The Confluence state
KOGI STATE
Geography
Kogi State is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by the states of Ekiti and Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, to the northeast by Nasarawa State, to the northwest by Niger State, to the southwest by the states of Edo and Ondo, to the southeast by the states of Anambra and Enugu, and to the west by Benue State as being the only state in Nigeria to border ten other states. Named for the Hausa word for river—kogi—Kogi State was formed from parts of Benue State, Niger State, and Kwara State on 27 August 1991. The state is nicknamed the “Confluence State” due the fact that the confluence of the River Niger and the River Benue occurs next to its capital, Lokoja.
Politics & Economy
The State Government is led by a democratically elected Governor who works closely with members of the state’s House of Assembly. The capital city is Lokoja.
Economically, Kogi State is largely based around agriculture, mainly of coffee, cashew, groundnut, cocoa, oil palm, and yam crops. Other key industries are crude oil extraction and the livestock herding of cattle, goats, and sheep. Kogi has both the 23rd highest Human Development Index and GDP in the country.
State History
Kogi State was carved out of the old Kwara and Benue States. The birth of the new State was a reunion of a people who had shared a common history and had co-existed as one polity for a period of over seven decades before being severed by the 1976 States creation exercise. No doubt, Kogi State is abundantly blessed in both human and natural resources.
The creation of the State on the 27th August 1991 by the administration of former President Ibrahim Babangida was a dream fulfilled and one which seeks to put the State on the threshold of rapid socio-economic transformation.
The area which today forms Kogi State was a colonial formation then known as Kabba Province which had suffered neglect since independence. It was, therefore, the quest for rapid socio-economic development of the area that informed the decision of the Babangida government in 1991 to create along with eight others, a State out of both Kwara and Benue bringing together families who had been separated by the 1976 states creation exercise into a happy reunion.
