Niger, state, west-central Nigeria, bounded to the south by the Niger River. It is also bounded by the states of Kebbi and Zamfara to the north, Kaduna to the north and northeast, Kogi to the southeast, and Kwara to the south. The Abuja Federal Capital Territory is on Niger state’s eastern border, and the Republic of Benin is its western border. The landscape consists mostly of wooded savannas and includes the floodplains of the Kaduna River.
Slave raiding by the Fulani armies of the Kontagora and Nupe emirates in the 19th century severely depopulated the region, and the presence of the tsetse fly (which transmits trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness) has hindered resettlement. Niger province was created by the British in 1908 and called Nupe province from 1918 to 1926; it included the Abuja, Agaie, Bida, Kontagora, and Lapai emirates, the Gwari (Gbari), Kamuku, and Wushishi chiefdoms, and the Zuru federation. In 1967 Niger province became the southern part of North-Western state, and in 1976 it became Niger state (excluding the newly created Abuja Federal Capital Territory). In 1991 part of northwestern Kwara state, lying between the Niger River and the Republic of Benin, was added to Niger state.
Niger state is populated mainly by the Nupe people in the south, the Gwari in the east, the Busa in the west, and Kamberi (Kambari), Hausa, Fulani, Kamuku, and Dakarki (Dakarawa) in the north. Islam is the predominant religion. Most of the inhabitants are engaged in farming. Cotton, shea nuts, yams, and peanuts (groundnuts) are cultivated both for export and for domestic consumption. Sorghum, millet, cowpeas, corn (maize), tobacco, palm oil and kernels, kola nuts, sugarcane, and fish are also important in local trade. Paddy rice is widely grown as a cash crop in the floodplains of the Niger and Kaduna rivers, especially in the area around Bida. Cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, and guinea fowl are raised for meat. Pigs are raised around Minna for sale to southern Nigeria.
Gold, tin, iron, and quartz (used by the glass artisans in Bida) are mined mainly for local craftsmen. Pottery, brass work, glass manufactures, raffia articles, and locally dyed cloth are significant exports. Marble is quarried at Kwakuti, near Minna, the state capital; and Minna has a brick-making factory. Niger state has a share in all three dams of the Niger Dams Project, including one at Shiroro Gorge on the Kaduna River and one at Jebba (in Kwara state), the reservoir of which lies partly in Niger state. The Kainji Dam (1969) and part of its reservoir, Kainji Lake, also lie in the state. Besides generating hydroelectric power, these dams sustain irrigation projects, and fishing has developed as an industry on their reservoirs. Most of Kainji Lake National Park (formerly Borgu Game Reserve) is in Niger state.
Minna and Bida are the state’s chief towns and also the main education centres, with teacher-training colleges, a polytechnic institute in Bida, and a federal university of technology in Minna. Near Bida there is a rice research institute and an agricultural research station. A railway from Lagos traverses Niger state. The main highway system runs north of the railway and serves the market towns of Mokwa, Kontagora, Tegina, Kagara, and Kusheriki. The state’s other large towns are served by networks of local roads. Area 29,484 square miles (76,363 square km) Pop. (2006) 3,950,249.