Jos

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Capital city of Plateau State, Nigeria

title: "Jos" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cities-in-nigeria", "jos", "populated-places-established-in-1915", "populated-places-in-plateau-state", "state-capitals-in-nigeria"] description: "Capital city of Plateau State, Nigeria" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Capital city of Plateau State, Nigeria ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

FieldValue
name
official_nameJos and Bukuru Metropolis
native_name
image_captionHill in the northeastern part of Jos
nicknameJ-Town
pushpin_mapNigeria
pushpin_map_captionLocation in Nigeria
coordinates
subdivision_typeCountry
subdivision_nameNigeria
subdivision_type1State
subdivision_name1Plateau State
leader_title1Governor of Plateau State
leader_name1Caleb Mutfwang
leader_title2Deputy Governor
leader_name2Josephine Piyo
leader_title3Supreme Judge
leader_name3David Mann
elevation_m1220
population_total821,618
population_as_of2010
population_density_km2auto
population_rank6th
demographics_type1GDP (PPP, 2015 int. Dollar)
demographics1_title1Year
demographics1_info12023
demographics1_title2Total
demographics1_info2$6.3 billion
demographics1_title3Per capita
demographics1_info3$6,500
translit_lang1_info1English
translit_lang1_info2Afizere
translit_lang1_info3Berom
timezoneGMT+1
blank_nameClimate
blank_infoAw
::

| name = Jos | official_name = Jos and Bukuru Metropolis | native_name = | native_name_lang = | other_name = | settlement_type = | translit_lang1 = | translit_lang1_type = | translit_lang1_info = | translit_lang2 = | image_skyline = | imagesize = | image_caption = Hill in the northeastern part of Jos | image_flag = | flag_size = | image_seal = | seal_size = | image_shield = | shield_size = | image_blank_emblem = | blank_emblem_type = | blank_emblem_size = | nickname = J-Town | motto = | image_map = | mapsize = | map_caption = | image_map1 = | mapsize1 = | map_caption1 = | pushpin_map = Nigeria | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Nigeria | coordinates = | coor_pinpoint = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Nigeria | subdivision_type1 = State | subdivision_name1 = Plateau State | government_footnotes = | leader_title1 = Governor of Plateau State | leader_name1 = Caleb Mutfwang | leader_title2 = Deputy Governor | leader_name2 = Josephine Piyo | leader_title3 = Supreme Judge | leader_name3 = David Mann | elevation_m = 1220 | population_total = 821,618 | population_as_of = 2010 | population_density_km2 = auto | population_density_urban_km2 = | population_density_urban_sq_mi = | population_density_metro_km2 = | population_density_metro_sq_mi = | population_rank = 6th | demographics_type1 = GDP (PPP, 2015 int. Dollar) | demographics1_title1 = Year | demographics1_info1 = 2023 | demographics1_title2 = Total | demographics1_info2 = $6.3 billion | demographics1_title3 = Per capita | demographics1_info3 = $6,500 | translit_lang1_info1 = English | translit_lang1_info2 = Afizere | translit_lang1_info3 = Berom | timezone = GMT+1 | blank_name = Climate | blank_info = Aw Jos is a city in the North-Central region of Nigeria with a population of about 900,000 residents based on the 2006 census. Popularly called "J-Town", it is the administrative capital and largest city of Plateau State. The city is situated on the Jos plateau which lies within the Guinea Savannah of North-Central Nigeria. It connects most of the North-Eastern capitals to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, by road. Driving in and out of Jos, traffic encounters very steep and windy bends and mountainous sceneries typical of the plateau, from which the state derives its name.

During the period of British colonial rule, Jos became an important centre for tin mining after large deposits of cassiterite, the main ore for the metal, were discovered. It is also the trading hub of Plateau State as commercial activities are steadily increasing.

History

The earliest known settlers of the land that would come to be known as Nigeria were the Nok people ( BC), skilled artisans from around the Jos area who mysteriously vanished in the late first millennium.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/The_National_Archives_UK_-_CO_1069-62-74.jpg" caption="Early British settlement in Jos, 1905"] ::

According to the historian Sen Luka Gwom Zangabadt, the area known as Jos today was inhabited by indigenous ethnic groups who were mostly farmers. During the British colonial period, direct rule was introduced for the indigenous ethnic groups on the Jos Plateau since they were not under the Fulani emirates where indirect rule was used.

According to the historian Samuel N Nwabara, the Fulani empire controlled most of northern Nigeria, except the Plateau province and the Berom, Ngas, Tiv, Jukun and Idoma ethnic groups. It was the discovery of tin by the British that led to the influx of other ethnic groups such as the Hausa from the north, southeastern Igbo, and Yoruba from the country's southwest. As such, Jos is often recognised as a cosmopolitan Nigerian city.

According to the white paper of the commission of inquiry into the 1894 crisis, Ames, a British colonial administrator, said that the original name for Jos was Gwosh in the Izere language (spoken by the Afusari, the first settlers in the area), which was a village situated at the current site of the city; according to Ames, the Hausa, who arrived there after, wrongly pronounced Gwosh as "Jos" and it stuck.

Another version was that "Jos" came from the word "Jasad" meaning body in Arabic. To distinguish it from the hilltops, it was called "Jas", which was mispronounced by the British as "Jos". It grew rapidly after the British discovered vast tin deposits in the vicinity. Both tin and columbite were extensively mined in the area up until the 1960s. They were transported by railway to both Port Harcourt and Lagos on the coast, and then exported from those ports. Jos is still often referred to as "Tin City". It was made capital of Benue-Plateau State in 1967 and became the capital of the new Plateau State in 1975. Jos has become an important national administrative, commercial, and tourist centre. Tin mining led to the influx of migrants (mostly Igbos, Yorubas and Europeans) who constitute more than half of the population of Jos. This "melting pot" of race, ethnicity and religion makes Jos one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Nigeria. For this reason, Plateau State is known in Nigeria as the "home of peace and tourism".

Excellent footage of Jos in 1936 including the tin mines, local people and the colonial population is held by the Cinema Museum in London [ref HM0172].

Political divisions

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Nasco_Corporate_Headquarters.jpg" caption="The Nasco corporate headquarters is in Jos"] ::

The city is divided into 2 local government areas of Jos North and Jos South. The city proper lies between Jos North and parts of Jos South headquartered in Bukuru.

;Jos-North

The Local Government Council administration is headquartered here. Jos North is the commercial nerve centre of the state as it houses the state's branch of Nigeria's Central Bank and the headquarters of the commercial banks are mostly located here as well as the currency exchanges along Ahmadu Bello Way. Moreover, all basic and essential services can be found in Jos North from the Jos Main market (terminus) to the Kabong or Rukuba Road satellite market. Due to recent communal clashes, however, a lot of commercial activities are shifting to Jos South.

The palace and office of the Gbong Gwom Jos (traditional ruler of Jos) are located in an area in Jos North called Jishe in the Berom language. In 1956, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II together with her consort Prince Philip had a weekend stopover to rest at Jishe during her Nigeria tour. Jishe was known at that time as Tudun Wada cottage. Jos North has a significant slum. Jos North is the location of the University of Jos and its teaching hospital at Laminga & the National Commission for Museums and Monuments. The Nigerian Film Institute is also located in Jos-North at the British America junction along Murtala Mohammed way. Both the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) are headquartered in this part of the metropolis.

;Jos-South

Jos South is the second most populous Local Government Area in Plateau State and has its Council located along Bukuru expressway. Jos South is the seat of the Governor i.e. the old Government House in Rayfield and the New Government House in Little Rayfield and the industrial centre of Plateau State due to the presence of industries like the NASCO group of companies, Standard Biscuits, Grand Cereals and Oil Mills, Zuma steel west Africa, aluminium roofing industries, Jos International Breweries among others. Jos South also houses prestigious institutions like the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), the highest academic awarding institution in Nigeria, the Police Staff College, the NTA television college, Nigerian Film Corporation and Karl Kumm University. Jos South also houses the prestigious National Centre For Remote Sensing. The city has formed an agglomeration with the town of Bukuru to form the Jos-Bukuru metropolis (JBM). Jos also is the seat of the famous National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), situated in Vom. and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).

Geography and climate

Situated almost at the geographical centre of Nigeria and about 179 km from Abuja, the nation's capital, Jos is linked by road, rail and air to the rest of the country. The city is served by Yakubu Gowon Airport, but its rail connections no longer operate as the only currently operational section of Nigeria's rail network is the western line from Lagos to Kano.

At an altitude of 1,217 m above sea level, Jos' climate is closer to temperate than that of the vast majority of Nigeria. Average monthly temperatures range from 21 -, and from mid-November to late January, night-time temperatures drop as low as 7 C. Hail sometimes falls during the rainy season because of the cooler temperatures at high altitudes. These cooler temperatures have, from colonial times until the present day, made Jos a favourite holiday location for both tourists and expatriates based in Nigeria.

Jos receives about 1400 mm of rainfall annually, the precipitation arising from both convectional and orographic sources, owing to the location of the city on the Jos Plateau.

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Jos has a tropical savanna climate, abbreviated Aw.

| width = auto | metric first = yes | single line = yes | location = Jos (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1947–1970, 1991–2020) | Jan record high C = 35 | Feb record high C = 34.5 | Mar record high C = 35.6 | Apr record high C = 36 | May record high C = 35.3 | Jun record high C = 32.2 | Jul record high C = 29.2 | Aug record high C = 30 | Sep record high C = 29.5 | Oct record high C = 34 | Nov record high C = 31.7 | Dec record high C = 32 | year record high C = 36.0

| Jan high C = 28.3 | Feb high C = 30.2 | Mar high C = 31.9 | Apr high C = 30.8 | May high C = 28.4 | Jun high C = 26.4 | Jul high C = 24.6 | Aug high C = 24.1 | Sep high C = 26.0 | Oct high C = 27.5 | Nov high C = 28.3 | Dec high C = 28.0 | year high C = 27.9

| Jan mean C = 20.0 | Feb mean C = 22.1 | Mar mean C = 24.5 | Apr mean C = 24.7 | May mean C = 23.4 | Jun mean C = 21.9 | Jul mean C = 20.8 | Aug mean C = 20.5 | Sep mean C = 21.4 | Oct mean C = 21.9 | Nov mean C = 20.8 | Dec mean C = 19.8 | year mean C = 21.8

| Jan low C = 11.8 | Feb low C = 14.0 | Mar low C = 17.0 | Apr low C = 18.6 | May low C = 18.4 | Jun low C = 17.5 | Jul low C = 17.0 | Aug low C = 16.9 | Sep low C = 16.8 | Oct low C = 16.4 | Nov low C = 13.3 | Dec low C = 11.5 | year low C = 15.8

| Jan record low C = 1.1 | Feb record low C = 7.2 | Mar record low C = 10 | Apr record low C = 12.5 | May record low C = 12 | Jun record low C = 13 | Jul record low C = 11 | Aug record low C = 9.5 | Sep record low C = 10 | Oct record low C = 10.0 | Nov record low C = 8 | Dec record low C = 6 | year record low C = 1.1

| precipitation colour = green | Jan precipitation mm = 0.4 | Feb precipitation mm = 5.1 | Mar precipitation mm = 13.4 | Apr precipitation mm = 93.2 | May precipitation mm = 176.5 | Jun precipitation mm = 207.1 | Jul precipitation mm = 248.7 | Aug precipitation mm = 255.5 | Sep precipitation mm = 181.9 | Oct precipitation mm = 58.7 | Nov precipitation mm = 1.2 | Dec precipitation mm = 1.2 | year precipitation mm = 1242.9

| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm | Jan precipitation days = 0.1 | Feb precipitation days = 0.3 | Mar precipitation days = 1.2 | Apr precipitation days = 6.8 | May precipitation days = 13.3 | Jun precipitation days = 14.7 | Jul precipitation days = 19.0 | Aug precipitation days = 19.6 | Sep precipitation days = 15.1 | Oct precipitation days = 5.9 | Nov precipitation days = 0.1 | Dec precipitation days = 0.2 | year precipitation days = 96.3

| Jan humidity = 21.5 | Feb humidity = 20.6 | Mar humidity = 28.7 | Apr humidity = 52.7 | May humidity = 70.3 | Jun humidity = 76.7 | Jul humidity = 81.7 | Aug humidity = 86.1 | Sep humidity = 83.1 | Oct humidity = 73.2 | Nov humidity = 47.0 | Dec humidity = 29.4 | year humidity = 55.9

|Jan sun = 282.1 |Feb sun = 254.8 |Mar sun = 238.7 |Apr sun = 204.0 |May sun = 204.6 |Jun sun = 198.0 |Jul sun = 158.1 |Aug sun = 139.5 |Sep sun = 177.0 |Oct sun = 238.7 |Nov sun = 285.0 |Dec sun = 288.3 |year sun = 2668.8 |Jan percentsun = 79 |Feb percentsun = 78 |Mar percentsun = 64 |Apr percentsun = 56 |May percentsun = 53 |Jun percentsun = 53 |Jul percentsun = 41 |Aug percentsun = 37 |Sep percentsun = 49 |Oct percentsun = 65 |Nov percentsun = 82 |Dec percentsun = 81 |year percentsun = 61

| source = NOAA (sunshine 1961–1990){{cite web |url = https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-1-WMO-Normals-9120/Nigeria/CSV/Jos_65134.csv |title = World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991-2020 — Jos |publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |access-date = January 6, 2024}} | url = https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/normals/WMO/1961-1990/TABLES/REG__I/NI/65134.TXT | title = Jos Climate Normals 1961–1990 | publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | access-date = 22 July 2016}} |source 2 = DWD (extremes) | url = https://www.dwd.de/DWD/klima/beratung/ak/ak_651340_kt.pdf | title = Klimatafel von Jos / Nigeria | publisher = Deutscher Wetterdienst | access-date = January 25, 2023}}

Education

Jos is home to University of Jos one of the largest University in Nigeria. The institution is very prominent in the fields of Agriculture, Science, Finance, Medicine and Law. The school is known for the large number of elites from the region that passed through its academic buildings and counts among its alumni former Nigerian heads of state, Yakubu Gowon.

Jos is also the base for the Nigerian Film Corporation, Federal College of Forestry, NTA TV College, Karl kumm University, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Some historic secondary school in the city is the Air force military school.

Features

;330 Nigerian Air Force station Jos

the 330 Nigerian Air Force station is located in the Jos South Local Government area along the old airport road. The station boasts blocks of barracks for air personnel, an airstrip, a primary school, a military secondary school and a hospital which is arguably one of the best in the state.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Jos_nigeria05.jpg" caption="Fruit for sale at the Park Market."] ::

;Jos Wildlife Park

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Elephant_at_the_Jos_Wildlife_Park.jpg" caption="An elephant at Jos Wildlife Park"] ::

Covering roughly 3 sqmi of savannah bush and established in 1972 under the administration of then Governor of Benue-Plateau Joseph Gomwalk in alliance with a mandate by the then Organisation of African Unity to African heads of state to earmark one-third of their landmass to establish conservation areas in each of their countries, It has since then become a major attraction in the state, attracting tourists from within and outside the country. The park has become a home to various species of wildlife including Lions, Rock pythons, marabou storks, Baboons, Honey Badgers, Camels as well as variant flora. [[File:AHMADU BELLO WAY ROUND ABOUT JOS NIGERIA - panoramio.jpg|thumb|upright|Ahmadu Bello Way roundabout in central Jos.]]

;Jos Museum The National Museum in Jos was founded in 1952 by Bernard Fagg, and was recognized as one of the best in the country. It has unfortunately been left to fall to ruin as is the case with most of the cultural establishments in Nigeria. The Pottery Hall is also a part of the museum that has an exceptional collection of finely crafted pottery from all over Nigeria and boasts some fine specimens of Nok terracotta heads and artefacts dating from 500 BCE to 200 CE. It also incorporates the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture with life-size replicas of a variety of buildings, from the walls of Kano and the Mosque at Zaria to a Tiv village. Articles of interest from colonial times relating to the railway and tin mining can also be found on display. A School for Museum Technicians is attached to the museum, established with the help of UNESCO. The Jos Museum is also located beside the zoo.

; Jos Polo Club Situated at the end of Joseph Gomwalk Road, the Jos Polo Club is one of the prominent sports institutions in the state.

;Jos Stadium A 40,000-seat capacity located along Farin-Gada road which has become home to the Plateau United Football Club, Current champions of The Nigerian Professional League. Rwang Pam township stadium Jos.

;Jos Golf Course The golf course located in Rayfield, Jos has hosted many golfing competitions with players coming from both within and outside the state.

Other local enterprises include food processing, beer brewing, and the manufacture of cosmetics, soap, rope, jute bags, and furniture. Heavy industry produces cement and asbestos cement, crushed stone, rolled steel, and tyre retreads. Jos is also a centre for the construction industry and has several printing and publishing firms. The Jos-Bukuru dam and reservoir on the Shen River provide water for the city's industries. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Riyom_rocks1.jpg" caption="Riyom Rocks"] ::

Jos is a base for exploring Plateau State. The Shere Hills, seen to the east of Jos, offer a prime view of the city below. Assop Falls is a small waterfall which makes a picnic spot on a drive from Jos to Abuja. Riyom Rock is a dramatic and photogenic pile of rocks balanced precariously on top of one another, with one resembling a clown's hat, observable from the main Jos-Akwanga road.

The city is home to the University of Jos (founded in 1975), St Luke's Cathedral, an airport and a railway station. Jos is served by several teaching hospitals including Bingham University Teaching Hospital and Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), a federal government-funded referral hospital. The Nigerian College of Accountancy, with over 3,000 students in 2011, is based in Kwall, Plateau State.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/ASC_Leiden_-Rietveld_Collection-Nigeria_1970-1973-01-_031_The_Jos_Ceremony.Three_impatient_dodos-men_dressed_as_evil_spirits-_wait_until_they_can_perform,a_drummer-_Jos.jpg" caption="Three men dressed as evil spirits"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/ASC_Leiden_-Rietveld_Collection-Nigeria_1970-1973-01-_032_The_Jos_Ceremony.Horsemen_with_spears_and_sticks-_Jos.jpg" caption="The Jos Ceremony. Horsemen with spears and sticks, 1970–1973."] ::

Notable people

References

References

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