Close Menu
    Lifestyle

    Every state in Nigeria: Capitals, zones, population and the push for new states, explained

    Digital ReporterBy 19 Views
    nigeria population
    This image is for illustrative purposes only

    Nigeria is a federal republic made up of 36 states and one Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.[1] Each state has its own governor, House of Assembly and capital city, while the federal government sits in Abuja, which is legally a territory rather than a state.[1]

    This structure did not exist at independence. Understanding how Nigeria grew from three regions into 36 states helps explain many of today’s political debates, including the current push in the National Assembly to create even more states.

    How Nigeria got to 36 states

    At independence in 1960, Nigeria was a federation of three regions: Northern, Western and Eastern.[19] A fourth, the Mid-Western Region, was carved out of the Western Region in 1963.[19]

    The regional system ended in 1967, when the military government of General Yakubu Gowon replaced the four regions with 12 states, partly in response to the political tensions that led to the Nigerian Civil War.[19][22] Further military-led state creation exercises followed over the next three decades.

    Here is the documented timeline:

    • 1967: General Yakubu Gowon creates 12 states out of the four regions[22][25]
    • 1976: General Murtala Mohammed creates seven more states, bringing the total to 19[20][22]
    • 1987: General Ibrahim Babangida creates 2 states (Akwa Ibom and Katsina), bringing the total to 21[20][25]
    • 1991: Babangida creates 9 more states, bringing the total to 30[20][22]
    • 1996: General Sani Abacha creates 6 final states (Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Nasarawa and Zamfara), completing the current 36-state structure[22][25]

    Every one of Nigeria’s existing states was created by military decree, not through the civilian legislative process the constitution now requires.[15] This history matters because it is one reason today’s civilian lawmakers are finding state creation so difficult, a point covered further below.

    The six geopolitical zones

    Nigeria’s states are informally but widely grouped into six geopolitical zones. These zones are not mentioned in the constitution, but government agencies, political parties and researchers use them constantly for planning, elections and resource allocation.[7]

    North Central (6 states plus the FCT): Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.[2]

    North East (6 states): Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe.

    North West (7 states, the largest zone by state count): Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara.[7]

    South East (5 states, the smallest zone by state count): Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo.[7]

    South South (6 states): Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Rivers.[7]

    South West (6 states): Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo.

    Full list of states and capitals

    StateCapitalZone
    AbiaUmuahiaSouth East
    AdamawaYolaNorth East
    Akwa IbomUyoSouth South
    AnambraAwkaSouth East
    BauchiBauchiNorth East
    BayelsaYenagoaSouth South
    BenueMakurdiNorth Central
    BornoMaiduguriNorth East
    Cross RiverCalabarSouth South
    DeltaAsabaSouth South
    EbonyiAbakalikiSouth East
    EdoBenin CitySouth South
    EkitiAdo-EkitiSouth West
    EnuguEnuguSouth East
    GombeGombeNorth East
    ImoOwerriSouth East
    JigawaDutseNorth West
    KadunaKadunaNorth West
    KanoKanoNorth West
    KatsinaKatsinaNorth West
    KebbiBirnin KebbiNorth West
    KogiLokojaNorth Central
    KwaraIlorinNorth Central
    LagosIkejaSouth West
    NasarawaLafiaNorth Central
    NigerMinnaNorth Central
    OgunAbeokutaSouth West
    OndoAkureSouth West
    OsunOsogboSouth West
    OyoIbadanSouth West
    PlateauJosNorth Central
    RiversPort HarcourtSouth South
    SokotoSokotoNorth West
    TarabaJalingoNorth East
    YobeDamaturuNorth East
    ZamfaraGusauNorth West
    Federal Capital TerritoryAbujaNorth Central (not a state)

    Size and population, by the numbers

    Land area varies enormously between states, which shapes a lot of political debate about representation and resources. Niger State is the largest state in Nigeria by land area, at roughly 76,363 square kilometres.[7] Lagos is the smallest state by area, but by far the most densely populated, and Lagos city is widely reported as the most populous urban area in Africa.[28]

    Population figures need a bit more care, because Nigeria has not held a full national census since 2006, so every newer number is a projection rather than a fresh count, and different official sources project it differently.[3][31]

    At the national level, the United Nations’ population estimates, as compiled by Worldometer, put Nigeria’s population at roughly 242.4 million as of 2026, growing at about 2.06 percent per year, one of the faster growth rates among the world’s most populous countries.[37] This is Nigeria’s sixth-largest population in the world.[37]

    A separate, Nigeria-specific projection tells a slightly different story. Nigeria’s own National Bureau of Statistics, in its 2023 Demographic Bulletin, projected the national population at about 221.25 million for 2023, based on figures from the National Population Commission.[29][36] The gap between the two totals is normal and expected. It comes from different agencies using different growth assumptions and reference years rather than either figure being wrong, and it is a good reminder that any Nigerian population number should be read as an estimate, not a precise count.[3][31]

    At the state level, only the Nigerian government publishes a full state-by-state breakdown. Based on the NBS 2023 Demographic Bulletin, Kano State is the most populous state, with a projected population of about 15.67 million, followed by Lagos at about 13.71 million, and Katsina at about 10.66 million.[29][36] Nasarawa and Bayelsa were listed as the least populous states.[36]

    Myth versus documented fact

    A few widely repeated claims about Nigeria’s states are worth separating from what is actually verified.

    Myth: The geopolitical zones are official constitutional divisions.
    Documented fact: The six zones have no constitutional status. They are an administrative and political convention, not a legal structure.[7]

    Myth: Nigeria’s states were created through referendums and public votes, the way the constitution describes.
    Documented fact: All 36 existing states were created by military decree between 1967 and 1996, without the referendums the current constitution requires for new states.[15]

    Myth: Nigeria has one single, agreed population figure that everyone uses.
    Documented fact: Because the last full census was in 2006, Nigeria’s population is currently a matter of competing projections from different sources, and those projections can differ by tens of millions.[3][29][37]

    Myth: New states are about to be created any day now because of the ongoing constitution review.
    Documented fact: As of the most recent reporting, none of the dozens of new-state proposals before the National Assembly have met the constitutional requirements needed to proceed, including the two-thirds legislative approval and referendum thresholds.[15][17]

    The current push for new states

    Nigeria is in the middle of a lively, unresolved debate about creating more states. Section 8 of the 1999 constitution lays out a demanding process for any new state: a request signed by at least two-thirds of elected representatives from the affected area, approval by two-thirds of voters in a referendum, approval by a simple majority of all state assemblies, and finally a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of the National Assembly.[12]

    Despite that high bar, demand has been intense. By mid-2025, the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review had received dozens of separate requests for new states from across the six zones, alongside requests for new local government areas.[15] Some reports put the number of requests as high as 56 to 61.[17][18]

    In one of the more concrete proposals, the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on Constitution Review recommended, in late 2025, that six new states be created, one in each geopolitical zone, which would take Nigeria from 36 states to 42.[10][12] Under that plan, the North West would gain an eighth state, while the North East, North Central, South West and South South would each have seven, and the South East would have six.[10][12]

    However, as of the most recent reporting, none of these proposals had cleared the constitutional hurdles required for approval, particularly the referendum requirement, which experts consider the hardest to satisfy.[17] There are also economic concerns. A 2025 State of States report found that 28 of Nigeria’s 36 existing states relied on federal allocations for at least 55 percent of their revenue in 2024, with 21 states depending on federal transfers for at least 70 percent of their revenue.[17] Some state governors, including in Imo and Abia, have publicly disagreed on whether creating more states is the right response to demands for better representation, with some arguing existing states should focus on more inclusive governance instead of further subdivision.[16]

    Why this matters beyond Nigeria

    Nigeria’s experience with subnational restructuring offers a useful reference point for readers in other African and Asian countries wrestling with similar questions, whether that is devolution debates in Kenya, provincial boundary disputes in Pakistan or state reorganisation discussions in India. The core tension is familiar almost everywhere: smaller administrative units can bring government closer to communities and ease ethnic or regional grievances, but they also multiply the cost of governance and can strain already limited public revenue. Nigeria’s current debate, where dozens of new-state requests have piled up against a high constitutional bar and real fiscal constraints, is a live case study of that trade-off playing out in real time.

    Disclaimer: This is a developing story, and any change to Nigeria’s state structure would be a major, closely watched event. This article reflects verified reporting available as of late September 2026 and will read differently if new constitutional amendments are actually ratified.

    If you notice anything in this article that needs correcting or updating, please get in touch, feedback and corrections are always welcome.

    References

    Share.

    Digital Reporter is a section under TrenderHQ's editorial team. We make every effort to ensure our information is accurate, though occasional errors may occur. Readers are encouraged to verify details with other trusted sources. For corrections, updates, or feedback, please email: info@trenderhq.com. To advertise with us or support our cause through a donation, reach out via our contact page or email: hello@trenderhq.com

    Related Posts

    Leave A Reply

    TrenderHQ © 2026 | powered by Intek Multimedia.