Place:Nassarawa, Nigeria

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Nasarawa State is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by the states of Taraba and Plateau, to the north by Kaduna State, to the south by the states of Kogi and Benue, and to the west by the Federal Capital Territory. Named for the historic Nasarawa Emirate, the state was formed from the west of Plateau State on 1 October 1996. The state has thirteen local government areas and its capital is Lafia, located in the east of the state, while a key economic centre of the state is the Karu Urban Area—suburbs of Abuja—along the western border with the FCT.

Of the 36 states of Nigeria, Nasarawa is the fifteenth largest in area and second least populous with an estimated population of about 2.5 million as of 2016. Geographically, the state is mostly within the tropical Guinean forest–savanna mosaic ecoregion. Important geographic features include the River Benue forming much of Nasarawa State's southern borders and the state's far northeast containing a small part of the Jos Plateau.

Nasarawa State is inhabited by various ethnic groups, including the Koro and Yeskwa in the far northwest; the Kofyar in the far northeast; the Eggon, Gwandara, Mada, Ninzo, and Nungu in the north; the Alago, Goemai, and Megili in the east; Eloyi in the south; the Tiv in the southeast; the Idoma in southwest; and the Gade and Gbagyi in the west while the Hausa and Fulani live throughout the state. Nasarawa is also religiously diverse as about 60% of the state's population are Muslim with around 30% being Christian and the remaining 10% following traditional ethnic religions. In recent time, Morning Star News a California-based independence news service in its article of 18th March, 2017 Morning Star News/Nigeria Correspondent stated to the contrary that the Muslim population of Nasarawa state could be as high as 32 percent, with Christians making up as much as 65 percent. Also Professor Farooq Adamu Kperogi a professor of journalism and emerging media at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, USA in an article dated Saturday, March 05, 2022 quoted as saying Nasarawa state is 65 percent Christian with Eggon and Mada as the largest ethnic groups. In addition the professor stated that Nasarawa state has a lot of animists even in LGAs near Abuja the FCT.

In the pre-colonial period, the area that is now Nasarawa State was split up between various states with some states being tiny and village-based as others were part of larger empires until the early 1800s when the Fulani jihad annexed the region and placed the area under the Sokoto Caliphate as the vassal states of Keffi, Lafia, and Nassarawa. In the 1890s and 1900s, British expeditions occupied the area and incorporated it into the Northern Nigeria Protectorate. The protectorate later merged into British Nigeria in 1914 before becoming independent as Nigeria in 1960. Originally, modern-day Nasarawa State was a part of the post-independence Northern Region until 1967 when the region was split and the area became part of the Benue-Plateau State. After Benue-Plateau was split in 1976, what is now Nasarawa State became a part of the new Plateau State until 1996 when western Plateau was broken off to form the new Nasarawa State.

Economically, Nasarawa State is largely based around agriculture, mainly of sesame, soybeans, groundnut, millet, maize, and yam crops. Other key industries are services, especially in urban areas, and the livestock herding and ranching of cattle, goats, and sheep. The state has been beset by violence at various points throughout its history, most notably the ongoing conflict between herders and farmers primarily over land rights. Despite the conflict, Nasarawa has the nineteenth highest Human Development Index in the country and numerous institutions of tertiary education.

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