Kaduna is the capital city of

Kaduna State Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...

, and the former political capital of

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the United Kingd ...

. It is located in north-western

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern Nigeria, with its rail and important road network. The population of Kaduna was at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census. Rapid urbanization since 2005 has created an increasingly large population, now estimated to be around 1.3 million. The project population of people in Kaduna state as at 2021 is 8.9 million people.

Etymology

The etymology of the word ''Kaduna'' is said to be a corruption of the Hausa word for "crocodiles", ''Kaddani'' in the

Hausa language Hausa (; /; Ajami: ) is a Chadic language spoken by the Hausa people in the northern half of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, and the southern half of Niger, Chad and Sudan, with significant minorities in Ivory Coast. Hausa is a member ...

(''kaduna'' being the plural form). Another version of the name proposes a link to the

Gbagyi Gbagyi or Gbari (plural - Agbagyi/Agbari) is the name and the language of Gbagyi/Gbari ethnic group who are predominantly found in Central Nigeria, with a population of about 1 million people. Members of the ethnic group speak two dialects. While ...

word/name 'Odna', meaning 'river'.

History

Kaduna was founded by British colonists in 1900. The first British governor of Northern Nigeria, Sir

Frederick Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...

, chose the present site for development due to its proximity to the Lagos-Kano Railway. It became the capital of Nigeria's former Northern Region in 1917, and retained this status until 1967. The city is still influential as the headquarters of various political, military and cultural organizations especially in northern Nigeria.

Economy

River Kaduna and Old Railway Bridge, Another View

Industries

Kaduna is a major industrial centre in Northern Nigeria, manufacturing products like

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

products and bearings. However, the textile industry has been in decline due to recent Chinese imports and factory closures caused by years of neglect during the

military dictatorship in Nigeria The military dictatorship in Nigeria was a period when members of the Nigerian Armed Forces held power in Nigeria from 1966 to 1999 with an interregnum from 1979 to 1983. The military was able to rise to power often with the tacit support of th ...

. Other light manufactures include:

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their Plasticity (physics), plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be Injection moulding, moulded, Extrusion, e ...

pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

goods, furniture, and televisions.

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

is also a major industry in Kaduna, and as such, the Bank of Agriculture has its headquarters in the city. Some of the main agricultural exports include: cotton, peanuts, sorghum, and ginger. Kaduna also has a branch of the

Nigerian Stock Exchange The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) now Nigerian Exchange Group is a Nigerian stock exchange founded in 1961 in Lagos. As of November 2019, it has a total of 161 listed companies, with 8 domestic companies on the premium board, 144 companies on the ...

. Automobile manufacturing also remains an important part of Kaduna's economy. Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria has an assembly plant in Kaduna. Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), one of Nigeria's four main

oil refineries An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...

is located in Kaduna. It is supplied by a pipeline from the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical ...

oil fields. A 2009

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

survey states that Kaduna is one of the top six cities with the highest

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for Work (human activity), w ...

. 20% of the population was estimated to be unemployed.

Sports and tourism

There is a large racecourse named Murtala Mohammed Square, approximately round, inside which is found the

Kaduna Polo Club Kaduna International Polo Club is one of the oldest polo club in Nigeria. It is located in Kaduna state at the Murtala Ramat Mohammed Square. History It was founded in 1918, the Patron of the club is His Royal Highness Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir ...

Kaduna Golf Club Kaduna Golf Club (since 1921) is a golf club located in Kaduna, Kaduna State Nigeria. The golf club is the first golf club in Northern Nigeria with a number of more than 750 members, it has a single golf course with a distance of 0.9 km and p ...

is also located within the Kaduna CBD. Other Sports facilities include the

Ahmadu Bello Stadium The Ahmadu Bello Stadium, simply referred to as ABS is a multi-purpose stadium in Kaduna City, Kaduna State, Nigeria. It was designed in 1965 by the English architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. As of 2016, it is used mostly for football matches ...

and

Ranchers Bees Stadium Ranchers Bees Stadium (aka Kaduna Township Stadium) is a multi-purpose arena in Kaduna, Nigeria. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal ...

. There are several hotels in the city.

Infrastructure

The infrastructure network in the city are currently being developed under the administration of

Nasir el-Rufai Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (born 16 February 1960) is a Nigerian politician who is the Governor of Kaduna State, in office since 2015. He was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory from 2003 to 2007; and the director of the Bureau of Public ...

. Kaduna has an inland dry port. The Nigerian military has several installations in the city including the Nigerian Defence Academy.

Airport

The city is served by

Kaduna International Airport Kaduna Airport is an airport serving Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna State in Nigeria. The airport is around northwest of the city. The airport opened in 1982. Kaduna also has an older airport located on the northern edge of the city. The airp ...

. The airport commenced operations in 1982. The Nigerian Air Force maintains a presence in the city.

Railways

Kaduna is also on the route of the planned

Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway The Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway is a -long standard gauge railway under construction in Nigeria. Once complete, the railway will connect the Atlantic Ocean port city of Lagos to Kano, near the border with Niger, passing through the nat ...

, which has been completed between the national capital of

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

and Kaduna. Trains for

depart from the Rigasa Railway Station in Kaduna. Kaduna is an important junction on Nigeria's Cape gauge railway network. At Kaduna, a branch line connects the

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

–Nguru Railway to the Port Harcourt–Maiduguri railway.

Education

Kaduna is popularly known as the centre of learning, as evident from the numerous educational institutions located in the state. Tertiary Institutions in Kaduna city include: * Kaduna State University * Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna *

Greenfield University Greenfield University is a private university in Kaduna, Kaduna State, Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a countr ...

Kaduna *

National Open University of Nigeria The National Open University of Nigeria is a federal open and distance learning (ODL) institution, the first of its kind in the West African sub-region. It is Nigeria's largest tertiary institution in terms of student number and is popularly ...

, Kaduna Study Center * Air Force Institute of Technology, Kaduna * National Teachers Institute (NTI), Kaduna * School of Midwifery Kaduna *

Kaduna Polytechnic Kaduna Polytechnic is one of the earliest polytechnics in Nigeria, located at Tudun Wada area of Kaduna South local government of Kaduna state, North-Western Nigeria. It was established in 1956 as Kaduna Technical Institute after the British ...

(1968), Kaduna * National board for Islamic and Arabic studies *Kaduna Business School *

Dialogue Institute Kaduna Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

*Institute of Ophthalmology, National Eye Centre, Kaduna. *National board for Arabic and Islamic studies *National center for nomadic education *Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State

Places of worship

Among the places of worship, there are churches and mosques. Sultan Bello Mosque is the biggest and a central mosque in Kaduna. There are also churches: Church of Nigeria (

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

Presbyterian Church of Nigeria The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria is a Presbyterian church in the Nigeria and subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith. The denomination has ten synods, more than 50 presbyteries and over 4,000 congregations, and almost 8,000 ministers a ...

(

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

), Nigerian Baptist Convention ( Baptist World Alliance),

Living Faith Church Worldwide Living Faith Church Worldwide (also known as Winners' Chapel) is an Evangelical charismatic Christian denomination and a megachurch. The headquarters is located in Ota, Nigeria. The organization has since become a global network of churches w ...

Redeemed Christian Church of God The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is a Pentecostal megachurch and denomination founded in Lagos, Nigeria. The General overseer (most senior pastor) is Enoch Adeboye, ordained in 1981. The church in Lagos had an average church attendanc ...

Assemblies of God The Assemblies of God (AG), officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 144 autonomous self-governing national groupings of churches that together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination."Assemblies of God". ...

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaduna is the Metropolitan See for the Ecclesiastical province of Kaduna in Nigeria. History * 1911.08.24: The Apostolic Prefecture of Eastern Nigeria was created from the Apostolic Prefecture of Upper Niger ...

(

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

), Mountain of fire and miracles ministries, North central 2 Mega Regional HQ (http://www.mountainoffire.org), Universal Reformed Christian Church, Kaduna (Protestant Church).

Climate

Notable people

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab ( ar, عمر فاروق عبد المطلب ; also known as Umar Abdul Mutallab and Omar Farooq al-Nigeri; born December 22, 1986) popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber" or "Christmas Bomber", is a Nigerian-bor ...

, the "underwear bomber" suspect of the terrorist arson attempt on

Northwest flight 253 The attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 occurred on December 25, 2009, aboard an Airbus A330 as it prepared to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport following a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam. Attributed to the terrori ...

in December 2009, grew up here and returned to the city on holiday. *

Tijani Babangida Tijani Babangida (born 25 September 1973) is a Nigerian former professional footballer, who played as a winger. Known for his pace, his playing style was sometimes compared to that of Marc Overmars. Babangida spent the majority of his playing c ...

, footballer who played winger with Ajax *

Celestine Babayaro Celestine Boyd Jonto Hycieth Babayaro (born 29 August 1978) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a left-back or a midfielder. Babayaro spent the majority of his career playing in the Premier League, mainly for Chelsea from ...

, footballer who played mainly in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Michael Eneramo Michael Eneramo (born 26 November 1985) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Eneramo began his career with Lobi Stars and was in 2004 scouted by Tunisian top club Espérance Sportive de Tunis, he ...

, footballer *

Fiona Fullerton Fiona Elizabeth Fullerton (born 10 October 1956) is a British actress and singer, known for her role as Alice in the 1972 film ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and as Bond girl KGB spy Pola Ivanova in the 1985 James Bond film ''A View to a ...

, British actress and former Bond girl *

Leke James Leke Samson James (born 1 November 1992) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Sivasspor in Süper Lig. Club career Early career He started out his career in his native homeland playing for Bridge Boys. Aalesund He tr ...

, footballer * Shehu Musa Yaradua politician and elder statesman *

Zamani Lekwot Zamani Lekwot (born 19 July 1944) in Jankasa, is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the military governor of Rivers State, Nigeria from July 1975 to July 1978 during the military administration of Generals Murtala Muhammed and Olu ...

, statesman * Umaru mutallab Nigerian business mogul *

Hassan usman katsina Hassan Usman Katsina (31 March 1933 – 24 July 1995), titled Chiroman Katsina, was the last Governor of Northern Nigeria. He served as Chief of Army Staff during the Nigerian Civil War and later became the Deputy Chief of Staff, Supreme Headqua ...

elder statesman. *

Magaji Muhammed Magaji Muhammed (31 December 1940–April 2017) headed the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs until the June 2006, when he resigned to pursue a gubernatorial ambition, and he was succeeded by Oluyemi Adeniji. He is also a former Ministe ...

politician and elder statesman. *

Mamman daura Mamman Daura (born 1939) is a Nigerian newspaper editor who edited and later managed the '' New Nigerian'' from 1969 to 1975. He is a nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari; and a prominent member of the infamous Kaduna Mafia, a loose group of ...

elder statesman *

Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi (born 8 August 1956) is a Nigerian politician and the former Chairman of the People's Democratic Party. He was governor of Kaduna State in Nigeria from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007, and was elected Senator for Kaduna North in ...

, politician *

Mohammed Namadi Sambo Mohammed Namadi Sambo (born 2 August 1954) is a Nigerian politician who was Vice President of Nigeria from 19 May 2010 to 29 May 2015. He previously served as Governor of Kaduna State from 2007 to 2010. Early life Namadi was born on 2 August 19 ...

, politician * Shehu Sani, politician * Uba Sani, politician *

Dahiru Sadi Dahiru Sadi (born 10 December 1963) is a Nigerian footballer. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul ...

, footballer *

Adam A Zango Adam A. Zango is a Nigerian actor, singer, dancer, Screenwriter, scriptwriter, director, film producer, occasional voice-over, television personality, and philanthropist. He has appeared in over 100 films and received many accolades. Zango has a ...

, Kannywood actor, musician, singer and dancer. *

Talib Zanna Talib Zanna (born 1 October 1990) is a Nigerian professional basketball player who last played for the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League. Zanna played high school basketball at Bishop McNamara High School and competed collegiately with the Pi ...

(born 1990), basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League *

Efe Ambrose Efetobore Eric “Efe” Ambrose Emuobo (born 18 October 1988) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Greenock Morton. Ambrose has previously played for Kaduna United, Bayelsa United, Israeli club Ashdod, Scottish cl ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played for the Nigeria national football team was born and raised here

References

External links

{{Authority control State capitals in Nigeria Populated places in Kaduna State Cities in Nigeria 1913 establishments in the Northern Nigeria Protectorate Populated places established in 1913