Kogi State
state in Nigeria
Kogi State is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the west by the states of Ekiti and Kwara, to the north by the Federal Capital Territory, to the northeast by Nasarawa State, to the northwest by Niger State, to the southwest by the states of Edo and Ondo, to the southeast by the states of Anambra and Enugu, and to the east by Benue State. It is the only state in Nigeria to border ten other states. Named for the Hausa word for river, the state was formed from parts of Benue State, Niger State, and Kwara State on 27 August 1991. The state is nicknamed the "Confluence State" as the confluence of the River Niger and the River Benue occurs next to its capital, Lokoja.
Of the 36 states of Nigeria, Kogi is the thirteenth largest in area and twentieth most populous with an estimated population of about 4.5 million as of 2016. Geographically, the state is within the tropical Guinean forest–savanna mosaic ecoregion. Important geographic features include the key rivers with the Niger flowing from the northwest and the Benue coming from the northeast before the two rivers meet in Kogi's center and bisect the state southward.
Kogi State has been inhabited for years by various ethnic groups, including the Ebira, Gbagyi, Nupe (mainly the Bassa Nge, Kakanda, and Kupa subgroups), and Oko in the state's centre; the Igala and Bassa in the east; and the Yoruba (mainly the Okun, Ogori, Oworo, and Magongo subgroups) in the west. Kogi is also religiously diverse, with about equal percentages of Christians and Muslims along with a substantial minority of adherents of traditional ethnic religions.
In the pre-colonial period, the area that is now Kogi State was split up between various states with some states being tiny and village-based as others were part of larger empires like the Nupe Kingdom which held much of now-western Kogi State until the early 1800s when the Fulani jihad annexed the kingdom and placed the area under the Sokoto Caliphate while the eastern half of the modern state was the ancient Igala Kingdom.
“Kogi State” enters the record as state in Nigeria. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Kogi, State and state can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Kogi State” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Kogi, State and state provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q387745. Authority coordinates are 7.500, 6.700. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1991 and 2016.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kogi State”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kogi State primary sources, Kogi State archive and Kogi research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kogi State”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kogi State” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.