Borno State

Borno State is a state in North East Nigeria. It is the second-largest state in the area of the 36 states in the country, only behind Niger State which is the largest. In 2016, its population was estimated to be about 5.86 million.

Cities

 * — the capital of Borno State

Other destinations

 * — a national park in northeastern Nigeria, in the Chad Basin, with a total area of about 2,258 km² in Borno State.

Understand
Geographically, the state is divided between the semi-desert Sahelian savanna in the north and the West Sudanian savanna in the centre and south with a part of the montane Mandara Plateau in the southeast. In the far northeast of the state is the Nigerian portion of Lake Chad and the Lake Chad flooded savanna ecoregion; the lake is fed by the Yobe River which forms the state's border with Niger until it reaches the lakebed. In the centre of the state is part of the Chad Basin National Park, a large national park that contains populations of black crowned crane, spotted hyena, patas monkey, and roan antelope along with transient herds of some of Nigeria's last remaining African bush elephants.

Borno State is inhabited by various ethnic groups, including the Dghwede, Glavda, Guduf, Laamang, Mafa, and Mandara in the central region; the Afade, Yedina (Buduma), and Kanembu in the extreme northeast; the Waja in the extreme south; and the Kyibaku, Kamwe, Kilba, and Margi groups in the south while the Kanuri and Shuwa Arabs live throughout the state's north and centre. Religiously, the vast majority of the state's population (~85%) are Muslim with smaller Christian and traditionalist minorities (especially in the south) at around 7% each.

By bus
Buses are the main form of land transport and ABC Transport amongst others offers overnight from Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and daytime buses from Kano and Jos.

And of course, you can get into Borno State by coming in your personal car. You can drive from any state into Borno State by journeying through the national roads A3, which continues towards N'Djamena, and A4 passes by here.

See
Borno State Museum in Maiduguri.

Sanda Kyarimi Park is a zoo in Borno State.

Stay safe
There is a lot of unrest in Borno State due to the widespread terrorism activity, kidnapping, and general unrest in the state. It is not very advisable to travel to Borno State now (updated, December 2021) as you are not sure when unrest would start, and if you must travel, at least for now (December 2021) ensure you go by plane and confirm if there is no Curfew ongoing in the state at the time to prevent you getting into the state when there is insurgency or problem of any kind.

Go next

 * Bauchi
 * Yola
 * Gombe