BRIEF ON KATSINA STATE

DATE OF CREATION:  23rd September, 1987

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION:-
Katsina State located between latitude 11º 02’ and 13º 03º long 6º 05’and 9º 02, Katsina State borders Kaduna State to the South, Niger Republic to the North, Zamfara State to the West and Kano and Jigawa States to the East. It covers an area of about 23,983 sq kilometers.

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
There are thirty-four (34) Local Government Areas and are as follows: Bakori, Batagarawa, Batsari, Bindawa, Baure, Charanchi, Dandume, Daura, Dutsin-ma, Dutsi, Danmusa, Danja and Faskari. Others are Funtua, Ingawa, Jibia, Kurfi, Kafur, Katsina, Kankia, Kaita, Kusada and Kankara. The rest include Matazu, MaiÁdua, Malumfashi, Mani, Musawa, Mashi, Rimi, Safana, Sabuwa, Sandumu and Zango.

ETHIC GROUPS AND CULTURAL IDENTITY:
Hausa is the major language followed by Fulfulde the language of the Fulani pastoralists. There are also Yoruba, Igbo and other Nigerians living especially in the state capital and other major towns. Farming and petty trading are the main pre-occupation of the people with Islam as the major religion.

CLIMATE:
Weather varies according to the season of the year. It is cool in the morning, hot in the afternoon and cool again in the evening. Maximum temperature range between 29º-38ºc. Harmattan season (November-February) lower temperature from 18º-27ºc. The wind is dry from January to April, signaling the arrival of the raining season, which lasts from April to September. The mean average rainfall range between 400-1300mm. potential vaporization is 6.9-7.2mm per day.

AGRICULTURE: 
Katsina State currently plays a leading role in the production of the following cash and food crops: Cotton, Groundnut, Millet, Guinea-Corn, Maize, Beans and Rice. The state is also serving as a shining example in irrigation in response to successive governments’ clarion call to help boost food production in the country.
New ventures include fish farming, bee keeping, sesame and cassava production. It is also pioneering in the effort to tap the potentials of neem.

INDUSTRIAL VENTURES:
Government has made it possible for the establishment of viable industrial ventures in the state. They include Cotton Ginneries, Oil Mill, Flour Mill and Kaolin Processing Factories. Complementing agricultural development is the Funtua Fertilizer Blending Plant established by the State Government. The Funtua Burnt Bricks factory, abandoned by successive governments was completed and privatized by the YarÁdua administration. Similarly, wealthy individuals have in response to Government’s call, established visible industrial ventures such as the Plastic and Rubber Processing Companies, Northern Diaries and Hamada Carpets. Currently an indigenous industrialist has responded to the government clarion call by setting up two factories, an Oil Extraction Factory in Malumfashi and Industrial Minerals Limited in Katsina. Similarly he is also participating in Kankia Metal works as a co-investor. The neem processing plant in Katsina is expected to produce 1000MT of Organic fertilizer and 400MT of Pesticide and Technical grade Azaderactin.

EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:  
The state has three (3) higher institutions of learning: Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic,Isa Kaita College of Education, Dutsin-ma and Bala Usman College of Legal and General Studies Daura. There is also the Federal College of Education all providing educational needs of both the state indigenes and other from all parts of the country.

The state has a total number of 1.793 primary, 105 secondary schools located in all parts of the state. All these are adequately being maintained by the State Government with both working and teaching materials. The State Government also facilitated the establishment of Ahamdu Bello University (A.B.U.) School of Basic and Remedial Studies Funtua. In spearheading this gigantic project, the Yar’adua Administration has committed over N600, 000,000 towards the take-off of the School which will serve the 19 Northern State Students. In response to the increasing number of students seeking university education, the government has established Katsina State University with the faculty of Education, science, social sciences and arts. Government voted about N4billion for the take off of the university, which commences academic activities in January 2007.

HEALTH ESTABLISHMENT:
To ensure effective health-care delivery system, the state currently has a total number of 716 Health Establishments. This is in addition to numerous privately owned health centers that have been approved by the State Government.

TOURISM, BANKING AND HOTEL FACILITIES:
Numerous tourist attraction banking and hotels abound in the state all providing for the needs of desiring customers and visitors alike. The major tourist attraction is the durbar staged twice a year during the Eid-el-Fitr and Eid-el-Kabir festivities by the two emirates. This is in addition to the famous Gobarau minerates and the Katsina College, the first college in Northern Nigeria which produced Nigerian’s early leaders like Sir Ahamdu Bello the Sardauna of Sokoto, the first Premier of the Northern Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Governor of the defunct Northern Region, Alhaji Sir Kashim Ibrahim and others. There is also the legendary Kusugu well in Daura. There is also the Chama Park in Jibia Local Government Area and two International Markets at Jibia and MaiÁdua.

COMMUNICATION NETWORKS:
Katsina State is blessed with excellent communication system made up of good network of roads that links it with all parts of the Federation and neighbouring Niger Republic. This is in addition to efficient telecommunication facilities as well as a modern airport.

EMIRATE COUNCILS:   As an ancient province that had since made impact in the history of this nation since the pre-colonial period, Katsina State has two Emirate Councils viz: Katsina and Daura. Katsina Emirate has 44 Districts while Daura has 10 in its domain.