​BASIC GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF OSUN STATE

Osun state is geographically located at the heart of the south west of Nigeria. It is situated in the tropical rain forest and thus is bounded by five states Kwara State to the North, Ogun State in the South, Oyo state in the west, Ondo and Ekiti states in the south and North East. The State covers the area of South Western Nigeria with a total area of 14,875 square kilometres. It lies between longitude 04 00E and 05 05”1
In size Osun State is ranked as the 28th out of 36th state in Nigeria. In population According to the 2006 national census, the state had the  male population of 1,740,619 while females was estimated at 1,682,916 therefore the total population of both male and female was estimated to have been 3,423,535. The state has 30 local government areas, with  major towns like  the capital Osogbo other towns include Ile-Ife, Ilesa, Ikirun, Iwo, Ede, Ila-Orangun, Ipetumodu,Ejigbo,Ilobu,Gbongan,Inisa,Okuku,Ijebu-Ijesa,Ipetu-Ijesha,Ifon-Osun. 2

Demographically, Osun State is largely inhabited by the Ijesha, Osun, Ife communities who are Yoruba speaking people which  majorly form most part of the large Yoruba nations in Nigeria .The major sub-ethnic group in Osun State are the Ifes, Ijesha, Oyo, Ibolo, Igbomina, and there are other ethnic groups from other part of Nigeria like Hausa’s and Igbo’s .3

The state is agrarian and well suited for the production of crops such as cash crop and food crop. Cash crops include cocoa, tobacco and oil palm, food crop such as maize, cocoyam, beans, plantain, and cassava because of favourable climatic conditions. The annual rainfall is between 1000 and 1500mm with high daily temperature of about 30°C. The people are predominantly farmers with relatively small holding farms.

Picture of Cocoa and plaintain

Osun State is blessed with natural resources such as gold which have been documented to have been discovered in Ilesha in 1942. Also mother nature have blessed Osun State with abundant mineral resources which includes granite found in Ilesha, Kaolin found still in Ilesha, Industrial Mineral includes Talc in Ilesha, Feldspar in Apomu and Tin in Ilesha. Other natural resources include clay ball and building stones of different dimensions such as gravel. These natural resources could be said to be the reason for industries such as quarry in Osun State. Several varieties of expensive gemstone like ruby, sapphire, topaz, zircon and emerald etc and if well tapped into will lead to the rise of GDP in Osun State.4 Talc

More so, the state occupies a complex basement area of metamorphic rock located in south west Nigeria with two main relief regions in the coastal plain and the inselberg or a monadic landscape, this is a form of isolated hill that stands above well developed plain and this covers more than half of the state. The soil in Osun State has been said to be in the category of highly ferruginous tropical red soil that is associated with basement complex rock. Also the state is also covered by secondary forest, whereby in the south it has wooded savannah, in the north it is forest savannah. 5

Lastly if the natural resources such as the gemstones are looked into and used well, it may lead to the rise of the GDP in Osun State by so doing, it is and will be visible that geography and natural resources play a role in a state both historically and economically.

Reference

Adapted from Oliseh Kadishi work on CONTRIBUTIONS OF UNITED NATIONS FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION (FAO) TO FOOD SECURITY IN OSUN STATE 1991-2012

1. Yemi Balogun., “The people of Osun State:A Historical Survey” in Siyan Oyeweso(eds), From Leo Ajiborisa to Rauf Aregbesola: perspective on Osun State at 20 (Ibadan, Osun State University, Ikire campus,2011.) p. 23

2. Odewunmi S.G., “Osun State: Basic geography And Natural Resources” in Siyan Oyeweso(eds), From Leo Ajiborisa to Rauf Aregbesola: perspective on Osun State at 20 (Ibadan, Osun State University, Ikire campus,2011.) pp. 1-7

3. Odua investment.com.ng/port folio.item/Osun state/.com

4. Olatomide Waheed Olowa and Omowumi Ayodele Olowa, “Sources of Technical Efficiency among Smallholder Maize Farmers in Osun State of Nigeria” in The Research Journal Of Applied Science, Vol 5, Issue 2, 2010. pp. 115-122

5. Odewunmi S.G., “Osun State: Basic geography And Natural Resources” in Siyan Oyeweso(eds), From Leo Ajiborisa to Rauf Aregbesola: perspective on Osun State at 20 (Ibadan, Osun State University, Ikire campus,2011.) pp. 10-15

pictures gotten from https://pixabay.com/ and google