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Ekiti State: History and Background
A young state growing fast
Ekiti State is just thirteen years old, but it is thriving with the vigour of youth. The state was created in October 1996, when Nigeria’s then leader General Sani Abacha announced the establishment of six new states in a nationwide broadcast to mark the 36th anniversary of the foundation of the country.
Formerly part of Ondo State in South-Western Nigeria, Ekiti State is the smallest State in the Federation, has sixteen local government areas and is nestled between Kwara, Kogi, Ogun and Osun State. When the last census was taken in 2005, the state’s population was 2.7 million.
The state is located entirely in the tropics, and its territory is mainly upland, rising 250m above sea level. The landscape is hilly in some areas and in others, made up of plains broken by steep-sided outcropping dome rocks. These rocks occur by themselves as well as in groups or ridges and the most notable can be found in Efon-Alaaye, Ikere-Ekiti and Okemesi-Ekiti.
Ekiti State’s climate is tropical, with two distinct seasons: the rainy season, between April and October, and the dry season, between November and March. Temperatures range from 21 °C to 28 °C, and humidity is high. In the north, the state is largely composed of tropical rainforest, while in the south guinea savannah predominates. Ekiti State has considerable water resources, including the rivers Ero, Osun, Ose, Ogbese and Oni. Ekiti State is also rich in mineral resources, including clay, kaolin, columbite, cassiterite, foundry sand, bauxite, clarcomite and charcoalnite granite. These resources remain largely untapped.
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