Askira/Uba

{{Short description|Local Government Area in Borno State, Nigeria}}

{{Use Nigerian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox settlement

| official_name = Askira/Uba

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| settlement_type = Local Government Area

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| image_skyline = Shilga Hotels Ltd Askira Uba Borno State Nigeria.jpg

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| subdivision_type = Country

| subdivision_name = {{flag|Nigeria}}

| subdivision_type1 = State

| subdivision_name1 = Borno State

| subdivision_type2 = Capital

| subdivision_name2 = Askira

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| government_footnotes =

| government_type = Democracy

| leader_party = All Progressive Congress

| leader_title = Executive Chairman

| leader_name = Abubakar Umar Mazhinyi

| Tenure_Duration = 2020 till date

| established_title = Local Government Area

| established_date = Askira/Uba was created 1976.

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| unit_pref = Imperial

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| population_as_of = 2006

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Askira/Uba is a Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Askira.

It has an area of 2,362 km{{sup|2}} and a population of 138,091 at the 2006 census.

The postal code of the area is 601.{{cite web | title = Post Offices- with map of LGA | publisher = NIPOST | url = http://www.nipost.gov.ng/PostCode.aspx | accessdate = 2009-10-20 | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20091007011423/http://www.nipost.gov.ng/PostCode.aspx| archivedate= 7 October 2009 | url-status= dead}}

One of the villages of Askira/Uba, Lassa, was the origin of a new virus found in the blood of returning American missionaries, and first identified by a virology research team in a laboratory at Yale University, who named it "Lassa virus" after the location where it first appeared.{{cite book |last=Prono |first=Luca |editor-last=Zhang |editor-first=Yawei |title=Encyclopedia of Global Health |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1_XIbBRvD0gC&pg=PA354 |date=9 January 2008 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4129-4186-0 |oclc=775277696}} Askira/Uba has two Emirate Councils namely; Askira Emirate and Uba Emirate.

Askira was founded by Muhammadu Mai Maina in 1921.{{Cite book |last=Kirk-Greene |first=A. H. M. (Anthony Hamilton Millard) |url=http://archive.org/details/westafricantrave0000kirk |title=West African travels and adventures; two autobiographical narratives from Northern Nigeria |date=1971 |publisher=New Haven, Yale University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-300-01426-6}}{{Rp|page=19}}

In July 2014, the villages of Huyim and Dille in Askira/Uba LGA were attacked by suspected Boko Haram gunmen, with nine and thirty-eight deaths respectively. The attackers came from the Sambisa Forest. Displaced residents "need help from governments and spirited individuals."{{Cite web

| title = Nigeria: Gunmen Kill Nine in Borno Village

| accessdate = 2014-07-18

| url = http://allafrica.com/stories/201407171089.html

}}{{Cite news

| last1 = Hamza Idris

| last2 = Yahaya Ibrahim

| title = Nigeria: 38 Killed As Boko Haram Attacks Borno Village

| work = Daily Trust - AllAfrica

| accessdate = 2014-07-18

| date = 2014-07-15

| url = http://allafrica.com/stories/201407150905.html

}}