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Updates: 

I've added a lot of detail, some by inference, to the pre-independence change history.

Nigerians have been discussing creating new states. There was talk of forming ten new states in 2011, but it hasn't led to action yet.

As of 2007-11-09, Nasarawa was spelled with one s on its own state government  site, but it was Nassarawa (double-s) in source [6] and elsewhere on the National Bureau of Statistics site. Google returned 62,300 hits for Nasarawa and 55,000 for Nassarawa. On the Nigeria Direct  site ("The Official Information Gateway of the Federal Republic of Nigeria"), it was spelled Nassarawa on the page devoted to that state; to get to that page, you had to select "Nasarawa state" on a cascading menu (under Government>States). I decided to stick with double-s because ISO and FIPS both had that spelling. However, now in 2011 the spelling seems to be stabilizing on one s.

The other spelling controversy is over the capital of Bayelsa, but there seems to be a clear majority for Yenagoa over Yenegoa.

FIPS Publication Change Notice No. 10, affecting FIPS PUB 10-4, was issued on 2006-03-23. It changes the name of Abuja Capital Territory to Federal Capital Territory.

Change Notice 4 to FIPS PUB 10-4 is dated 2000-02-25. It says that six new states have been created in Nigeria.

Update I-1 to ISO 3166-2 was published on 2000-06-21. It also shows the addition of the six new states.

Country overview: 

Short name	NIGERIA
ISO code	NG
FIPS code	NI
Language	English (en)
Time zone	+1
Capital	Abuja

 

In 1899, the Royal Niger Company surrendered its charter to the British Crown. On 1900-01-01, Great Britain created two protectorates: Northern Nigeria (most of the Company land), and Southern Nigeria (the rest of the Company land, merged with the Niger Coast Protectorate). The Colony and Protectorate of Lagos was a separate entity at that time. The parts became a single "colony and protectorate" on 1914-01-01. France and England seized Kamerun (Cameroon) from Germany during World War I. On 1922-07-20, part of Kamerun was mandated to Britain, which administered the mandate as part of Nigeria. Nigeria became independent on 1960-10-01. A plebiscite was held in the Cameroons, now a trust territory. The northern part chose to unite with Nigeria, effective 1962-06-01, while the southern part joined with the recently independent Cameroon Republic, effective 1961-10-01. On 1967-05-30, the Republic of Biafra (consisting of the Eastern and Mid-Western regions, recently reorganized) announced its secession from Nigeria, but the revolt was defeated by 1970, and Biafra never attained international recognition.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Nigeria
2. Dutch: Nigeria, Bondsrepubliek Nigeria (formal)
3. English: Federal Republic of Nigeria (formal)
4. Finnish: Nigeria
5. French: Nigéria, Nigeria m
6. German: Nigeria n
7. Icelandic: Nígería
8. Italian: Nigeria f
9. Norwegian: Forbundsrepublikken Nigeria (formal) (Bokmål), Sambandsrepublikken Nigeria (formal) (Nynorsk), Nigeria
10. Portuguese: Nigéria, República f Federal da Nigéria f (formal)
11. Russian: Федеративная Республика Нигерия (formal)
12. Spanish: Nigeria, República f Federal de Nigeria f (formal)
13. Swedish: Nigeria
14. Turkish: Nijerya Federal Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

Named for the Niger River, from Tamashek gher n-gheren: river among rivers

Primary subdivisions: 

Nigeria is divided into 36 states and one capital territory.

State	HASC	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Abia	NG.AB	NI45	2,833,999	4,857	1,875	Umuahia
Adamawa	NG.AD	NI35	3,168,101	37,957	14,655	Yola
Akwa Ibom	NG.AK	NI21	3,920,208	6,788	2,621	Uyo
Anambra	NG.AN	NI25	4,182,032	4,761	1,838	Awka
Bauchi	NG.BA	NI46	4,676,465	48,197	18,609	Bauchi
Bayelsa	NG.BY	NI52	1,703,358	9,363	3,615	Yenagoa
Benue	NG.BE	NI26	4,219,244	30,755	11,875	Makurdi
Borno	NG.BO	NI27	4,151,193	72,767	28,095	Maiduguri
Cross River	NG.CR	NI22	2,888,966	22,112	8,537	Calabar
Delta	NG.DE	NI36	4,098,391	17,095	6,600	Asaba
Ebonyi	NG.EB	NI53	2,173,501	6,342	2,449	Abakaliki
Edo	NG.ED	NI37	3,218,332	19,584	7,562	Benin City
Ekiti	NG.EK	NI54	2,384,212	5,797	2,238	Ado-Ekiti
Enugu	NG.EN	NI47	3,257,298	7,560	2,919	Enugu
Federal Capital Territory	NG.FC	NI11	1,405,201	7,569	2,922	Abuja
Gombe	NG.GO	NI55	2,353,879	17,428	6,729	Gombe
Imo	NG.IM	NI28	3,934,899	5,135	1,982	Owerri
Jigawa	NG.JI	NI39	4,348,649	23,415	9,041	Dutse
Kaduna	NG.KD	NI23	6,066,562	44,217	17,072	Kaduna
Kano	NG.KN	NI29	9,383,682	20,389	7,872	Kano
Katsina	NG.KT	NI24	5,792,578	23,822	9,198	Katsina
Kebbi	NG.KE	NI40	3,238,628	36,320	14,023	Birnin Kebbi
Kogi	NG.KO	NI41	3,278,487	29,063	11,221	Lokoja
Kwara	NG.KW	NI30	2,371,089	33,792	13,047	Ilorin
Lagos	NG.LA	NI05	9,013,534	3,475	1,342	Ikeja
Nassarawa	NG.NA	NI56	1,863,275	26,633	10,283	Lafia
Niger	NG.NI	NI31	3,950,249	72,065	27,824	Minna
Ogun	NG.OG	NI16	3,728,098	16,850	6,506	Abeokuta
Ondo	NG.ON	NI48	3,441,024	15,019	5,799	Akure
Osun	NG.OS	NI42	3,423,535	8,585	3,315	Oshogbo
Oyo	NG.OY	NI32	5,591,589	27,036	10,438	Ibadan
Plateau	NG.PL	NI49	3,178,712	26,539	10,247	Jos
Rivers	NG.RI	NI50	5,185,400	10,361	4,000	Port Harcourt
Sokoto	NG.SO	NI51	3,696,999	32,146	12,412	Sokoto
Taraba	NG.TA	NI43	2,300,736	59,180	22,850	Jalingo
Yobe	NG.YO	NI44	2,321,591	44,880	17,328	Damaturu
Zamfara	NG.ZA	NI57	3,259,846	33,667	12,999	Gusau
Total			140,003,542	911,519	351,938
State: Abuja Capital Territory is a capital territory. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the state codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Population: 2006-03-21 census provisional results. Area: Source [7].

Further subdivisions:

The states are subdivided into 774 local government areas.

Origins of names: 

1. Abia: acronym for the Aba, Bende, Isuikwuato, and Afikpo groups resident there when it was formed.
2. Adamawa: conquered by Moddibo (King) Adama in the early 19th century.
3. Bendel: from first syllables of the constituent provinces, Benin and Delta.
4. Benue: name of a river, means mother of waters.
5. Cross River: the Cross River flows through it.
6. Delta: located in the delta of the Niger River.
7. Enugu: from the capital, whose name means "top of the hill".
8. Plateau: contains the Jos Plateau.
9. Rivers: riddled with rivers, mostly in the delta of the Niger River.
10. Taraba: after the Taraba River.

Change history: 

1. 1903: Sultanate of Sokoto merged with protectorate of Northern Nigeria.
2. 1906-02: The "colony and protectorate of Lagos" and the "protectorate of Southern Nigeria" merged to form the "colony and protectorate of Southern Nigeria".
3. ~1938: Southern Nigeria split into Eastern and Western regions. Northern Nigeria became a region. The regions were further subdivided into provinces.
4. ~1947: Name of Warri province changed to Delta; Yola changed to Adamawa; Nupe changed to Niger. Ibadan province split from Oyo; Katsina province formed from parts of Sokoto and Zaria; Rivers province split from Owerri.

Region	Pop-1953	Pop-1931	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Eastern	7,217,829	4,315,695	76,363	29,484	Enugu
Northern	16,153,333	11,434,924	684,487	264,282	Kaduna
Western	6,359,717	3,802,680	117,593	45,403	Ibadan

 

Province	Pop-1953	Pop-1931	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Reg
Abeokuta	630,000	434,526	11,049	4,266	Abeokuta	W
Adamawa	3,558,000	652,361	53,926	20,821	Yola	N
Bauchi	1,424,000	1,025,310	67,650	26,120	Bauchi	N
Benin	901,000	493,215	21,968	8,482	Benin	W
Benue		987,358	72,344	27,932	Makurdi	N
Bornu		1,118,360	105,112	40,584	Maiduguri	N
Calabar	1,541,000	899,503	16,174	6,245	Calabar	E
Colony	510,000	325,020	3,577	1,381	Lagos	W
Delta	591,000	444,533	16,680	6,440	Warri	W
Ibadan	1,651,000		11,709	4,521		W
Ijebu	348,000	305,898	6,361	2,456	Ijebu-Ode	W
Ilorin	531,000	537,559	45,892	17,719	Ilorin	N
Kabba	664,000	462,726	28,368	10,953	Lokoja	N
Kano	3,398,000	2,436,844	43,072	16,630	Kano	N
Katsina	1,483,000		24,517	9,466		N
Niger	716,000	473,067	74,245	28,666	Minna	N
Ogoja	1,082,000	708,538	19,386	7,485	Ogoja	E
Ondo	945,000	462,560	21,139	8,162	Akure	W
Onitsha	1,769,000	1,107,745	12,631	4,877	Onitsha	E
Owerri	2,078,000	1,599,909	10,021	3,869	Port Harcourt	E
Oyo	783,000	1,336,928	25,110	9,695	Oyo	W
Plateau	892,000	568,738	32,183	12,426	Jos	N
Rivers	748,000		18,151	7,008		E
Sokoto	2,681,000	1,815,178	94,475	36,477	Sokoto	N
Zaria	806,000	1,357,423	42,704	16,488	Zaria	N
Total	29,730,879	19,553,299	878,444	339,169
Pop-1953: Census of 1952-07 to 1953-06 (source [9]). Populations of Benue and Bornu included in Adamawa. Pop-1931: Source [8]. Area: Source [9]. Reg: Region (E = Eastern, N = Northern, W = Western).

1. 1960-10-01: Constitution of the Federation of Nigeria came into force. The divisions of the country were the three regions. Note: the federal territory around Lagos was an entity both before and after independence, but it's not clear whether it was ranked equally with the regions, or was simply part of Western region.
2. 1962-06-01: Northern Cameroons merged with Northern region.
3. 1963-06: Benin and Delta provinces split from Western region to form Mid-Western region (capital, Benin City).
4. 1966-05-24: Following a coup, the military government changed the status of Nigeria to a republic, its regions to provinces, and Lagos federal territory to a capital territory; however, these changes were reversed after another coup later in the year.
5. 1967-05-27: Eastern region split into East-Central (Enugu), Rivers (Port Harcourt), and South-Eastern (Calabar) states; Northern region split into Benue-Plateau (Jos), Kano (Kano), Kwara (Ilorin), North-Central (Kaduna), North-Eastern (Maiduguri), and North-Western (Sokoto) states; Western region split into Lagos (Lagos) and Western (Ibadan) states. Lagos state consisted of Colony province and Lagos federal territory. Status of Mid-Western region changed to state.
6. 1976-02-03: Benue-Plateau state divided into Benue (Makurdi) and Plateau states; East-Central state divided into Anambra and Imo (Owerri) states; Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) formed from parts of Niger and Plateau states; North-Eastern state divided into Bauchi (Bauchi), Borno, and Gongola (Yola) states; Niger (Minna) state split from Sokoto; Western state divided into Ogun (Abeokuta), Ondo (Akure), and Oyo states. Capital of Lagos state moved from Lagos to Ikeja. Also, state boundaries were adjusted: Igala (east of the Niger River) transferred from Kwara to Benue state; Ughelli transferred from Mid-Western to Rivers state; Opobo transferred from South-Eastern to Rivers state. Also, name of Mid-Western state changed to Bendel; name of South-Eastern state changed to Cross River.
7. 1987-09-23: Akwa Ibom state (FIPS code NI21) split from Cross River (NI22, formerly NI09); Katsina state (NI24) split from Kaduna (NI23, formerly NI14); name of Federal Capital Territory changed to Abuja Capital Territory.
8. 1991-08-27: Abia state split from Imo; Bendel state divided into Delta and Edo; Enugu state split from Anambra; Gongola state divided into Adamawa and Taraba; Jigawa state split from Kano; Kebbi state split from Sokoto; Kogi state formed from parts of Benue and Kwara; Osun state split from Oyo; Yobe state split from Borno. National capital moved from Lagos to Abuja. These were the divisions of Nigeria as a result:

State	HASC	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Abia	NG.AB	NI34	2,297,978	6,320	2,440	Umuahia
Abuja Capital Territory	NG.FC	NI11	378,671	7,315	2,824	Abuja
Adamawa	NG.AD	NI35	2,124,049	36,917	14,254	Yola
Akwa Ibom	NG.AK	NI21	2,359,736	7,081	2,734	Uyo
Anambra	NG.AN	NI25	2,767,903	4,844	1,870	Awka
Bauchi	NG.BA	NI06	4,294,413	64,605	24,944	Bauchi
Benue	NG.BE	NI26	2,780,398	34,059	13,150	Makurdi
Borno	NG.BO	NI27	2,596,589	70,898	27,374	Maiduguri
Cross River	NG.CR	NI22	1,865,604	20,156	7,782	Calabar
Delta	NG.DE	NI36	2,570,181	17,698	6,833	Asaba
Edo	NG.ED	NI37	2,159,848	17,802	6,873	Benin City
Enugu	NG.EN	NI38	3,161,295	12,831	4,954	Enugu
Imo	NG.IM	NI28	2,485,499	5,530	2,135	Owerri
Jigawa	NG.JI	NI39	2,829,929	23,154	8,940	Dutse
Kaduna	NG.KD	NI23	3,969,252	46,053	17,781	Kaduna
Kano	NG.KN	NI29	5,632,040	20,131	7,773	Kano
Katsina	NG.KT	NI24	3,878,344	24,192	9,341	Katsina
Kebbi	NG.KE	NI40	2,062,226	36,800	14,209	Birnin-Kebbi
Kogi	NG.KO	NI41	2,099,046	29,833	11,519	Lokoja
Kwara	NG.KW	NI30	1,566,469	36,825	14,218	Ilorin
Lagos	NG.LA	NI05	5,685,781	3,345	1,292	Ikeja
Niger	NG.NI	NI31	2,482,367	76,363	29,484	Minna
Ogun	NG.OG	NI16	2,338,570	16,762	6,472	Abeokuta
Ondo	NG.ON	NI17	3,884,485	20,959	8,092	Akure
Osun	NG.OS	NI42	2,203,016	9,251	3,572	Oshogbo
Oyo	NG.OY	NI32	3,488,789	28,454	10,986	Ibadan
Plateau	NG.PL	NI19	3,283,704	58,030	22,406	Jos
Rivers	NG.RI	NI10	3,983,857	21,850	8,436	Port-Harcourt
Sokoto	NG.SO	NI33	4,392,391	65,735	25,380	Sokoto
Taraba	NG.TA	NI43	1,480,590	54,473	21,032	Jalingo
Yobe	NG.YO	NI44	1,411,481	45,502	17,568	Damaturu
31 divisions			88,514,501	923,768	356,668
State: Abuja is a capital territory. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 1991-11-26 census

1. 1996-10-01: Bayelsa state was split from Rivers; Ebonyi state was formed from parts of Abia and Enugu; Ekiti state was split from Ondo; Gombe state was split from Bauchi; Nassarawa state was split from Plateau; and Zamfara state was split from Sokoto.
2. 2006-06-12: Bakassi Peninsula (about 700 km.²) transferred from Cross River state, Nigeria, to Sud-Ouest region, Cameroon, in fulfillment of a 2002 decision by the International Court of Justice.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Federal Capital Territory: Abuja Capital Territory (variant); Abuya (Spanish-obsolete); Territoire de la capitale fédérale (French); Territorio de la Capital Federal (Spanish)
2. Nassarawa: Nasarawa (variant)
3. Rivers: Rivières (French)

Sources: 

1. [1] Library of Congress country study .
2. [2] Annual Abstract of Statistics (1996 edition). Federal Office of Statistics, Lagos, Nigeria.
3. [3] Barbour, K. Michael, et al. "Nigeria in Maps". Africana Publishing Company, N.Y., 1982.
4. [4] Geography  page of the Motherland Nigeria educational website (retrieved 2010-12-18).
5. [5] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).
6. [6] 2006 Population Census (http://www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/Connections/Pop2006.pdf, dead link, retrieved 2007-11-09).
7. [7] Nigeria Congress website (http://www.nigeriacongress.org/, dead link, retrieved 2007-11-09).
8. [8] Webster's New Geographical Dictionary. G. & C. Merriam, Springfield, MA, 1969. Says it lists the provinces as of 1940.
9. [9] The Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition.