Asaba Ahaba |
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Nickname(s): Ani Mmili | |
Asaba
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Coordinates: | |
Country | Nigeria |
State | Delta State |
Asaba (Igbo: Ahaba)[1] is the capital of Nigeria's Delta State, and has an estimated population of 149,603 (2006 census).[2]
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Ahaba in Igbo is from 'Ahabagom', meaning I have chosen well, a quote from the founding father of Asaba.
The City of Asaba, the capital of oil rich Delta State of Nigeria is strategically located on a hill at the western edge of the majestic River Niger. The historic River Niger is a trans-African link beginning from West Africa and down into the Atlantic Ocean. Asaba forms a connector between western, eastern and northern Nigeria through the River Niger from the north and via the Asaba Niger Bridge, an east west link and a Nigeria landmark.
Asaba lies approximately 6 degrees north of the equator and about the same distance east of the meridian; about 100 miles north of where the River Niger flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The greater Asaba occupies an area of about 300 square kilometers. It maintains an average tropical temperature of 90 degrees during the dry season and an average fertile rainfall of 6 inches during the rainy season. Igbo is the native language in Asaba and neighboring towns/environs.
Asaba is part of the ethnic territory of the Igbo people. The origin of the people indigenous to Asaba are Igbos, with growing immigrant communities of Itsekiri, Urhobo, Isoko, Ijaw, Hausa and Yoruba people .
Asaba was once the colonial capital of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate. It was founded in 1884[3]. It hosted the Royal Niger Company, which the British authorities set up to stimulate trade and the exportation of goods to England. That company has grown today into the UAC Nigeria PLC. Its traditional ruler is the Asagba, Joseph Chike Edozien. Maryam Babangida, wife of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who was Nigeria's head of state from 1985 to 1993 was born in Asaba.[4]
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