Oyo, state, western Nigeria. Oyo was reduced in size when Osun state was created out of its eastern portion in 1991. Oyo is bounded by the states of Kwara on the north, Osun on the east, and Ogun on the south and by the Republic of Benin on the west. Oyo state is traversed by the Yoruba Hills in the north. The state has some tropical rain forest in the south around Ibadan, the state capital, but is covered mostly by a “derived” savanna that is largely the result of clearing and burning the former forest cover to provide land for cultivation. The Ogun is the most important river. Oyo state is inhabited mainly by the Yoruba people.
The economy of Oyo is based chiefly on agriculture and handicrafts. Agricultural products include yams, corn (maize), cassava (manioc), beans, millet, plantains, tobacco, cacao, palm oil and palm kernels, cotton, kola nuts, indigo, and fruits. The state is also noted for its cottage industries, consisting of cotton spinning, weaving, dyeing, leatherworking (sheep and goat skins), wood carving, and mat making. Industries in Ibadan, the second largest city in Nigeria, include a cannery, a brewery, a publishing industry, a tobacco-processing factory, wood- and steel-furniture factory, and a motor-vehicle assembly plant. Ibadan is the site of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, and the Federal Agricultural Research Institute. Among the state’s tourist attractions are the Ibadan University Zoo, the Agodi Zoological Garden, and the residential palaces of Yoruba rulers in Oyo and Ogbomosho. There is a university at Ibadan and a number of teacher-training colleges. The Lagos-Ibadan highway links the northern and southern parts of the state. Pop. (2006) 5,591,589.