The surface features of land above and below the sea level are described as Relief. Therefore, the relief of Nigeria can be divided into The Lowlands & The Highlands
THE LOWLANDS
The lowlands relief of Nigeria lies along the coasts and valleys of the main rivers. The lowlands relief is below 300m above sea level. It is however subdivided into coastal plains, Niger-Benue trough, Sokoto plain, Chad basin, Niger Delta and Cross River basin.
Lowlands are very rich in soil nutrients and very fertile for agricultural practices.
Level lowlands are also very good for human settlement and fishing, which provides protein for man.
THE HIGHLAND
The highlands reliefs of Nigeria are the North Central Plateau, the Eastern Highlands, the Western uplands, etc. This relief system is above 300m above sea level.
The North Central Plateau is within the center of Northern Nigeria, which covers about one-fifth of the area. Here, the old hard rocks are found on the surface. They are called the basement complex rock. Note that there are two platforms the North central plateau namely –
- The plains of Hausa land, which has an average elevation of 750m, and
- the Jos plateau, which is the highest platform with an average elevation of 1800m.
The Eastern Highlands lie within Nigeria and Cameroon border fringe. This highland covers the highest zone in Nigeria and it consists of the Obudu Plateau (1200m). Oban hills (1200m), the Biu Plateau (800-1200m), etc.
The Western Uplands cover one-tenth of the country area. Most of the upland area lies between 300-600m. The highest part of the western upland is the ldanre Hills which covers about 1000 meters above sea level.