Did You Know
Did You Know
Explore Hidden Facts About Nigeria
73
The oldest fossil remains found in Nigeria (believed to date to 9000BCE) were excavated near Akure, the capital of Ondo State.
74
The first female professor of law in West Africa was Jadesola Akande. She also served as the Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University.
75
Nigeria is home to 4,715 different types of plant species.
76
In 1858, William Broughton Davies became the first Nigerian to qualify as a medical doctor.
77
Peter and Paula Imafidon, twins who at the age of eight passed the University of Cambridge’s A Level Mathematics examination (the youngest to do so), are Nigerian.
78
Nnamdi Azikiwe served as a spokesperson for Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War.
79
Mungo Park, who is believed to be the first Westerner to have explored the central region of the River Niger, is buried in Jebba, Kwara State.
80
James Nwoye Adichie (Chimamanda Adichie's father) was the first Nigerian professor of statistics.
81
While at Government College, Umuahia, Achebe’s reading habits were so excessive the principal had to ban the reading of textbooks between five and six o’clock in the afternoon because of him.
82
Margaret Ekpo was the first woman to win a seat in the Eastern Regional House of Assembly in 1961.
83
The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was partly a rejoinder to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
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Achebe was awarded the first ever Nigerian National Merit Award in October 1979.
85
Nnamdi Azikiwe was selected to represent Nigeria in the British Empire Games of 1934 but was boycotted by South Africa for renouncing his English name “Benjamin”.
86
Bunmi Awoniyi is the first Nigerian to be appointed a Superior Court judge in the US. She was appointed to the Sacramento Superior County Court in California.
87
The Sokoto Caliphate (1804 – 1903), established by Shehu Usman dan Fodio, was the longest-lasting theocracy in West Africa.
88
"Boycott the Boycottables" was a famous slogan coined by Mazi Mbonu Ojike used to rally Nigerians nationalists against the colonial masters.
89
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka was Nigeria's first indigenous university. It was founded in 1955 and modelled on the American university education system.
90
The first secular secondary school set up in Nigeria was the Mayflower School. It was established by writer and educator Tai Solarin on January 27, 1956.
91
In 1961, Latunde Odeku became the first US-trained black neurosurgeon and the first professor in that field in Nigeria.
92
Western Nigerian Television (WNTV), the first television station in Africa, was established by Obafemi Awolowo on Oct 1, 1959.
93
Dominic Cardinal Ekanem was the first Nigerian to be installed as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He became a cardinal in April 1976.
94
Ola Orekunrin, MD of Flying Doctors Nigeria, is the youngest person to qualify as a doctor in the United Kingdom. She gained her degree at the age of 21.
95
By land mass, Niger State is the largest in Nigeria
96
January 20 is the feast day of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, a noted Catholic priest of Igbo descent.
