Date created: February 1976
Capital: Kaduna
Main Towns: Kafanchan, Zonkwa, Kagoro, Kachia and Zaria.
Kaduna state is located at the centre of Northern Nigeria. It has a political significance as the former administrative headquarters of the North during the colonial era. The state shares boundaries with Niger State to the west, Zamfara, Katsina and Kano states to the north, Bauchi and Plateau States to the east and FCT Abuja and Nassarawa state to the south.
The state has 23 local government Councils namely: Tundun Wada/Makera, Doka. Kawo, Kachia, Jaba, Zangon-Kataf, Kaura, Jema'a, Lere, Ikara, Makarfi, Sabongari, Zaria, Giwa, Birnin Gwari, Igbabi, Soba, Chukun, Kudan, Gwagwada, Kuban, Sanga and Kagarko.
Agriculture is the main stay of the economy of Kaduna state with about 80% of the people actively engaged in farming. Cash and food crops are cultivated and the produce include: yam, cotton, groundnut, tobacco, maize, beans, guinea corn, millet, ginger, rice and cassava. Over 180,000 tonnes of groundnut are produced in the state annually. The major cash crop is cotton which the state has a comparative advantage in as it is the leading producer in the country.
Another major occupation of the people is animal rearing and poultry farming. The animal reared include cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.
Kaduna state is blessed with minerals which include clay, serpentine, asbestos, amethyst, kyannite, gold, graphite and siltimanite graphite, which is found in Sabon Birnin Gwari, in the Birnin Gwari local government. This is an important raw material used in the manufacture of pencils, crucibles, electrodes, generator brushes and other sundry parts.
A number of notable educational institutions in the country are located in the State. They are Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna, School of Health Technology, the Federal Fishery Training Institute, Kaduna, College of Advanced Studies, Zaria and College of Education, Kafanchan.
In addition, the state plays host to very strategic military institutions in the country. These are the Nigerian School of Infantry, Zaria, Command and Staff College, Jaji, the College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, and the Nigeria Defence Academy which now has the status of a University.
There is also the National Leather Research Institute, Zaria. The Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria and the nation's third petroleum refinery are also located in Kaduna State.
Kaduna state is a metropolitan as well as an industrialized state with over 80 commercial and manufacturing industries there. Goods ranging from carpets, textiles, reinforced concrete materials, bicycles assembly, toiletries and cigarettes in the state. Consumer goods produced range from dairy products to soft drinks, flour and groundnut oil.
Major industries in the state are the Federal Super Phosphate Fertilizer Company PLC, Ideal Flour Mills PLC, New Nigerian Packaging Company PLC, Peugeot Automobile Nigeria PLC, United Wire Products Limited, Bus and Refridgerated Van Manufacturing Co, Kaduna Furniture and Carpets Company Limited, Electricity Metres Company Nigeria Limited and Rigid Pack Containers Limited, Zaria.
Kaduna state has numerous tourist attractions and comfortable five star hotels such as Durbar and Hamdala Hotels, among others, Tourist attractions include the Nok Cultural Safe at Kuwi in Jema's Local Government Area, the Maitsirga Water falls in Kafanchan, the Legendary Lord Lugard bridge in Kaduna town, the Kerfena Hills in Zaria and the Palace of the Emir of Zaria. There are also modern parks and gardens.
Source: Nigeriadirect.gov.ng
