Nafada is one of the eleven

Local Government Areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The ph ...

(LGA) of

Gombe State Gombe State (; ) is a States of Nigeria, state in North East (Nigeria), northeastern Nigeria, bordered to the north and northeast by the states of Borno State, Borno in the vicinity of Gongola River and Lake Dadin Kowa Dam, Dadin Kowa and Yobe S ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. Its headquarter is in the town of Nafada in the east of the area at , on the

Gongola River The Gongola River is in northeastern Nigeria, the principal tributary of the Benue River. The upper course of the river as well as most of its tributaries are seasonal streams, but fill rapidly in August and September. The Gongola rises on the e ...

which traverses the area. According to the 2006

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, the LGA covers 1,586 square

kilometers The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is the preferred measu ...

and has a population of 138,185 people. Nafada has ten wards namely: Nafada East, Nafada Central, Nafada West, Jigawa, Birnin Fulani East, Birnin Bolewa, Birnin Fulani West, Gudukku, Barwo/Nasarawo and Barwo Winde.

Climate

Nafada, the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

is scorching and partly

cloud In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may ...

y, while the wet season is oppressively hot and

y. The average annual

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer. It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making ...

ranges from 60 to 105

degrees Fahrenheit The Fahrenheit scale () is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the German-Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accounts of how he original ...

, rarely falling below 55 or rising over 109.

Temperature

From March 1 to May 13 is the hot season, which lasts for 2.4 months and has an average daily high temperature of over 101 °F. In Nafada, April is the hottest month of the year, with an average high of 104 °F and low of 77 °F. A daily high temperature below 90 °F is typical during the 2.7-month cool season, which runs from July 14 to October 4 January, with average lows of 61 °F and highs of 93 °F, is the

cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

est month of the year in Nafada.

Precipitation

Nafada's total precipitation has significantly increased due to climate change, resulting in a wetter climate in the area.

History

Nafada is located in the traditional land of the

Bole people Bole (''bòo pìkkà'', also known as Bolanchi, Ampikka, Bopikka, Bolewa, Bolawa) is a West Chadic language spoken in Nigeria. Dialects include Bara and Fika, spoken in the Fika Emirate The Fika Emirate is a Nigerian traditional states, tr ...

. It was the capital of the

Gombe Emirate The Gombe Emirate (Fula: Lamorde Gombe 𞤤𞤢𞤥𞤮𞤪𞤣𞤫 𞤺𞤮𞤥𞤥𞤦𞤫) is a Nigerian traditional states, traditional state in Nigeria that roughly corresponds in area to the modern Gombe State.The current Emir of Gombe ...

from 1913 to 1919. The Gombe Emirate was moved to Doma which was later renamed to Gombe. Nafada is one of the eleven Local Government Areas of

, Nigeria. It has its administrative headquarter at the town of Nafada and it falls under Gombe North senatorial districts, therefore constituting a federal constituency with

Dukku Dukku is a Local Government Area in Gombe state, Nigeria. Its headquarters is located in Dukku town. The Gongola River flows through the west and north of the LGA. It has an area of 3,815 km and a population of 207,190 from the 2006 census ...

LGA.

Government

Since 2020, the local government chairman and deputy chairman are Musa Abubakar and Salisu Shuaibu Dandele respectively. The chairman Musa Abubakar died on 15 August 2022 on road accident. The

postal code A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or numerical digit, digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, inclu ...

of Nafada is 762. Nafada LGA belongs to Gombe North Senatorial Zone/District along with

, Funakaye, Kwami and Gombe LGA. In 2023, Abdullahi El-Rasheed (Bala kelly) (Magatakardan Dukku) became member house of representative representing Nafada and Dukku and His excellency, former Governor of Gombe state Senator Ibrahim Hassan Dankwanbo (Talban Gombe) representing Gombe North senatorial district. Nafada LGA belongs to Nafada/Dukku federal constituency that comprises the entire

geographical Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

areas of: # Nafada Local Government Area #

Local Government Area Federal

Constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

in Nigeria are typically made up of a group of

in a particular state and are represented by a member in the

Federal House of Representatives The House of Representatives (also called Green Chamber) is the lower chamber of Nigeria's bicameral National Assembly. The Senate is the upper chamber. The Green Chamber has 360 members who are elected in single-member constituencies using t ...

Emirs

The current Emir of Nafada is HRH Alhaji Muhammad Dadum Hamza

Wards

Wards in Nafada Local Government Area. * Barwo/Nasarawo * Barwo Winde * Birin Bolewa * Birin Fulani East * Birin Fulani West * Gudukku * Jigawa * Nafada Central * Nafada East * Nafada West

Localities

Towns and villages in Nafada Local Government Area.

Geography

Nafada

Local Government Area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

encompasses a cumulative area of 1,586 square kilometers and it has an average temperature of 33 °C. The

Gongola Gongola State is a former administrative division of Nigeria. It was created on 3 February 1976 from the Adamawa and Sardauna Provinces of North State, together with the Wukari Division of the then Benue-Plateau State. It existed until 27 Augu ...

River flows through the LGA and the area has an average humidity level of 20 percent The Nafada river originated from the River

rises on the Eastern slopes of the

Jos Plateau The Jos Plateau is a plateau located near the centre of Nigeria. The plateau has given its name to the Plateau State in which it is found and is named for the state's capital, Jos. The plateau is home to people of diverse cultures and languages ...

and falls to the

basin running north-easterly until Nafada and then continued in the same direction to

Lake Chad Lake Chad (, Kanuri language, Kanuri: ''Sádǝ'', ) is an endorheic freshwater lake located at the junction of four countries: Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, in western and central Africa respectively, with a catchment area in excess of . ...

. Presently, it turns south and the south-east until it joins the Hawal River. The river then runs south to the

River Benue Benue River (), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is a major tributary of the Niger River. The size of its catchment basin is 319,000 km2 (123,000 sq mi). Almost its entire length of approximately is navigable during the summer ...

, joining it opposite the town of Numan. The upper course of the river as well as most of its tributaries are seasonal streams that rapidly fill up in August and September yearly. The lower reaches of the river are impounded by the Dadin Kowa Dam near Gombe and the Kiri Dam further below. Kiri Dam is located at Shelleng LGA of Adamawa state in the north-east of

which was built to provide irrigation for the Savannah Sugar Company.

Economy of Nafada

The Nafada LGA is home to several

marketplace A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...

s, including the Donfa market, where a wide range of goods are bought and sold. In Nafada LGA, there are also a lot of

mineral resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest, and cultural value. ...

, such as

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

and gypsum.

Farming Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

handicraft A handicraft is a traditional main sector of craft making and applies to a wide range of creative and design activities that are related to making things with one's hands and skill, including work with textiles, moldable and rigid material ...

s, the raising and sale of

domestic animals This page gives a list of domesticated animals, also including a list of animals which are or may be currently undergoing the process of domestication and animals that have an extensive relationship with humans beyond simple predation. This includ ...

, and some other significant economic activities in Nafada LGA. Nafada has heavy deposit of

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

as one of its biggest mineral resources. The Fika Shale in Nafada area is composed of thick laminated non-gypsiferous

red clay Ultisol, commonly known as red clay soil, is one of twelve soil orders in the United States Department of Agriculture soil taxonomy. The word "Ultisol" is derived from "ultimate", because Ultisols were seen as the ultimate product of continuous ...

, gypsum-rich blue-black shale and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

grey Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

coloured highly

fissile In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material that can undergo nuclear fission when struck by a neutron of low energy. A self-sustaining thermal Nuclear chain reaction#Fission chain reaction, chain reaction can only be achieved with fissil ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

and

sandy clay Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

with occasional

cobbles Cobblestone is a natural building material based on cobble-sized stones, and is used for pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as "cobbles", although a sett is distinct from a ...

and pebbles. This great resource is however under utilized, a sad reality that makes the local Government one amongst those with least

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...

Population

The population of Nafada was 138185 as of 2006

population census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given population, usually displayed in the form of statistics. This term is used ...

made, With Fulani being the largest tribe in the LGA.

Notable people

* HRH Aljahi Muhammadu Dadum Hamza * Usman Bayero Nafada *

Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa, OFR (born March 1950) is a Nigerian judge and former President of the Nigerian courts of appeal. She is the first female to be the President of the Nigerian court of appeal. Early life Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkacha O ...

* Salisu Shu’aibu Dendele * Salihu Baba Alkali * Sheikh Adamu Muhammad Nafada (Sheikh Adamu Misra)

References

{{Gombe State Local Government Areas in Gombe State