Time zone WAT (UTC+1) Climate Aw Local time Thursday 11:55 AM | LGA Okene 3-digit postal code prefix 264 Area 328 km² | |
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Weather 32°C, Wind SW at 14 km/h, 52% Humidity | ||
Okene village
Okene is a town in the Nigerian state of Kogi. The town is based in a Local Government Area of the same name. Okene runs along the A2 highway. It had an area of 328 km² and a population of 320,260 at the 2006 census.
Contents
Map of Okene, Nigeria
The postal code of the area is 264.
The predominant people are the Ebira of central Nigeria and the Yoruba; the local languages are Ebira and Yoruba
People
Okene is the birthplace of American Hockey League player and National Hockey League prospect Akim Aliu. It is also a home to Dr. Ibrahim Salau, a world-class aviation engineer. As an aviation engineer, Dr. Salau has worked for such aviation and related industries as B/E Aerospace in Jacksonville, Florida; Delta Air Lines in Atlanta Georgia; Sikorski Aircraft in Connecticut, Atlas Air in New York and now Bombardier Aerospace in Montreal Canada. While in this position he has worked on Boeing 727, B737, B757, B767, B777, Blackhawk and Seahawk helicopters as well as the Bombardier all new CSeries aircraft. Another prominent Nigerian that hails from Okene is Engineer Joseph Makoju, the former managing director of the power Holding Company of Nigeria and currently the Honorary Adviser to Mr. President on Electric Power and the Honorary Adviser to the President/CEO Dangote Group on Strategies.
Education
The Federal College of Education is situated in Okene. There is also a satellite campus of the Kogi State Polythecnic. There are also different schools in okene including high schools like Solardad Group of Schools located at Ikuehi close G.R.A Okene, Samaritan Nursery And Primary School located at Ozuwaya beside Kekere guest palace Okene
History
Okene Local Government Area was created in 1976 from the then Ebira Division by the Administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo, following the 1976 Local Government Reform. Ajaokuta and Ogori-Magongo LGAs were created from the old Okene LGA in 1991 and 1996 respectively. The people of Okene Local Government Area are a part of Ebira Tao people of the Central Senatorial District of Kogi State.
They are believed to have migrated from Jukun in the present day Taraba State and had a brief stopover in Idah before moving to its present location. The present Okene LGA is composed of Okene and Okengwe districts. There are 11 wards in the Local Government which are Bariki, Otutu, Orietesu, Lafia/Obessa, Okene-Eba, Idoji, Onyukolo, Obehira-Eba, Obehira-Uvete, Abuga/Ozuja and Upogoro/Odenku wards. The people are predominantly Muslims with a large size of Christian population too. To a great extent, there is a fusion of tradition and religions with only a negligible few still practicing exclusively traditional religion.