State: Bauchi

Bauchi State lies in Nigeria’s northeast, with the city of Bauchi as its capital. It was created on 3 February 1976, when the old North Eastern State was broken up into smaller states.

Bauchi borders more states than almost anywhere else in the country: Jigawa to the north, Yobe to the northeast, Gombe to the east, Taraba and Plateau to the south, Kaduna to the west, and Kano to the northwest.

More than fifty tribal groups live in Bauchi, including the Fulani, Kanuri, Gerawa, Sayawa, and Jarawa. Most residents are Muslim, with Christian and traditionalist minorities elsewhere in the state.

Farming carries most of the economy, with cotton, groundnuts, millet, tomatoes, and yams grown widely, alongside cattle and other livestock. Tin and columbite mining add to that, and tourism brings in a smaller but steady income.

Yankari National Park is the state’s biggest draw, home to elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, hippos, and roan antelope, along with the Wikki Warm Spring, a natural spring warm enough to swim in year round.

Bauchi gave Nigeria its first and only prime minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who led the country from independence until the 1966 coup. Poet and political activist Sa’adu Zungur also came from the state, and Bala Mohammed has served as governor since 2019.