The Big Heart
DELTA STATE
Geography
The state covers a landmass of about 18,050 km2 (6,970 sq mi), of which more than 60% is land. The state lies approximately between 5°00′ and 6°45′ E and 5°00′ and 6°30′ N.[15] It is geographically located in Nigeria’s midwest, bounded in the north and west by Edo State, the east by Anambra, Imo, and Rivers States, southeast by Bayelsa State, and on the southern extreme is the Bight of Benin which covers about 160 kilometres of the state’s coastline. Delta State is generally low-lying without any remarkable hills. The state has a wide coastal belt inter-lace with rivulets and streams, which form part of the Niger River Delta.
Politics & Economy
Arthur Okowa Ifeanyi, a member of the People’s Democratic Party, was elected Governor and chief executive of Delta State in April 2015. His deputy is Barr. Kingsley Otuaro. The state has three National Senatorial Districts (South, North and Central).
There are various solid mineral deposits within the state – industrial clay, silica, lignite, kaolin, tar sand, decorative rocks, limestone, etc. These are raw materials for industries such as brick-making, ceramics, bottle manufacturing, glass manufacturing, chemical/insulators production, chalk manufacturing and sanitary wares, decorative stone cutting and quarrying, but these minerals are under-utilized.
Delta state also has huge deposits of crude oil and is also one of the largest producers of petroleum products in Nigeria. Sales of petroleum products are what majorly drives its economy.
State History
Delta State was defined out of the former Bendel State on 27 August 1991. The state was actualized following agitations for the realization of a separate distinct state by the peoples of the old Delta Province. There was yet another state request proposed as “Anioma State” comprising the Asaba and Agbor divisions of the old Midwest region.[19] The then Military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, recognized Delta state but chose “Asaba” a prominent town within the “Northwestern Lower Niger” as the capital city. The proposed capital was virgin land in the heart of the two constituent divisions that constitute Northwestern Lower Niger. Delta state was once integrated into the Mid Western state from 1963 to 1976 and later Bendel state, from 1976 to 1991. The name “Bendel” (Ben-Del) was coined from the old Benin and Delta Provinces of Western Region-Delta to reflect the integration of Benin and Delta provinces.
