Ibi is a town and administrative district in
Taraba State
Taraba is a States of Nigeria, state in north-eastern Nigeria, named after the Taraba River, which traverses the southern part of the state. It is known as "Nature's Gift to the Nation". Its capital is Jalingo. The state's main Demographics ...
,
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, ...
. The town is located on the south bank of the
Benue River, opposite the influx of the much smaller
Shemankar River. Both the
Taraba River and the
Donga River flow into the Benue within the LGA.
Ibi is one of the sixteen
local government areas
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 state, province, division, or territory.
The ph ...
of Taraba State, and is governed by an elected chairman.
History
Ibi is located where the traditional land trade route of eastern
Igboland
Igbo land ( Standard ) is a cultural and common linguistic region in southeastern Nigeria which is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people. Geographically, it is divided into two sections, eastern (the larger of the two) and western. Its popu ...
crossed the river trade route of the Benue River. it is home to the
tiv, hausa, Fulani people who are predominantly Farmers and fishermen (especially those along the river bank) (up river).
By 1899 the Niger Company established a trading station at Ibi, and by 1901 telegraph service to
Lokoja had been established.
[Arnott, D. W. (1958) "Councils and Courts among the Tiv--Traditional Concepts and Alien Institutions in a Non-Moslem Tribe of Northern Nigeria" ''Journal of African Law'' 2(1): pp. 19-25, p. 19] The British took control in 1900 and established Ibi as the administrative headquarters of western Muri. As cotton was one of the major crops of the area, steam powered cotton gins were established in Ibi in the early 1920s.
[Duggan, E. de C. (1922) "The Cotton Growing Industry of Nigeria" ''African Affairs'' 21(83): pp. 199-207, p. 203]
Climate
Notes
{{Taraba State
Local Government Areas in Taraba State
Benue River