State: Zamfara

Zamfara State sits in Nigeria’s northwest, with Gusau as its capital. It was created on 1 October 1996, separated from Sokoto State.

The state borders Kaduna, Niger, Katsina, Sokoto, and Kebbi, with a short international border against Niger Republic to the north.

The Hausa people make up most of the population, split into Zamfarawa, Gobirawa, and Burmawa subgroups, while Fulani communities concentrate mainly in Bungudu, Maradun, and Gusau.

More than 80 percent of residents farm for a living, growing millet, guinea corn, maize, rice, groundnut, cotton, tobacco, and beans. Gold mining took off after 2009 and has since become a significant, if often informal, source of income, even as the state remains among Nigeria’s poorest.

Jata, an ancient settlement built around a hill with a large cave, once served as a site for traditional practices and remains one of the state’s more unusual historical landmarks.

Former governor Bello Matawalle and senator Ahmad Sani Yerima both come from Zamfara, a state whose recent history has been shaped as much by its gold deposits as by its farmland.