ethnic groups speaking 500 languages.
Q 06What is the official language of Nigeria?
English
Nigerian Pidgin, born in the slave-trade era, serves as a widespread lingua franca.
Q 07Who coined the name Nigeria in 1897?
Journalist Flora Shaw
Rejected alternatives included Niger Sudan and Hausa Territories.
Q 08Which culture, thriving from about 1500 BC, is among the region's earliest civilisations?
Nok
It is famous for its terracotta figures.
Q 09The Kingdom of Nri, considered the foundation of which people's culture, lasted until 1911?
The Igbo
The oldest lost-wax bronzes in West Africa come from Igbo-Ukwu, a city under its influence.
Q 10Which Yoruba city-state, developed by the 8th century, is famed for its terracotta and bronze heads?
Ile Ife
Oyo rose to prominence later and stretched its influence to modern Togo.
Q 11Usman dan Fodio's jihad against the Hausa kingdoms in the early 19th century established what?
The Sokoto Caliphate
By the 1890s it held about two million slaves and was one of Africa's largest pre-colonial states.
Q 12At which battle did the Yoruba forces of Ibadan halt the Sokoto jihad's push into Yorubaland?
Osogbo
The caliphate had already swallowed parts of the old Oyo Empire.
Q 13Britain annexed which port as a crown colony in August 1861?
Lagos
It had bombarded the town in 1851 to depose the slave-trading Oba Kosoko.
Q 21Nigeria joined OPEC in which year, during its 1970s oil boom?
1971
Oil revenues made the federal government the centre of political struggle.
Q 22Who was the first Nigerian head of state to voluntarily hand power to a civilian?
Olusegun Obasanjo
He handed over to Shehu Shagari in 1979 and later won the presidency himself in 1999.
Q 23Which dictator's regime hanged writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995?
Sani Abacha
The execution got Nigeria suspended from the Commonwealth.
Q 24Stable multiparty democracy returned to Nigeria in which year?
Q 14Which British general conquered the northern caliphate in 1903 and later united Nigeria's protectorates?
Frederick Lugard
He kept the title of sultan as a symbolic post under indirect rule.
Q 15The Northern and Southern Protectorates were merged into one Nigeria in which year?
1914
The amalgamation took effect on 1 January.
Q 16Nigeria became independent on which date?
1 October 1960
Elizabeth II remained head of state as Queen of Nigeria.
Q 17Who was Nigeria's first prime minister at independence?
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
Azikiwe led the NCNC and Awolowo the opposition Action Group.
Q 18Which part of Nigeria declared itself the independent Republic of Biafra in May 1967?
The East
Lt Col Emeka Ojukwu proclaimed it after pogroms against Igbos in the north.
Q 19How long did the Nigerian Civil War last?
30 months
It began on 6 July 1967 and ended in January 1970 after a long blockade of Biafra.
Q 20Which two powers were the main military backers of the Nigerian government during the civil war?
The UK and the Soviet Union
France and Israel aided Biafra, and Egyptian pilots flew for the federal side.
1999
General Abdulsalami Abubakar adopted a new constitution on 5 May that year.
Q 25Which Islamist group kidnapped the Chibok schoolgirls in 2014?
Boko Haram
The abduction came during Goodluck Jonathan's presidency.
Q 26Who was inaugurated as Nigeria's president on 29 May 2023?
Bola Tinubu
He won a disputed election with about 36 percent of the vote.
Q 27In 2024 Nigeria reinstated which national anthem, used from 1960 to 1978?
We Hail Thee
It replaced Arise, O Compatriots.
Q 28What is the highest point in Nigeria?
Chappal Waddi
It rises to 2,419 metres near the Cameroon border.
Q 29Which two great rivers converge in the country and empty into the great southern delta?
The Niger and the Benue
The Delta is the country's main oil-producing region.
Q 30The forests around Calabar are believed to hold the world's largest diversity of what?
Butterflies
Cross River State lies in the south-east.