State: Edo

Edo State sits in Nigeria’s south, with Benin City, the country’s fourth largest city, as its capital. Edo came into being on 27 August 1991, when Bendel State was divided into Edo and Delta.

The state borders Kogi to the north, Anambra to the east, Delta to the south and southeast, and Ondo to the west.

The Edo, or Bini, people make up the largest group, followed by the Esan, Etsako, Owan, Ijaw, and Akoko Edo communities, each with its own language and local traditions.

Benin City has long been the center of Nigeria’s rubber industry, and the wider state also produces crude oil and quarry materials like limestone. Away from the city, farmers grow rubber, oil palm, and food crops across Edo’s forest belt.

The Emotan Statue in Benin City honors a legendary market woman credited with helping restore an exiled king to the throne centuries ago, a story still told across the city. Further out, the Somorika Hills in Akoko Edo and the Ososo tourist center offer some of the more dramatic scenery in southern Nigeria.

Edo has produced Admiral Mike Akhigbe, a former vice president, musician Victor Uwaifo, footballer Victor Osimhen, and Archbishop Benson Idahosa, a hugely influential figure in Nigerian Pentecostal Christianity.