State Summary Indicator Value Poverty 51.8% Unemployment 8.

9%

Click for more maps Oyo State is an inland state in south-western Nigeria, with its capital at Ibadan. It is bounded in the north by Kwara State, in the east by Osun State, in the south by Ogun State and in the west partly by Ogun State and partly by the Republic of Benin.

Geography
Oyo State covers approximately an area of 28,454 square kilometers and is ranked 14th by size. The landscape consists of old hard rocks and dome shaped hills, which rise gently from about 500 meters in the southern part and reaching a height of about 1,219 metre above sea level in the northern part. Some principal rivers such as Ogun river, Oba, Oyan, Otin, Ofiki, Sasa, Oni, Erinle and Osun river take their sources from this highland. Oyo State contain a number of natural features including the Old Oyo National Park. In this location there was earlier habitat for the endangered African Wild Dog, Lycaon pictus;[4] however, this canid is thought to have been locally extirpated at the present. The Climate is equatorial, notably with dry and wet seasons with relatively high humidity. The dry season lasts from November to March while the wet season starts from April and ends in October. Average daily temperature ranges between 25 C (77.0 F) and 35 C (95.0 F), almost throughout the year.

History
It was formed in 1976 from the former Western State, and originally included sun State, which was split off in 1991. Oyo State is homogenous, mainly inhabited by the Yoruba ethnic group who are primarily agrarian but have a predilection for living in high density urban centers. The indigenes mainly comprise the Oyos,the Oke-Oguns, the Ibadans and the Ibarapas, all belonging to the Yoruba family and peo ples of Africa|indigenous]] city in Africa, south of the Sahara. Ibadan had been the centre of administration of the old Western Region, Nigeria since the days of the British colonial rule. Other notable cities and towns in y State include y, Ogboms, Isyin,

kishi, Okeho, Saki, Eruwa, Lanlate, Sepeteri, Ilora, Awe, Ilero, Igbeti, Igboho and Igbo ra. The climate in the state favours the cultivation of crops like maize, yam, cassava, millet, rice, plantain, cacao tree, palm tree and cashew. There are a number of government farm settlements in Ipapo, Ilora,Sepeteri, Eruwa, Ogbomosho, Iresaadu, Ijaiye, Akufo and Lalupon. There is abundance of clay, kaolin and aquamarine. There are also vast cattle ranches at Saki, Fasola, Moniya and Ibadan.

Records and Landmarks

The first university in Nigeria is the University of Ibadan (established as a college of the University of London when it was founded in 1948, and later converted into an autonomous university in 1962). It has the distinction of being one of the premier educational institutions in West Africa. The other Universities in the state are: Lead City University, Ibadan, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo and the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso. The Polytechnic, Ibadan is one of the best polytechnics in Nigeria. There are 324 secondary schools as well as 1,576 public primary schools in the state. Other noteworthy institutions in the city include the University College Hospital; the first teaching hospital in Nigeria and the internationally acclaimed International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (lITA). Another prominent landmark in Oyo State is the Cocoa House, the first skyscraper built in Africa. The state is also home to NTA Ibadan, the first television station in Africa and Liberty Stadium the first stadium built in Africa. Other major tourist attractions located in the state include: Agodi Botanical Garden, Ado-Awaye Suspended lake, Mapo Hall, University of lbadan Zoological Garden, Ido Cenotaph, TransWonderland Amusement Park, Oke-Ogun National Park in, Old Oyo-Ile, Iyamopo and Agbele Hill in Igbeti, Bowers Tower and the Cultural Centre, Mokola.

Government and politics

Under the Nigerian 1999 constitution the government of Oyo State, and those of the other 35 Nigerian States, is divided into three branches to be in line with the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which is also three tier: the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judiciary. The executive branch of Oyo State government is headed by an elected executive governor who presides over the State Executive Council made up of appointed cabinet members. The present governor of Oyo State is Senator Abiola Isiaka Ajimobi with Chief Moses Alake Adeyemo as deputy governor. The legislative branch is headed by an elected Speaker of the House of Assembly. The current Speaker is Monsurat Sunmonu. And lastly, the judiciary is headed by the Chief Judge of Oyo State High Court. The present and acting Chief Judge of the state is Badejoko Olateju Adeniji who replaced Olagoke Ige.[6]

Education
Presently the State has 1,703 public schools, 971 private nursery/primary schools, 335 public secondary schools including 7 schools of Science and 57 private secondary schools. Also in the State, there are five government technical colleges at Oyo, Ogbomoso, Ibadan, Saki and Igbo-Ora with enrolment of 2,829 students in the 2000/2001 academic session.

Historically prominent secondary schools include Loyola College Ibadan, Government College Ibadan, St Patricks Grammar School Ibadan, St Thersa's College Ibadan and St Annes' School Idadan. It's also home to Africa's leading fountain of knowledge, the iconic University of Ibadan (The University was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London, then it was called the University College, Ibadan [7]). The present administration has established two new technical colleges located at Ado-Awaye, Iseyin Local Government area and Ikija in Oluyole Local Government area which took off in the 2001/2002 academic session. A college of education, Oyo State College of Education, Oyo. There is a Polytechnic, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, with 2 satellite campuses at Eruwa and Saki, and a State-owned University, The Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso which is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun State Governments. The federal premier university The University of Ibadan, is also located in State capital. There are also the Federal College Education (Special), Oyo, the Federal Schools of Surveying, Oyo; Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Agricultural Institute for Research and Training (AIR&T), the Federal School of Forestry and the Nigeria Institute for Social and Economic Research (NISER), all in Ibadan. Similarly, there are 15 Nomadic schools in the State. They are Gaa Jooro and Gaa Baale, both in Kisi (Irepo Local Government); Baochilu Government; Arin-Oye, Abiogun, Okaka and Baba-Ode (Itesiwaju Local Government); Iganna (Iwajowa Local Government); Igangan and Ayete (Ibarapa North Local Government Gaa Kondo and Igbo-Ora, Ibarapa Central Local Government) and Sepeteri (Saki East Local Government). There are 213 continuing education centres spread all over the State. Also, there are 15 special primary schools and 8 special units in secondary schools catering for handicapped children. There are 11,732 teaching staff in the state public secondary schools and 2,789 non-teaching staff. There are also the Agency for Adult and Non-formal Education (AANFE) which caters for illiterate adults who had no opportunity of formal education. The Agency has 455 classes in existence in the 33 Local Government areas of the State, while 200,000 illiterate adults and over 80,000 post-illiterate adults have been trained recently.

Tourism is an activity of increasing social and economic importance, which involves the movement of people from one point to the other in search of pleasure, fun, business, adventure, cultural and political exchanges, etc.

The need to take accurate stock of such movements (at domestic and international levels in terms of where people go, eat and sleep during their stay and extent of their travels, funds expended at tourist destinations) is vital for planning purposes. Such data enable planners and developers to study patterns and trends exhibited by tourist traffic, and also serve as an indicators of the viability or performance of the sub-sector in general. Nigeria had her first international tourists in 1472, when Portuguese merchants visited Lagos, apparently in search of trade. There are also historical records of Trans-Saharan and caravan movements. Since then, the tourism industry has continued to show appreciable growth in the country. In 1962, the Government established the Nigerian Tourist Association (NTA) and charged it with the responsibility of promoting domestic and international tourism in the country. In 1976, NTA was dissolved and the Nigerian Tourism Board (NTB) established in its place. The development of the sub-sector was boosted in 1990, when the Ministry of Trade and Industry was created, and the NTB became a Corporation. The significance of tourism lies in its great potentials for generating foreign exchange. For example, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a total of 328,906 tourists arrived in Nigeria in 1987 and the receipt earned was N1.1 billion. Estimated earnings were expected to reach some N53 billion by the year 2000, and much higher by 2005, particularly given the stabilising democratic dispensation in the country. Nigeria has numerous tourist attractions located in the various parts of the country, although only a few of them are being exploited at present. When fully developed, the sub-sector has the potential of generating significant amounts of foreign exchange. The key agency that should be responsible for tourist data collection and production is the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC). So far, the active agencies in this direction include the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), National Population Commission (NPC) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria [FAAN].