Lokoja is the capital city of Kogi State

Kogi State

Kogi state is found in the central region of Nigeria. It is popularly called the Confluence State because the confluence of River Niger and River Benue is at its capital, Lokoja, which is the first administrative capital of modern-day Nigeria....

, in central Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

, and is a port on Niger River

Niger River

The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...

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History

Founded by William Balfour Baikie

William Balfour Baikie

William Balfour Baikie was a Scottish explorer, naturalist and philologist.-Biography:Baikie was born at Kirkwall, Orkney, eldest son of Captain John Baikie, R.N. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and, on obtaining his M.D. degree, joined the Royal Navy in 1848...

 according to European historical records, although there have been indigenous people living in the area for thousands of years. Lokoja was the capital of British Northern Nigeria Protectorate

Northern Nigeria Protectorate

Northern Nigeria was a British protectorate formed in 1900. The basis of the protectorate was the 1885 Treaty of Berlin which broadly granted Northern Nigeria to Britain, on the basis of their protectorates in Southern Nigeria...

 and remained a convenient administrative town for the British colonial government after the amalgamation

Amalgamation (politics)

A merger or amalgamation in a political or administrative sense is the combination of two or more political or administrative entities such as municipalities , counties, districts, etc. into a single entity. This term is used when the process occurs within a sovereign entity...

 of Northern and Southern Nigeria Protectorate

Southern Nigeria Protectorate

Southern Nigeria was a British protectorate in the coastal areas of modern-day Nigeria, formed in 1900 from union of the Niger Coast Protectorate with territories chartered by the Royal Niger Company below Lokoja on the Niger River....

s into one nation called Nigeria in 1914.

The first Governor General Lord Frederick Lugard

Frederick Lugard

Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard GCMG, CB, DSO, PC , known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator, who was Governor of Hong Kong and Governor-General of Nigeria .-Early life and education:Lugard...

 ruled the new nation of Nigeria from Lokoja. The city has since grown to an estimated 90000 inhabitants. It is a trade center for its agricultural region because it sits at the confluence of the Niger

Niger River

The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...

 and Benue

Benue River

The Benue River is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately 1,400 km long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months...

 rivers, and is close to the new federal capital of Nigeria in Abuja

Abuja

Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. It is located in the centre of Nigeria, within the Federal Capital Territory . Abuja is a planned city, and was built mainly in the 1980s. It officially became Nigeria's capital on 12 December 1991, replacing Lagos...

. Near Lokoja (in Ajaokuta

Ajaokuta

Ajaokuta is a Local Government Area in Kogi State, Nigeria and a town within it on the left bank of the Niger River. The headquarters of the LGA are in the town of Egayan in the south of the area at....

) are metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...

 facilities and iron ore mines.

The LGA

Lokoja is also a Local Government Area of Kogi State with an area of 3180 km² and a population of 195,261 at the 2006 census. It is bounded by the Niger in the north and east upstream from the capital until the border with Kwara State

Kwara State

Kwara State is one of the 36 states of Nigeria. Its capital is Ilorin. The primary ethnic group of Kwara State is Yoruba, with significant Nupe, Bariba and Fulani minorities.- History :...

, and includes the city of Lokoja. The postal code

Postal code

A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...

 of the area is 260.
It is home to the Kogi State Polytechnic

Kogi State Polytechnic

Kogi State Polytechnic was established in 1993, and is located in Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria. It is owned and operated by Kogi State.As of 2007 it was accredited by the National Board for Technical Education to give certificates in Art and printing, Business, Engineering, Finance and Science...

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