State · 1963 – present
Nigeria
A state of 1963 – present — 63 years, still standing in sub-Saharan Africa. It replaced Federation of Nigeria and followed British Cameroons. The atlas records 41 things within it — wars and battles 5 · regime change 1 · unrest and atrocity 12 · famine and plague 1 · natural disasters 5 · people 17. Its line of rulers holds 14 people.
- Still standing: the span runs to the year of the build, 2026.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 63 years
- and still standing
- Rulers
- 14
- the President of Nigeria
- Most ground
- 914,700 km²
- in 1969
- Within it
- 41
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 2
- on record, with years
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- British Cameroons · follows · 1919 – 1961
- Federation of Nigeria · replaces · 1960 – 1963
Rulers
The line of President of Nigeria - the office this state names as its head of state.
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nnamdi Azikiwe | 1963 – 1966 | 3 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi | 1966 – 1966 | under a year | killedWikidata's manner of death | |
| Yakubu Gowon | 1966 – 1975 | 9 years | ending not on record | |
| Murtala Muhammed | 1975 – 1976 | 1 year | killedWikidata's manner of death | |
| Olusegun Obasanjo | 1976 – 1979 | 3 years | ending not on record | |
| Shehu Shagari | 1979 – 1983 | 4 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Muhammadu Buhari | 1983 – 1985 | 2 years | deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Ibrahim Babangida | 1985 – 1993 | 8 years | ending not on record | |
| Ernest Shonekan | 1993 – 1993 | under a year | deposed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Sani Abacha | 1993 – 1998 | 5 years | died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone | |
| Abdulsalami Abubakar | 1998 – 1999 | 1 year | ending not on record | |
| Olusegun Obasanjo | 1999 – 2007 | 8 years | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Umaru Musa Yar'Adua | 2007 – 2010 | 3 years | died in office of natural causesWikidata's manner of death | |
| Goodluck Jonathan | 2010 – 2015 | 5 years | ending not on record | |
| Muhammadu Buhari | 2015 – 2023 | 8 years | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Bola Tinubu | 2023 – in office | in office since 2023 | still in office |
14 rulers, 14 with terms dated as terms, covering 1963 – 2023. Median reign 3 years. 8 of 15 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 0.97, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Ground held, by year
km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.
914,600 km² in 1963, 914,700 km² in 2023; at its largest 914,700 km² in 1973. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.
flag, from 1960Flag of Nigeria · Public domain 
coat of arms, from 1960Coat of arms of Nigeria · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lumia1234
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1900 – 199921 rows · 2 wars and battles · 2 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Muhammadu Buhari · ruler · 1942 – 2025
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie · writer · 1977 – present
- Goodluck Jonathan · ruler · 1957 – present
- Umaru Musa Yar'Adua · ruler · 1951 – 2010
- Olusegun Obasanjo · ruler · 1937 – present
- Bola Tinubu · ruler · 1952 – present
- Sani Abacha · ruler · 1943 – 1998
- Nnamdi Azikiwe · ruler · 1904 – 1996
and 13 more in the atlas.
2000 – 209920 rows · 3 wars and battles · 11 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Boko Haram insurgency · unrest · 2009
- Conflict in the Niger Delta · war · 2003
- End SARS · unrest · 2020
- COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria · plague · 2020
- 2015 Baga massacre · atrocity · 2015
- Nigerian bandit conflict · war · 2011
- 2022 Zamfara massacres · atrocity · 2022
- 2023 Plateau State massacres · atrocity · 2023
and 12 more in the atlas.
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood63 years
stood longer than 38% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- The most ground it held914,700 km²
held more ground at its peak than 83% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
- Wars recorded per century4.0
had more wars on record per century than 99% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- How long a reign lasted, at the median3 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 9% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
- Rulers on record14
has more rulers on record than 87% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 6 causes the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1953 – 2036, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1969, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q1033 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.