State: Adamawa

Adamawa State lies in Nigeria’s northeast, with Yola as its capital. It was created on 27 August 1991, when the old Gongola State was split into Adamawa and Taraba.

The state borders Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest. Its eastern edge runs along the international border with Cameroon, following the Mandara Mountains and the wider Adamawa highlands that give the state its name.

Adamawa is one of the most ethnically varied states in Nigeria, with over a hundred indigenous groups living within it. The Fulani, Kamwe, Kilba, Marghi, and Mumuye peoples make up some of the largest populations, each with its own language and traditions. Religion is fairly mixed too, with roughly half the population Muslim, a large Christian community, and smaller numbers who keep traditional beliefs.

The Sukur Cultural Landscape, up in the hills of Madagali, is Nigeria’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site. It preserves a centuries-old kingdom’s terraced farms, iron-smelting sites, and the palace of the Hidi, the traditional ruler, largely unchanged by the modern world around it.

Mount Dimlang, also called Vimtim, rises to just over 2,000 meters and is the highest point in Adamawa, drawing hikers who want a break from the Yola heat. Further south, Gashaka Gumti National Park spreads across both Adamawa and Taraba, sheltering chimpanzees, forest elephants, and one of the largest tracts of untouched rainforest left in the country.

Farming and herding carry much of the economy. Cotton, groundnuts, and cassava grow well across the state, and Fulani cattle herders have moved through its grasslands for generations. In more recent years, the Dangote Group built a large sugar processing plant in Numan, adding industrial jobs to a state that has mostly run on agriculture.

Adamawa has produced some well known names in Nigerian public life. Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president and repeat presidential candidate, comes from the state, as does Nuhu Ribadu, who led the anti-corruption agency EFCC before later becoming national security adviser. Buba Marwa, a former military governor of Lagos State, also hails from Adamawa and now chairs the country’s drug enforcement agency.

Yola itself is really two towns grown together: old Yola, the traditional seat of the Lamido of Adamawa, and Jimeta, the newer commercial district built up around it. The Benue River passes close by on its way west, and the state’s mix of highlands, savanna, and river plains keeps its farmland and its wildlife parks both fairly productive.