Keffi

Keffi is a town and local government area in Nasarawa State, north central Nigeria, about 50 kilometres from the national capital Abuja. Nasarawa State University is located along the Keffi to Akwanga expressway. The local government area covers 138 square kilometres and had about 92,664 people at the 2006 census, and its postal code is 961. The town was founded around 1802 by a Fulani warrior-leader, Abdu Zanga, who took the title of emir; his small dominion was subject to the Zaria emirate and paid an annual tribute of slaves. In 1902 Keffi was the scene of an incident in which the magaji, a representative of the Zaria sultan, killed a British officer, which became the pretext for Frederick Lugard to invade the northern caliphate. The area has a tropical wet and dry climate, classed as Aw, with tin and columbite deposits, crops of millet, sorghum, yams and cotton, and the large Keffi cattle market.