Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census. The symbol of Kaduna is the crocodile, called kada in the native Hausa language.

Kaduna was founded by the British in 1913, and became the capital of Nigeria's former Northern Region in 1917. It retained this status until 1967.

Persons hailing from Kaduna include Emmanuel Babayaro, Celestine Babayaro and Victor Moses (Nigerian footballers) and Fiona Fullerton (British actress and former Bond girl)

The Nigerian Islamic umbrella association Jama’atu Nasril Islam is based in the city.

Due to its religious makeup, Kaduna has been the scene of religious tensions between Muslims and Christians, particularly over the implementation of shari'a law in Kaduna State beginning in 2001. In February 2000, approximately 1,000 people were killed in a particular riot. The city remains segregated to this day, with Muslims living mainly in the north of the city and Christians in the south.

Patrick Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, (1937–1967) was born in the Northern Region’s capital of Kaduna to Igbo immigrant parents from the Mid-Western Region-Okpanam Town, near Asaba in the present day Delta State.

Major Nzeogwu was an infantry and intelligence officer of the Nigerian Army. Such was his family’s affinity to the city of Nzeogwu’s birth that they and his military colleagues called him “Kaduna”. Nzeogwu was a devout Roman Catholic and a teetotaler. He attended the military academy at Sandhurst in England, and was a promising, charismatic and rebellious military officer who eventually became the Chief Instructor at the Nigerian Military Training College in Kaduna. The forerunner of the Nigerian Army Intelligence Corps (NAIC) was the Field Security Section (FSS) of the Royal Nigerian Army, which was established on 1 November 1962 with Captain PG Harrington (BR) as General Staff Officer Grade Two (GSO2 Int). The FSS was essentially a security organization whose functions included vetting of Nigerian Army (NA) personnel, document security and counter intelligence. Major Nzeogwu was the first Nigerian Officer to hold that appointment from November 1962 to 1964.

Prince Far I (c. 1944 – 15 September 1983) was a Jamaican reggae deejay, producer and a Rastafarian. He was known for his gruff voice and critical assessment of the Jamaican government. His track "Heavy Manners" used lyrics against measures initiated towards violent crime.

He was born Michael James Williams in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Williams' first job in the music industry was as a deejay on the Sir Mike the Musical Dragon sound system, also working as a security guard at Joe Gibbs' studio, and later as a bouncer at Studio One, but after recording "The Great Booga Wooga" for Bunny Lee in 1969 (under the name King Cry Cry, a reference to his habit of breaking into tears when angered), he got the chance in 1970 to record for Coxsone Dodd when King Stitt failed to turn up for a session. Dodd was sufficiently impressed to release the resulting recordings, Williams now using the name Prince Far I at the suggestion of another producer he had worked with, Enos McLeod). With a unique deep bass voice and talking over style, preferring to describe himself as a "chanter" rather than a "toaster", he became a popular reggae musician, styling himself "The Voice of Thunder".

Haruna Ishola (died 1983) was a Nigerian musician, and one of the most popular artist in the apala genre. Haruna Ishola Born: Unknown, Ijebu-igbo Died: 1983

In the decades leading up to Nigerian independence in 1960, apala music developed when amateur musicians would play to arouse the faithful after the long fast of Ramadan. Born in the town of Ijebu-igbo, Haruna Ishola began recording apala numbers in about 1955, and soon became the most popular artist in the genre, and one of the most respected praise singers in Nigeria. Ishola adapted and stuck to a strong traditionalist approach, citing both Yoruba proverbs and Koranic scripture in his songs, and introducing no Western instruments into his musical lineup.

Ishola would sit when performing, surrounded by two talking drummers, shaker and bell, and a chorus of singers. Also central to his sound was the agidigbo, a hollow lamellophone (thumb piano), both plucked and struck to create a hypnotic ostinato at the center of the apala sound. Andy Frankel, who produced Apala Messenger (IndigiDisc 2001), an excellent retrospective of Ishola's work, lived in Nigeria during the 1980s. He writes in the CD liner notes, "Among the most memorable anecdotes were that Haruna Ishola's voice was so powerful that his praise singing could kill its intended recipient if not provided with restraint. It went without saying that if you had to go, being done in by the praises of this man was not a bad option."

Oliver De Coque is a well known name in Nigeria as well as the Nigerian music circle. Though many^[who?] believe he was not a Nigerian owing to his popular name which has a French leaning, he had started music with Ekpili at the age of 17. Oliver De Coque was from Ezinifite, Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra State. Oliver's real and full name is Oliver Sunday Akanite.

Oliver de Coque was a prolific guitarist who popularised the "Ogene" dance inspiring style of Nigerian highlife, and recorded no fewer than 73 albums in his lifetime. Some of his major hits include "Biri Ka Mbiri, and "identity" remixed in a hiphop style by his son Safin de coque

Oliver played on the Prince Nico Mbarga's evergreen album "Sweet Mother."