Keffi
{{Use Nigerian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name = Keffi
| other_name = keffi hausa/fulani
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| settlement_type = LGA and Town
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| image_skyline = Keffi Town from the top of Maloney Hill.jpg
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| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{flag|Nigeria}}
| subdivision_type1 = State
| subdivision_name1 = Nasarawa State
| seat_type = Headquarters
| seat = Keffi Town
| government_footnotes =
| government_type = chairman
Hon. Baba shehu
| leader_title = emir
| leader_name = Dr. Shehu cindo yamusa lll
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| unit_pref = Imperial
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| timezone = WAT
| utc_offset = +1
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| name = keffi
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Keffi{{Pronunciation|Keffi pronunciation.ogg|help=no}} Local Government Area and a traditional and commercial town in Nasarawa State, north central Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Keffi. Keffi is 50 kilometers from Abuja. Nasarawa State university is located along the Keffi-Akwanga expressway.{{Cite web |title=Keffi {{!}} Nasarawa State, Middle Belt, Plateau State {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Keffi |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Keffi Archives |url=https://guardian.ng/tag/keffi/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Keffi Local Government Area |url=https://www.finelib.com/listing/Keffi-Local-Government-Area/62606/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=www.finelib.com}}
It has an area of 138 km{{sup|2}} and a population of about 92,664 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 961.{{cite web|title=Post Offices- with map of LGA |publisher=NIPOST |url=http://www.nipost.gov.ng/PostCode.aspx |accessdate=2009-10-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007011423/http://www.nipost.gov.ng/PostCode.aspx |archivedate=2009-10-07 }}
History
Keffi town was founded around 1802 by a Fulani warrior-leader, Abdu Zanga who took the title of 'emir'.[https://www.britannica.com/place/Keffi Keffi], an Encyclopaedia Britannica entry, lookup ion March 2019 His small dominion was subject to the Zaria emirate to which it had to pay an annual tribute of slaves.[https://muzzammilwrites.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/tribes-and-culture-the-ancient-city-of-keffi-nasarawa-state/ The Ancient City of Keffi (Nasarawa State)], Muzzammilwrites blog dated 22 November 2017, lookup in March 2019. The blogpost quotes from "Notes on Nassarawa Province, Nigeria", by Sciortino, J. C, p.7, Publication date ca. 1920, original accessible via [https://archive.org/details/notesonnassarawa00scioiala archive.org
In 1902, Keffi was the location of an incident that led to the British invasion of Northern Nigeria, after the "magaji", a representative of the Zaria sultan, killed a British officer. When the Magaji found refuge in Kano, this was the pretext for Lugard to invade the northern caliphate.cf. Sciortino p.7{{Cite book|title=The conquest of Northern Nigeria|last=Dusgate|first=Richard H|publisher=Frank Cass|year=1985|isbn=0-7146-3227-9|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/conquestofnorthe00dusg/page/166 166-167]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/conquestofnorthe00dusg/page/166}}
Geography
= Climate =
Keffi LGA covers 138 square kilometers in total and experiences average temperatures of 30 °C. The dry and wet seasons are the two main seasons in the region, and the average humidity in the LGA is 42 percent.{{Cite journal |last=Yakubu |first=Ibrahim Omale |title=Geography of Keffi, Nassarawa State, Nigeria (Published online in 2013) |url=https://www.academia.edu/13014831}}
Keffi has a tropical wet and dry or savanna climate (Classification: Aw) and is 0 meters above sea level. The district averages a yearly temperature of 30.27 °C 86.49F, which is 0.81% warmer than the national average for Nigeria. Keffi generally experiences 160.03 wet days 43.84% of the time and receives about 140.81 millimeters of precipitation annually, or 5.54 inches.{{Cite web |title=Keffi, Nasarawa, NG Climate Zone, Monthly Averages, Historical Weather Data |url=https://tcktcktck.org/amp/nigeria/nasarawa/keffi |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=tcktcktck.org}}{{Cite web |title=Keffi Annual Weather Averages |url=https://www.worldweatheronline.com/keffi-weather/nassarawa/ng.aspx |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=WorldWeatherOnline.com |language=en}}
In Keffi, the dry season is partly gloomy, the wet season is oppressive, and it's hot all year round. The average annual temperature ranges from 63 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit, rarely falling below 57 or rising over 102.{{Cite web |title=Keffi Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Nigeria) - Weather Spark |url=https://weatherspark.com/y/55089/Average-Weather-in-Keffi-Nigeria-Year-Round |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=weatherspark.com |language=en}}https://www.myweather2.com/City-Town/Nigeria/Keffi/climate-profile.aspx {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}
Between January 28 and April 13, a 2.5-month period known as the "hot season," with an average daily high temperature of more than 93 °F. With an average high of 96 °F and low of 73 °F, March is the hottest month of the year in Keffi.{{Cite web |title=Simulated historical climate & weather data for Keffi |url=https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/historyclimate/climatemodelled/keffi_nigeria_2334652 |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=meteoblue |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Keffi weather forecast for today |url=https://justweather.org/Nigeria/Nassarawa/Keffi/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=justweather.org |language=en}}
The 3-to-4 month cool season, which runs from June 20 to October 11, has an average daily maximum temperature of less than 85 °F. With an average low of 63 °F and high of 90 °F, December is the coldest month of the year in Keffi.{{Cite web |last=Atlas |first=Weather |title=Yearly & Monthly weather - Keffi, Nigeria |url=https://www.weather-atlas.com/en/nigeria/keffi-climate |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=Weather Atlas |language=en}}
The average proportion of sky covered by clouds in Keffi varies significantly seasonally throughout the year.{{Cite web |title=Keffi, Nigeria Hourly Weather Forecast {{!}} Weather Underground |url=https://www.wunderground.com/hourly/ng/keffi |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=www.wunderground.com}}{{Cite journal |last=Sufiyan |first=Ibrahim |date=2020 |title=Rainfall Trend And It Impact In Keffi Nasarawa State |url=https://ideas.repec.org//a/zib/zbngwk/v4y2020i1p23-26.html |journal=Engineering Heritage Journal |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=23–26|doi=10.26480/gwk.01.2020.23.26 |doi-access=free }}
The clearer season starts around November and ends around the ending of February.{{Cite web |title=Keffi Weather Forecast |url=https://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Keffi/forecasts/latest |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=www.weather-forecast.com}}
December is the clearest month of the year in Keffi, with the sky remaining clear, or partly cloudy 53% of the time on average.{{Cite web |title=Weather in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria {{!}} Tomorrow.io |url=https://www.tomorrow.io/weather/NG/NA/Keffi/076982/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=Tomorrow.io Weather |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=12 hour forecast for Keffi |url=https://www.extendedforecast.net/forecasts/12-hour/nigeria/keffi/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=ExtendedForecast.net |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Weather in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria {{!}} Whatweather.today |url=https://whatweather.today |access-date=2025-02-19 |website=whatweather.today Weather |language=en}}
Beginning around February 26 and lasting for 8.4 months, the cloudier period of the year ends around November 7.{{Cite web |last=S.L |first=Tutiempo Network |title=Weather in Keffi (Nigeria) - 15 days |url=https://en.tutiempo.net/keffi.html |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=www.tutiempo.net |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Keffi Nigeria |url=https://meteocare.com/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=meteocare.com |language=en}}
May is the cloudiest month of the year in Keffi, with the sky being overcast or mostly cloudy 84% of the time on average during this month.{{Cite web |title=Weather in Keffi today |url=https://www.gismeteo.com/weather-keffi-300898/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=GISMETEO.COM |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Weather Forecast Keffi - Nigeria (Nasarawa) : free 15 day weather forecasts |url=https://www.weathercrave.com/weather-forecast-nigeria/city-46293/weather-forecast-keffi-today |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=La Chaîne Météo |language=fr}}{{Cite journal |last1=Sufiyan |first1=Ibrahim |last2=Mohammed |first2=K. |last3=Bello |first3=Innocent |last4=Zaharadeen |first4=I. |date=2020-04-01 |title=Impact of harmattan season on human health in Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&issn=25210807&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA626392941&sid=googleScholar&linkaccess=abs |journal=Matrix Science Medica |language=English |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=44|doi=10.4103/MTSM.MTSM_1_20 |doi-access=free }}
Economy
In the Keffi LGA, there are numerous mineral resources, including those for tin and columbite. Crops including millet, sorghum, yams, and cotton are also grown in the region, making farming another important economic activity there. The Keffi Cattle Market, which draws hundreds of thousands of buyers from across the country yearly, is one of the livestock markets located in Nasarawa State. Animal husbandry and handicrafts are two other significant economic pursuits of the residents of Keffi LGA. Additionally, Keffi is home to numerous officially and privately owned banks, hotels, and other institutions.{{Cite web |title=Keffi Local Government Area |url=https://www.manpower.com.ng/places/lga/568/keffi |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=www.manpower.com.ng}}{{Cite journal |last=I |first=Dr Charles J. J. Mambula |date=2017-01-01 |title=Impact of SMEs A Study of Keffi and Marraraba Metropolis.pdf |url=https://www.academia.edu/38253739 |journal=International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development}}
Town
Notable people
- Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim – Minister of State for Police Affairs
- Ahmed Tijjani - Director-General of Refugees
References
{{Reflist}}
{{LGAs and communities of Nasarawa State}}
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