Medical genetics and genomic medicine in Nigeria

Nigeria is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. It has a land area of 910,768 square kilometers and a water area of 13,000 square kilometers. Archeological research indicates that the geographical area that is currently Nigeria was inhabited as early as 11,000 BC and probably earlier (Harvati et al., 2011; Shaw & Daniells, 1984). The earliest identified Nigerian culture is the Nok culture that thrived between 1500 BC and 200 AD on the Jos Plateau in northeastern Nigeria. Arab traders arrived in Northern Nigeria by the 9th century AD, while the first Europeans were Portuguese explorers who arrived in southern Nigeria in the 1470s. Nigeria was a British colony from the early 1900s until she gained independence in 1960. Administratively, the country comprises of 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The climate varies ranging from equatorial in the south to tropical in the center and arid in the north. Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa with its source of foreign exchange and government earnings coming largely from the oil sector. The country is classified as a lower middle income country and it has an estimated GDP per capita of $5,900 (Indexmundi, 2018). Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world with an estimated population of 182 million people and an annual population growth rate of 3.5% (National Population Commission 2018). Due to the high fertility rate, the population is quite young and more than half of the population is