Bama is a town and a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

in the central part of

Borno State Borno is a States of Nigeria, state in the North East (Nigeria), North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is bordered by Yobe State, Yobe to the west, Gombe State, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa State, Adamawa to the south while its ea ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Climate

Bama has a Subtropical steppe climate (classification: BSh). The district's yearly

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

is 31.88 °C (89.38 °F) and it is 2.42% higher than Nigeria's averages. Bama typically receives about 36.06 millimeters (1.42 inches) of precipitation and has 61.03 rainy days (16.72% of the time) annually.

Postal code

The

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

of the area is 610.

History

It is located "about 60 kilometres (37 miles) from

Maiduguri Maiduguri ( ) is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on the continent of Africa. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maid ...

, the capital of Borno state". It is one of the sixteen LGAs that constitute the Dikwa Emirate, a traditional state located in Borno State, Nigeria. Invaded and captured by

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as Jama'at Ahl al-Sunna li al-Da'wa wa al-Jihad (), is a self-proclaimed jihadist militant group based in northeastern Nigeria and also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group spli ...

in 2014.

Insurgency cases

The town was attacked by

in May 2013 and February 2014. :

The two border towns of Bama and
Gwoza Gwoza is a local government area of Borno State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Gwoza, a border town "about 135 kilometres South-East of Maiduguri." The postal code of the area is 610. The terrain is rocky and hilly. The Gwoza H ...
have been cut off since the declaration of a state of emergency with
soldiers A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word ...
blocking the roads linking the town to the state capital,
Maiduguri Maiduguri ( ) is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on the continent of Africa. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the ''Firki'' swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maid ...
... Escapees from Bama were forced to take bush routes through Dikwa, a town 60km away from Bama and 150km from Maiduguri to get to the state capital.

On September 2, 2014, Boko Haram seized control of Bama, according to the town's residents. In December 2014, it was reported that "people too elderly to flee Gwoza Local Government Area were being rounded up and taken to two schools where the militants opened fire on them." Over 50 elderly people were killed. A "gory video" was released of insurgents shooting over a hundred civilians in a school dormitory in the town of Bama. On 16 March 2015, the Nigerian army said that it had recaptured the city. On 22 June 2016, the NGO Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) reported a "catastrophic humanitarian emergency" in a camp for refugees fleeing

near the town of Bama. They stated that more than 1,200 people have died of starvation and illness at the camp. They also reported that between 23 May 2016 and 22 June 2016, at least 188 people have died at the camp (almost six per day), mainly from malnutrition and diarrhoea.

References

Local Government Areas in Borno State Populated places in Borno State {{BornoNG-geo-stub