![La Benoue à Yola](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/La_Benoue_%C3%A0_Yola.jpg)
Yola (
Fulfulde
Fula ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 30 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that st ...
: Ƴoola), meaning 'Great Plain' or 'Vast Plain Land', is the largest city, capital city and administrative center of
Adamawa State
Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...
,
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 ...
. Located on the
Benue River, it has a population of 336,648 (2010).
Yola is splited into two parts. The old town of Yola where the
Lamido
Lamido (Adlam: , pl. Lamibe ) is the Anglicisation of a term from the Fula language or Fulfulde, used to refer to a ruler. In the language it is properly ''laamiiɗo'' (, pl. ''laamiiɓe'' ), derived from the verbal root ''laamu-'' meaning "lead ...
resides is the traditional city but the new city of
Jimeta
Jimeta is a town in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. The town's population was 73,080 in 1991. The elevation of Jimeta is 135 m, and it lies along the Benue River
The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or T ...
(about 5 km NW) is the administrative and commercial centre. Generally the term Yola is now used to mean both.
To the north are the
Mandara Mountains
The Mandara Mountains are a volcanic range extending about 190 km (about 120 mi) along the northern part of the Cameroon–Nigeria border, from the Benue River in the south () to the north-west of Maroua in the north (). The highest e ...
and to the south are the
Shebshi Mountains
Shebshi Mountains () is a mountain range in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria extending in a north-south direction near the Cameroon border and between the Benue River, Benue and Taraba River, Taraba rivers. The peak altitude is reach with Mount ...
which
Mount Dimlang Mount Dimlang (formerly Vogel peak) is found in the Shebshi Mountains, Shebshi mountains in Adamawa State. It is the highest point of the Shebshi Mountains. Its peak reaches a height of about 2,042 m (6,699 ft.), although Google Maps repor ...
(Vogel Peak) is part of.
Yola is an access point to the
Gashaka Gumpti Nature Reserve, which is the largest national park in Nigeria, the
Ngel Nyaki montane forest reserve, the
Mambilla Plateau
The Mambilla Plateau is a plateau in the Taraba State of Nigeria. The Mambilla Plateau has an average elevation of about above sea level, making it the highest plateau in Nigeria. Some of its villages are situated on hills that are at least abo ...
, the
Sukur UNESCO World heritage site, which is Africa's first cultural landscape to receive World Heritage List inscription,
the Yadin Waterfalls, the
Kiri Dam
The Kiri Dam is in Kiri, Nigeria, Shelleng local government area of Adamawa State in the north east of Nigeria, damming the Gongola River.
It is a 1.2 km long, 20 m high zoned embankment with an internal clay blanket. The dam was mainly ...
on the
Gongola River
The Gongola River is in northeastern Nigeria, the principal tributary of the Benue River.
The upper course of the river as well as most of its tributaries are seasonal streams, but fill rapidly in August and September.
The Gongola rises on the east ...
, the Benue national park in nearby
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, the
Waza National Park
Waza National Park is a national park in the Department of Logone-et-Chari, in Far North Region, Cameroon. It was founded in 1934 as a hunting reserve, and covers a total of . Waza achieved national park status in 1968, and became a UNESCO bio ...
, and the Cameroonian town of
Garoua
Garoua or Garua (Fula: Garwa 𞤺𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is a port city and the capital of the North Region of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. A thriving centre of the textiles and cotton industries, the city has approximately 1,285,000 inhabita ...
, which lies across the
border
Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
, on the Benue river.
History
Established in 1841, Yola is a municipality that sprawls across the hillside of this North-Eastern region of Nigeria. It was the capital of a
Fulani
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...
state until it was taken over by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
in 1901. Today, it is the capital of Adamawa State, which was formed in 1991 from part of
Gongola State
Gongola State is a former administrative division of Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the Adamawa and Sardauna Provinces of North State, together with the Wukari Division of the then Benue-Plateau State; it existed until 27 August ...
.
Modibbo Adama
Adama ɓii Ardo Hassana (1786 – 1847), more commonly known as Modibbo Adama, was a Fulani scholar and holy warrior, who hailed from the Ba'en clan of Fulbe. He led a jihad into the region of Fombina (in modern-day Cameroon and Nigeria), openin ...
, a local chief of the Fulani, founded Yola in 1841. During the Islamic movement led by
Shehu Usman Dan Fodio in the early 19th Century,
Modibbo Adama
Adama ɓii Ardo Hassana (1786 – 1847), more commonly known as Modibbo Adama, was a Fulani scholar and holy warrior, who hailed from the Ba'en clan of Fulbe. He led a jihad into the region of Fombina (in modern-day Cameroon and Nigeria), openin ...
was recognised as a learned Muslim who could lead the people in the Upper Benue area. Probably the first European to visit the area was
Heinrich Barth
Johann Heinrich Barth (; ; 16 February 1821 – 25 November 1865) was a German explorer of Africa and scholar.
Barth is thought to be one of the greatest of the European explorers of Africa, as his scholarly preparation, ability to speak and wri ...
in 1851, shortly after Yola was founded. He traveled by the
Sahara route, coming through
Kukawa
Kukawa (previously Kuka) is a town and Local Government Area in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, close to Lake Chad.
The town was founded in 1814 as capital of the Kanem-Bornu Empire by the Muslim scholar and warlord Muhammad al-Amin ...
near
Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, ...
, which at the time was the capital of the
Borno Empire Borno may refer to:
Places
Italy
* Borno, Lombardy, a municipality in the Province of Brescia
Africa
* Borno State, Nigeria
* Borno Emirate, a traditional Nigerian state formed at the start of the 20th century
* Bornu Empire, a state whic ...
.
Yola has
the first airport in Nigeria as well as first town to have electricity. On 17 November 2015, a
suicide bombing killed over 30 people.
Climate
Yola has a
tropical savanna
Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...
climate that borders on a hot
semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
(''Aw'' bordering on ''BSh'' according to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
) with a dry season and a wetter season. The temperature is warm year-round, with August and September having the lowest average high at and December having the lowest average low at . March has the highest average high of , while April has the highest average low at . The highest temperatures occur in March and April, just before the wet season starts.
Yola receives of precipitation annually on average. There is a wetter season from May to October and a dry season for the rest of the year. The dry season, especially from February to April, has higher daytime temperatures and can have lower nighttime lows. The dry season also has a higher
diurnal temperature variation
In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day.
Temperature lag
Temperature lag is an important factor in diurnal temperature variation: peak d ...
. August is the wettest month, receiving of rain on average over 16 precipitation days. No precipitation falls from December to February. Humidity is low in the dry season, dropping to just 13.5% in February, but it can get quite humid during the wet season, especially from July to September. Yola receives 2845.5 hours of sunshine annually, which is well-distributed throughout the year, with November having the most sunshine and August having the least.
Infrastructure
The nearby town of
Jimeta
Jimeta is a town in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. The town's population was 73,080 in 1991. The elevation of Jimeta is 135 m, and it lies along the Benue River
The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or T ...
has a market, zoo, an airport
with direct flights to
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
,
NiPost
The Nigerian Postal Service, abbreviated as NIPOST is a government-owned and operated corporation, is the Nigerian postal administration responsible for providing postal services in Nigeria. It has more than 12,000 employees and runs more than 3 ...
and NiTel offices as well as the main mosque and cathedral. Being a state capital, it is a major transport hub with buses and taxis heading north to Mubi and
Maiduguri
Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a mil ...
, west to Numan, Gombe, jalingo and
Bauchi and south to Makurdi and Katsina Ala. Taxis are available to
Garoua
Garoua or Garua (Fula: Garwa 𞤺𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is a port city and the capital of the North Region of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. A thriving centre of the textiles and cotton industries, the city has approximately 1,285,000 inhabita ...
in
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
. There is
an airport with regular flights to
Abuja and
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 ...
. The town is home to various institutions of learning, such as the:
American University of Nigeria
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
(AUN) (which is Africa's first and only development university), Adamawa State Polytechnic, The
Modibbo Adama University Yola (MAU) previously known as Federal University of Technology, Yola, located about 10 km north of the city on the road to
Mubi
Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...
, The Federal Government Girls College, Yola, AUN Academy (ABTI Academy), Aliyu Mustapha Academy, Chiroma Ahmad Academy, Ahmadu Ribadu College, MAUTECH university secondary school, Concordia College (which was nominated as the best post primary school of the year 2007 by the National Association of Nigerian Students). Yola also houses one of the six campuses of the
Nigerian Law school located beside the American University of Nigeria and many other educational institutions. Adamawa has one of the best depots in Nigeria, located about 5 km west on the road to Numan. Tourist sites include: the Three sister hills in Song Local Government Area, which are three scenic rock formations standing side by side at different height with the middle one as the big sister, The former Njuwa lake fishing festival site which is now dried and developed into residential area, The Lamido's Palace and the Annual horse-riding
durbar
Durbar can refer to:
* Conference of Rulers, a council of Malay monarchs
* Durbar festival, a yearly festival in several towns of Nigeria
* Durbar floor plate, a hot-rolled structural steel that has been designed to give excellent slip resistance ...
. originally a
Fulbe
The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region ...
settlement, the town is largely dominated by Fulbe, as well as people from other parts of the country and the neighboring country of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
.
See also
*
Ahmadu Ribadu College
Ahmadu Ribadu College is a secondary school in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Named after the late Ambassador Ahmadu Ribadu in the year 2000 and commissioned by Alhaji Shehu Shagari
Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari (25 February 1925 – 28 December ...
*
Adamawa State Polytechnic
Adamawa State Polytechnic is a tertiary educational institution in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. It was established in 1991 through a merger of the College of Preliminary Studies Yola and the Staff Development Institute Numan.
The new Polytechni ...
Notable people
*
Mohammed Barkindo
Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo (20 April 1959 – 5 July 2022) was a Nigerian politician. From 1 August 2016 until his death, he was the Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. He helped to create the OPEC+ alli ...
References
{{Authority control
Populated places in Adamawa State
State capitals in Nigeria