Borno is a state in Nigeria. Maiduguri is the state capital, its main industrial centre, and by far its largest city. Biu and Bama also are sizable market towns. Maiduguri has an airport and is served by a railway to Bauchi and the south, as well as by trunk roads to Potiskum, Bauchi, Yola, and Ndjamena (Chad). Pop. (2006) 4,151,193.
The vegetation in Borno state is mainly of the Sudan savanna type, which includes the acacia (a source of gum arabic), baobab, locust bean, shea butter, dum palm, and kapok trees; however, there is a region of Sahel savanna, mostly thorn scrub and with sandy soils, in the north. Prominent physical features include the Bornu Plains, the volcanic Biu Plateau, and the firki (“black cotton”) swamps south and southwest of Lake Chad. Most of the state is drained by seasonal rivers flowing toward Lake Chad. The far south, however, is drained by the Gongola River, a tributary of the Benue.
The growing of sorghum, millet, peanuts (groundnuts), onions, corn (maize), sesame, acha (“hungry rice”), cotton, and indigo and the herding of cattle are the chief occupations, with fishing significant around Lake Chad.
The lake is connected to Maiduguri by a road from Baga, a town on a peninsula extending into the lake. The Lake Chad Commission, established (1964) by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, is charged with regulating the use of the waters of the lake and the basin for the development of livestock, crop, fishery, and water resources. Nigeria also has established a Chad Basin Authority.
Location
It’s located in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria,
Formation
The state was formed in 1976 when the former North-Eastern State was broken up. It originally included the area that is now Yobe State, which became a distinct state in 1991.
Boundaries
It’s bordered by Yobe to the west, Gombe to the southwest, and Adamawa to the south while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon, its northern border forms part of the national border with Niger, and its northeastern border forms all of the national border with Chad, being the only Nigerian state to border three foreign countries.
