Kaduna

Kaduna State exists because Lord Lugard needed a railway junction. Founded by British colonists in 1900, Kaduna became Northern Region capital when the colonial administration moved from Zungeru in 1916. The railway connecting Lagos to Kano, Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, intersected here - making Kaduna the most important hub in Nigeria's network by 1957. This infrastructure attracted industry: the first major textile mill in northern Nigeria opened here, near cotton-growing regions and river water. At its peak, Kaduna's textile industry employed tens of thousands. But structural adjustment in 1986, currency deregulation, and Chinese imports after 2010 devastated local manufacturing. Today factories stand empty. Zaria, formerly Zazzau and one of the original seven Hausa city-states, anchors the state's cultural heritage. Cotton ginning dominated after the railway opened in 1910, and elaborately hand-embroidered robes have been made here for over 200 years. The Kofar Mata dye pits are among the world's oldest still operating. Peugeot maintains an assembly plant; the Kaduna Refinery is one of Nigeria's four. Religious tensions between the Muslim north and Christian south have produced recurring violence. By 2026, whether textile manufacturing revives or petroleum refining expands will depend on industrial policy stability that has historically eluded the state.