Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, has claimed that: “The landmass of Kogi State alone is more than the entire southeast combined. So it is going to be very difficult to be able to secure the state.” Fanwo made the statement while discussing the security challenges confronting Kogi State during an appearance on Arise TV on Thursday. Responding to a question on the difficulty of policing a state that shares boundaries with about 10 others, he argued that Kogi’s vast land mass makes securing the state particularly challenging. Findings The claim is not supported by official data. Checks by this Daily Trust using the “Area of Nigeria by State” dataset published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), based on figures from the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, show that the combined land area of the five South East states is larger than that of Kogi State across all official land measurement parameters. Bandits abduct LG Chairman in Zamfara 2027: INEC records over 6m new voters The dataset is the federal government’s official record of the land area of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The NBS data shows that Abia covers 490,000 hectares (4,900 square kilometres), equivalent to 1,205,400 acres or 1,914.06 square miles. Anambra has a land area of 486,500 hectares (4,865 square kilometres), equivalent to 1,196,790 acres or 1,900.39 square miles. Ebonyi covers 640,000 hectares (6,400 square kilometres), equivalent to 1,574,400 acres or 2,500 square miles. Enugu has 753,400 hectares (7,534 square kilometres), equivalent to 1,853,364 acres or 2,942.97 square miles, while Imo occupies 528,800 hectares (5,288 square kilometres), equivalent to 1,300,848 acres or 2,065.63 square miles. Taken together, the five South East states have a combined land area of 2,898,700 hectares, 28,987 square kilometres, 7,130,802 acres and 11,323.05 square miles. By comparison, the same official dataset puts Kogi State’s land area at 2,774,700 hectares, 27,747 square kilometres, 6,825,762 acres and 10,838.67 square miles. The figures show that the South East exceeds Kogi State by 124,000 hectares, 1,240 square kilometres, 305,040 acres and 484.38 square miles. Contrary to Fanwo’s assertion, the official figures show that Kogi is slightly smaller than the combined land area of the five South East states. Verdict: False. Official data from the Office of the Surveyor-General of the Federation, as published by the National Bureau of Statistics, contradicts Kingsley Fanwo’s claim that “the landmass of Kogi State alone is more than the entire southeast combined.”
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