Abakaliki

Abakaliki is a local government area as well as being the largest city and capital of Ebonyi state found in the SouthEast geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is home to the Igbo tribe of Nigeria and boasts a population of 978,675 inhabitants. Christianity is the widely practiced religion with igbo as the widely spoken language. Popular city landmarks include the Ebonyi state university, the Abakaliki township statdium, National Museum, Abakaliki Golf club, Abakaliki Green lake, Abakaliki Amusement Park, , Salt lake, Slave market, and the Mkpuma Ekwa Oku rocks. Tertiary institutions in Abakaliki include the Ebonyi state University and the National Open University of Nigeria. A number of privately and government-owned health facilities can be found in Abakaliki and these include the Federal Teaching hospital, Federal Medical Center, Christ the King Hospital, St Theresa's hospital Abakaliki, and the Ebonyi state University Teaching Hospital.                     

Popular areas in Abakaliki town include Waterworks road, 3rd avenue, Abakpa, kpiri kpiri, Ogoja road, Udensi street, Nkaliki road, Ndiaguo, and Ntezi Aba, GRA and the Afikpo road while popular festivals held in Abakaliki town include the Oke Aku festival and the New Yam festival. Mbukobe, 

GEOGRAPHY

Abakaliki has a tropical savanna climate with a total area of 1,033 km squared. Average temperature is 28 degrees centigrade with rainfall averaging 2400 mm. The city has two distinct seasons which are the dry and the rainy seasons. 

The city of Abakaliki has winds moving southwards at an average speed of 13km/h while the city's humidity is estimated at 78 percent. 

ECONOMY

Abakaliki is majorly an agrarian city with sizeable outputs of yam, cassava, rice, and oil palm. The city also has large mineral deposits of lead, zinc, salt, and limestone.

Also, markets within the city such as the Iyiudene market and the Abakpa main market attract hundreds of traders and customers on a daily basis thus contributing to the economic life of the city. Other markets in Abakaliki include the Abakaliki main market, Ebonyi state International market, and New market.

HISTORY

Abakaliki  is the former headquarters of the defunct Ogoja province which was in existence before the creation of the southeast region. Abakaliki was named capital city of Ebonyi state after the state was created in 1996.