Benue State

Benue State State nickname: Food Basket of the Nation
Location
Statistics
Governor (List)	Gabriel Suswam (PDP)
Date Created	3 February 1976
Capital	Makurdi
Area	34,059 km² Ranked 11th
Population 1991 Census 2005 estimate	Ranked 7th 2,780,398 5,181,642
GDP (PPP)  -Total  -Per Capita	2007 (estimate) $6.86 billion[1] $1,592[1]
ISO 3166-2	NG-BE

Benue is a state in the Middle-Belt region of Nigeria with a population of about 2.8 million in 1991. Tiv, Idoma, and Igede are spoken predominantly. There are other ethnic groups as well. These include Etulo and Abakwa.^[2] With its capital at Makurdi, Benue is a rich agricultural region; some of the crops grown there are: potatoes, cassava, soya bean, guinea corn, flax, yams and beniseed.

Benue State is named after the Benue River and was formed from the former Benue-Plateau State in 1976, along with Igala,and some part of Kwara State. Also in 1991 some areas of benue state(majorly igala area), along with areas in Kwara state, where carved out to become part of the new Kogi State. Traces of Igbo people and tribes are found in the boundary areas of Ebonyi state and Enugu state in local government areas like the Obi, Oju etc.

Gabriel Suswam is the Governor and Steven Lawani is the Deputy Governor. Both are People's Democratic Party (PDP) members.^[3] Benue state has three universities namely, Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State University [BSU], Makurdi and Mker University, Gboko. It also has two Polytechnics namely Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo and Fidel Polytechnic, Gboko as well as the Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture. And there about four Colleges of Education which are, Federal College of Education Agasha, College of Education Oju, College of Education Kastina Ala.

Local Government Areas

The 23 Local Government Areas of Benue State are:

Agatu Apa Ado Buruku Gboko Guma Gwer East Gwer West Katsina-Ala Konshisha Kwande Logo

Makurdi Obi Ogbadibo Ohimini Oju Okpokwu Oturkpo Tarka Ukum Ushongo Vandeikya

Links

• Official Benue State Website

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "C-GIDD (Canback Global Income Distribution Database)". Canback Dangel. http://www.cgidd.com. Retrieved 2008-08-20. 
2. ^ Seibert, Uwe. "Languages of Benue State". Nigerian Languages. Department of Languages and Linguistics , University of Jos. http://www.uiowa.edu/intlinet/unijos/nigonnet/nlp/benue.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-03. 
3. ^ Ajaero, Chris (2007-11-18). "A Brand New Image For Benue". Newswatch magazine (Newswatch Communications). http://www.newswatchngr.com/editorial/allaccess/nigeria/11118095534.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-26. 

Coordinates: 7°20′N 8°45′E / 7.333°N 8.75°E / 7.333; 8.75