About NigeriaBase

NigeriaBase is a structured reference to Nigeria: its states and regions, its peoples and languages, and the food, festivals and customs that fill ordinary life. One subject, one entry, written at useful length and connected to everything related to it.

What this is

Most reference material sits in isolation. You read about a state and learn nothing about the people who live in it; you read about a dish and are handed a recipe with no sense of where it belongs or who eats it at what moment. Here, every page links to the pages around it. A reader who arrives at Kano can follow the thread to the Hausa, to the Hausa language, to the Durbar, and back out to the North West as a region. Following a thread is the point. Hunting through disconnected articles is what this site exists to replace.

Why it exists

The information is not missing. It is scattered across academic monographs, government gazettes, newspaper features, personal blogs and encyclopaedia stubs of wildly uneven quality — and most of it is written for readers who already know the context. An article will name a title, a masquerade or a cooking method as though everyone understands it.

NigeriaBase assumes no prior knowledge. Terms are explained where they first appear, and the harder ones are collected in the glossary. Nothing here requires you to already be Nigerian, already be an anthropologist, or already know which of the six geopolitical zones a state sits in.

What it is not

It is not a news site: nothing here tracks events, elections or markets. It is not a recipe site: food entries explain what a dish is, where it comes from and how it is eaten, not how many cups of anything to use. It is not a government source: for population figures, administrative boundaries and official statistics, the National Bureau of Statistics and the National Population Commission are the authorities, and this site says so rather than pretending otherwise. It is not an academic journal: there is no original field research here, and no claim to any.

How it is written

Plain language, short sentences, no decoration. Contested facts are presented as contested — where two accounts of an origin or two estimates of a population compete, the entry gives both rather than quietly choosing. Living practice is described in the present tense, because it is living. Nothing is invented to fill a gap: where a fact could not be established, the section is simply absent. The full working method is set out in sources and methodology.

Every entry carries the date it was last checked, so you can judge for yourself how fresh it is.

Where to start

The explore page is the shortest route into the material. Otherwise, pick a section and follow the links.

Tell us when we are wrong

This is the part that matters. If an entry misstates your state, your people or your language — or flattens something that deserves more care — say so. Corrections from people who know the subject are the fastest way this site improves, and they are acted on rather than filed. Send a correction.