There are six (6) south west states in Nigeria. Read on to discover their names, history and map of the entire southwestern region of Nigeria.
The southwestern part of Nigeria dominated by the yoruba people, who are also one of the 3 major ethnic groups in the country.
Nigeria has 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Each of those 36 states belongs to one of the six geopolitical zones.
In general, states with similar history and cultural heritage belong to the same zone. In other words, the grouping is not entirely based on location.
Page Contents
Southwestern states in Nigeria
The states located in the south western region of Nigeria are:
The total size of the entire region is approximately 79,665 km2
Map
History of the region
From 1967 to 1976, Nigeria had four regions; the western region (present day south west) was one of them.
Lagos state was created on the 27th of May, 1967 and the remaining part of the western region was renamed Western state, which remained that way from 1967 to 1976.
In 1976, western state was divided in three states namely Ogun, Oyo and Ondo. On 27 August 1991, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida carved Osun state from Oyo. Finally, in 1996 Nigeria’s former head of states, Gen. Sani Abacha, created Ekiti state, which was formerly part of Ondo.
As we’ve previously stated, the south western part of Nigeria is part of yorubaland. The Yorubas are one of the top 3 ethnic groups in Nigeria, and they boast lands cutting across the North central (middle-belt) geopolitical zone and even outside Nigeria.
The most popular and populous city in the south west is Lagos, which is found in Nigeria’s smallest state, that also goes by the name Lagos.