Kaduna State, Nigeria

Map of Kaduna State	Executive Governor Nasir El Rufai	Coat of Arms
Official Website: http://www.kadunastate.gov.ng
Population: 6,066,562 (2006 Estimate)     Alias: Centre of Education (formerly Liberal State)

Local Governments
Birni-Gwari Chikun Giwa Igabi Ikara Jaba Jema'a Kachia	Kaduna North Kaduna South Kagarko Kajuru Kaura Kauru Kubau Kudan	Lere Makarfi Sabon-Gari Sanga Soba Zango-Kataf Zaria

GENERAL INFORMATION Kaduna was created on 27th May, 1967 out of the former Northern region by the then regime of General Murtala Mohammed. Katsina State was created out of it in the state creation exercise of 1987. It's capital is Kaduna.  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. Kaduna State occupies 46,053 square kilometres.  Zaria is one of the major towns in Kaduna state and is very rich in history. Queen Amina ruled Zaria and was known as a great warrior, her territories stretching as far to Bauchi in the east and extending as far south as the River Niger. She build a walled town wherever she conquered.

Kadunna State provides the meeting point of the earliest histories of Nigeria. It is the home of Nok which gave its name to the oldest culture of Nigeria - the Nok culture.

ECONOMY
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.

Kaduna state is a metropolitan as well as a cosmopolitan industrialized state with over 80 commercial and manufacturing industries.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.

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.

TOURISM
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.