Vandeikya is a local government area in

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 ...

. Vandeikya Local Government Council is located between latitude 7°5' and 7°15' north of the Equator and Longitude 9° and 9°6' east of

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

. It has a landmass of 183,939 square metres (0.7 sq miles) with a population of well over 80,288. Vandeikya is in the South Eastern part of

Benue State Benue State is one of the North Central states in Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. The state was created in 1976 among the 7 states created at that time.The state derives its name from the Benue River which is t ...

and shares boundaries with Obudu and Bekwara in

Cross River State ) , image_map = Nigeria - Cross River.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location of Cross River State in Nigeria , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint ...

to the East, Ushongo to the North and Konshisha LGA to the West. There are twelve administrative council wards. Vandeikya LGA was carved out of Gboko LGC in 1976. The indigenous community is the Tiv people who speak the

Tiv language Tiv is a Tivoid language spoken in some states in North Central Nigeria, with some speakers in Cameroon. It had over 5 million speakers in 2020. The largest population of Tiv speakers are found in Benue state in Nigeria. The language is also wi ...

. The Vandeikya people are a hospitable group and are predominantly Christians with a few traditionalists. Vandeikya Local Government area is dominated by undulating terrain with much of the area being below 183 m (600 ft) above the

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. Surface drainage is generally good with almost all the rivers being seasonal, notably river Aya and river Be. The climate is tropical sub humid with the mean annual rainfall of between 1,200 and 2,000 mm (47" and 79") averaging seven months in the year, while the mean annual temperature is 32.5 °C (90 °F). The

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

is from April to October or November while the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

is November to March. Agriculture is the mainstay of the people; with

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

for sheep, goats and cattle rearing. Over 80% of the population are directly engaged in the peasant farming of virtually all major food crops, with concentration on rice, sweet potatoes, cassava, sorghum, citrus, spices, pepper, groundnut and bambara nuts. The LGA is endowed with

mineral deposits In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

such as barites, kaoline and iron ores. Being principally farmers, the major commercial engagements of the people in the area revolve around agricultural products. Presently, there are no major industries in the area; however there are many small scale

cottage industries The putting-out system is a means of subcontracting work. Historically, it was also known as the workshop system and the domestic system. In putting-out, work is contracted by a central agent to subcontractors who complete the project via remote ...

like rice milling, block making and furniture works and others. The settlement pattern is dispersed with thatched round houses.

climate

References

{{LGAs and communities of Benue State Local Government Areas in Benue State