Benué (state)

Benué is a state in the mid-belt region of Nigeria with a population of about 4,253,641 in 2006 census. It is inhabited predominantly by the Tiv and Idoma peoples, who speak the Tiv language and Idoma, respectively. There are other ethnic groups, including the Igede, Etulo and Abakwa.,Jukun, Hausa, Akweya and Nyifon. With its capital at Makurdi, Benué is a rich agricultural region; some of the crops grown there are potatoes, cassava, soya bean, guinea corn, flax, yams, sesame, rice, and grand nuts.

Benué State is named after the Benué River and was formed from the former Benue-Plateau State in 1976, along with Igala and some part of Kwara State. In 1991 some areas of Benué state (mostly Igala area), along with areas in Kwara State, were carved out to become part of the new Kogi State. Igbo people are found in the boundary areas of Ebonyi State and Enugu State in local government areas like the Obi, Oju etc.

Samuel Ortom is the governor and Benson Abounu is the deputy governor. Both are All Progressives Congress (APC) members.

Nigeria

The Federal Republic of Nigeria, commonly referred to as Nigeria ⁱ/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, is a federal constitutional republic in West Africa, bordering Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. It comprises 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where the capital, Abuja is located. Nigeria is officially a democratic secular country.

Modern-day Nigeria has been the site of numerous kingdoms and tribal states over the millennia. The modern state originated from British colonial rule beginning in the 19th century, and the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures whilst practising indirect rule through traditional chiefdoms. Nigeria became a formally independent federation in 1960, and plunged into a civil war from 1967 to 1970. It has since alternated between democratically-elected civilian governments and military dictatorships, until it achieved a stable democracy in 1999, with its 2011 presidential elections being viewed as the first to be conducted reasonably freely and fairly.

Benué River

The Benué River (French: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. As a result, it is an important transportation route in the regions through which it flows.

It rises in the Adamawa Plateau of northern Cameroon, from where it flows west, and through the town of Garoua and Lagdo Reservoir, into Nigeria south of the Mandara mountains, and through Jimeta, Ibi and Makurdi before meeting the Niger at Lokoja.

Large tributaries are the Faro River, the Gongola River and the Mayo Kébbi, which connects it with the Logone River (part of the Lake Chad system) during floods. Other tributaries are Taraba River and River Katsina Ala.

At the point of confluence, the Benué exceeds the Niger by volume. The mean discharge before 1960 was 3,400 cubic metres per second (120,000 cu ft/s) for the Benué and 2,500 cubic metres per second (88,000 cu ft/s) for the Niger. During the following decades, the runoff of both rivers decreased markedly due to irrigation.