Kaduna

Kaduna is the capital of Kaduna State in North West Nigeria. It is a trade centre and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas, with its rail and road junction.

Understand

Kaduna River

Kaduna's name is derived from the Hausa word kada, for crocodile (kaduna being the plural form). Its population was estimated to be 1.1 million in 2020.

Get in

Sultan Bello Mosque

By car

Roads to Kaduna from Abuja and Kano are good. From Abuja the journey takes 2½ hours by car.

By plane

• 1 Kaduna International Airport (KAD  ^IATA) (22 km (14 mi) northwest of the city). Frequent daily flights from Lagos (1 hr 15 min, US$34 one-way) on Aero Nigeria, and Dana Airlines. (updated May 2021)

By train

Kaduna is an important junction on Nigeria's Cape gauge railway network. At Kaduna, a branch line connects the Lagos–Nguru Railway to the Port Harcourt–Maiduguri Railway.

Kaduna is also on the route of the planned Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway, which has been completed between the national capital of Abuja and Kaduna. Trains for Abuja depart from the Rigasa Railway Station in Kaduna.

Get around

• 1 Kawo — a district north of Kaduna

See

• 1 Lugard Footbridge. The footbridge was built when Nigeria was under colonial rule.The bridge was built by Sir Frederic Lugard the Governor General Northern Nigeria Protectorate and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria, in 1904 at the capital of the northern protectorate of Nigeria called Zungeru. It was reconstructed in 1920 after it was moved to the gate of Kaduna. (updated Jun 2021)
• 2 National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Kaduna, Plot 47 Ali Akilu Road, City Centre, ☏ +234 8033303587. 8AM-6PM. It is a museum with historical and ancient artefacts telling the story of Kaduna people. (updated Jun 2021)
• 3 Kajuru Castle, ☏ +234 8156440144. 24 hr. A tourist site with a resort hotel, a stone villa designed like a medieval castle with turrets and dungeons. Wheelchair-accessible and appropriate for children. Lodging overnight available. (updated Jun 2021)
• 4 Splash Park formerly Kofar Gamji Park, No 6 swimming pool road, Gamji St. 24 hr. A place of fun with water slides, space for picnics, clean and safe.It also has a zoo. (updated Jun 2021)
• Kaduna refinery. The kaduna refinery is at kaduna south on your way to kachia, coming from comand junction you can access it from the west, coming from town due north you access it from yakowa express way and from Abuja you can access using the rido bye pass.
• Ahmadu Bello stadium. the ahmadu Bello stadium is located at kaduna town on crossing the bridge you meet the stadium roundabout on your left Constitution road you gain entrance into the stadium.
• Rail, road and airport.The trunk railways from Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Zaria form a junction in the southern part of Kaduna, and the Lagos-Kano highway passes through the city. There is an airport north of the city.
• Kaduna polytechnic main campus. kaduna polytechnic has four branches ; sabo, barnnawa, ugwan rimi and tudun wada campus. Tudun wada campus is the main campus.

Buy

•Pottery is highly prized from Kaduna, especially from the Nok culture.

•Fruits, you can buy most of your fruit around stadium round about. There fruits are cheap and affordable

Eat

• 1 Byblos Restaurant, Abakwa, 2 Waziri Ibrahim Cres, City Centre, ☏ +2348033119480. 9AM to 3PM reopens 6:30PM. A nice eatery in the city centre that offers dine in, takeaway and delivery services. (updated Jun 2021)
• 2 The Courtyard Restaurant, 16 Galadima Road, Off Alkali Road, ☏ +2348118886697. 9AM to 9PM. A restaurant that offers dine in, takeaway and delivery services. (updated Jun 2021)

Drink

Bars and restaurants that serve alcoholic drinks tend to be in the city's southern part. In the north, some hotels do not serve alcohol.

• 1 Command Guest House, Muhammadu Buhari Way. A large open air bar in the grounds of the guest house. They serve beers, good fresh fish from the barbecue and sometimes have live music. (updated Mar 2015)

Sleep

Not all hotels have bars that serve alcoholic drinks. So if that is important, check first. Hotels in the south of the city are more likely to have bars.

• 1 Quarter House Hotel, #2 Ogbadu Road, ☏ +234 8104127575. Perfectly adequate hotel on the northern side of town. Air conditioned rooms, wifi and a restaurant. No beer here! ₦22,000. (updated Feb 2015)
• 2 Hotel Seventeen Limited, Phase 1, 6 Tafawa Balewa, Lafia Road, Barnawa, ☏ +234 7035680467. High level rooms available including a pool, spa, free parking, bar, fitness center, free Wi-Fi. Has a great location. (updated Jun 2021)
• 3 Assa Pyramid Hotel, 13 Lafia Road, City Centre, ☏ +234 8034657770. A comfortable place to be. (updated Dec 2021)

Connect

For most locations in Kaduna, there are coverage of the 2G/3G/4G mobile networks, only that service may be disrupted the farther away you go from the city center, and you might occasionally experience network outage for all or some of the mobile phone service providers in those remote areas of the city. Different networks tend to be more stable and reliable in different locations of the city at different times.

If you are planning a visit to Kaduna, you should probably consider having multiple SIM cards, preferably for all the mobile service providers, since you can't tell which will be more stable and reliable at a time in your location during your visit. And if you will risk not having any of them, you might be better off not risking the MTN network, because, from indications, it seem to perform well than the others, though its rates may be high and its offers and services might be stringent, but you are less likely to be concerned of erratic voice and data connection compared to others.

Airtel is another service provider which is fairly satisfactory for all you might need to connect to the world, including rates and network stability. Of course, Glo (or Globacom) boasts of fast network speed for internet browsing activities, only that you might not be able to enjoy the privilege in some locations. And 9Mobile usually also performs well in internet browsing speed too but not without locational limitations, plus that data rate is fairly higher.

You might also be lucky if your lodging hotel provide internet access as this is generally available at many hotels, however it is usually quite slow.

Go next

• Katsina
• Zamfara
• Bauchi
• Kano
• Plateau
• Niger