general assessment: an inadequate system, further limited by poor maintenance; major expansion is required and a start has been made
domestic: intercity traffic is carried by coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, a domestic communications satellite system with 19 earth stations, and a coastal submarine cable; mobile cellular facilities and the Internet are available
international: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean); coaxial submarine cable SAFE (South African Far East)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 83, FM 36, shortwave 11 (2001)
Radios:
23.5 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
3 (the government controls 2 of the broadcasting stations and 15 repeater stations) (2002)
total: 3,557 km
narrow gauge: 3,505 km 1.067-m gauge
standard gauge: 52 km 1.435-m gauge
note: years of neglect of both the rolling stock and the right-of-way have seriously reduced the capacity and utility of the system; a project to restore Nigeria's railways is now underway (2001)
Highways:
total: 193,200 km
paved: 59,892 km (including 1,194 km of expressways)
note: many of the roads reported as paved may be graveled; because of poor maintenance and years of heavy freight traffic - in part the result of the failure of the railroad system - much of the road system is barely usable (2001)
unpaved: 133,308 km
Waterways:
8,575 km
note: consisting of the Niger and Benue rivers and smaller rivers and creeks
Pipelines:
crude oil 2,042 km; petroleum products 3,000 km; natural gas 500 km
Ports and harbors:
Calabar, Lagos, Onne, Port Harcourt, Sapele, Warri
Merchant marine:
total: 43 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 331,094 GRT/614,171 DWT
note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Bulgaria 1, Greece 1, Norway 1, Pakistan 1, Togo 1, United States 1 (2002 est.)
ships by type: bulk 1, cargo 7, chemical tanker 4, petroleum tanker 29, roll on/roll off 1, specialized tanker 1
Airports:
70 (2001)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 36
over 3,047 m: 7
2,438 to 3,047 m: 10
914 to 1,523 m: 6
under 914 m: 3 (2002)
1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 34
1,524 to 2,437 m: 3
914 to 1,523 m: 13
under 914 m: 18 (2002)
Nigeria disputes several villages with Benin along the Okpara River, and only 35 km of their common boundary are demarcated; the Benin-Niger-Nigeria tripoint remains undemarcated; Lake Chad Basin Commission urges signatories Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria to ratify delimitation treaty over lake region, the site of continuing armed clashes; oral arguments on the land and maritime boundary disputes between Cameroon and Nigeria were presented to the ICJ; disputes center around Bakasi Peninsula, where armed clashes continue, Bouram Island on Lake Chad, and the maritime boundary and economic zone dispute in the Gulf of Guinea, which also involves Equatorial Guinea; Nigeria requests and Chad rejects redemarcation of boundary, which lacks clear demarcation in sections and has caused several cross-border incidents
Illicit drugs:
a transit point for heroin and cocaine intended for European, East Asian, and North American markets; safehaven for Nigerian narcotraffickers operating worldwide; major money-laundering center; massive corruption and criminal activity, along with unwillingness of the government to address the deficiencies in its anti-money-laundering regime make money laundering a major problem