Jos

The Jos Plateau was farmed and settled long before the modern city existed, by Berom, Anaguta, Afizere and other communities whose villages ring the site. The tin lay in the plateau's granites, and it was tin that brought the British. Prospectors arrived in the first years of the 20th century, mining companies followed, and a settlement grew beside the workings at Naraguta and then at the site of present-day Jos, which became the administrative and commercial centre of the tin field.

A railway reached the plateau under colonial rule, carrying ore to Lagos and Port Harcourt for export and giving the town its Terminus district; the line no longer carries traffic. Labourers came from across northern Nigeria and beyond, and the cool climate drew colonial officials and missionaries, who built schools, hospitals and rest houses. Open-cast mining stripped large areas and left the chain of ponds that still stand around Bukuru and Rayfield. When the industry declined after independence, Jos turned to administration, education and farming, and in 1976 it became the capital of the new Plateau State.

For decades the city had a reputation as one of Nigeria's most relaxed and mixed towns. That changed in 2001, when serious communal violence broke out, and further outbreaks followed over the years that came after, with attacks in the city and in rural parts of the state. Thousands of people have been killed across the state since then, and neighbourhoods that were once mixed have become more separated along religious lines. The city continues to function as the state capital and the plateau's commercial centre.

Jos sits on the fault line between Nigeria's Muslim north and Christian south, and its population reflects that: Berom, Anaguta and Afizere communities of the plateau, Hausa and Fulani families settled for generations, and migrants from every part of the country. Hausa is the common language of the street, English the language of offices and schools, and the plateau's own languages are spoken at home and in the villages around.

Music and broadcasting have deep roots here. The Nigerian Film Corporation and the national film institute are based in the city, and Jos has produced musicians and gospel groups known across the country, while local radio stations play a large part in daily life. Churches of every denomination and long-established mosques stand across the city, and the calendar is shaped by both Christian and Muslim festivals.

Plateau communities keep harvest celebrations, masquerade traditions and dances tied to the farming year, and the Nok terracottas displayed in the city's museum give the region a place in the wider story of West African art. Jos also has a strong sporting culture, with football followed closely and the hills used by runners and hikers. Manners are formal and unhurried: greetings come before business, elders are deferred to, and the subjects of land, religion and indigene status are approached carefully in a city where they carry political weight.

About 900,000 people lived in Jos at the 2006 census, and the city has grown since, with Bukuru and the settlements along the expressway forming a continuous built-up area. The city is a government town — the state secretariat, courts and agencies are among the largest employers — alongside the University of Jos, teaching hospitals, schools and a long list of colleges that draw students from across the north.

Farming underpins much of the economy. The plateau's cool climate suits potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, cabbages and strawberries, which are trucked to Abuja, Kano and Lagos, and acha, the small grain known in English as fonio, is grown here as almost nowhere else. Tin mining continues on a small, informal scale in the old fields, and trade, transport and services fill much of the rest of the working day.

Mornings begin early, with markets opening at first light and traffic building along the Bukuru expressway. Electricity supply is unreliable, so generators and increasingly solar panels are common, and water supply is uneven. The biggest issues facing residents are insecurity in the rural parts of the state, the displacement it has caused, the cost of food and fuel since 2023, and unemployment among a young and well-educated population.

Jos eats from both halves of Nigeria. Northern staples are everywhere: tuwo, a stiff porridge of rice, maize or millet, eaten with miyan kuka made from dried baobab leaves; masa, small fermented rice cakes cooked in a dimpled pan; kosai, fried bean fritters; and suya, thin beef skewers rubbed with the peppery yaji spice mix and grilled over charcoal in the evenings. Southern dishes are equally common, from pounded yam and egusi soup to jollof rice and fried plantain.

What sets the plateau apart is its produce. Irish potatoes, cabbages, carrots, green beans, tomatoes and strawberries grow in the cool highland soils and appear on local plates far more than elsewhere in the country. Acha, or fonio, a tiny ancient grain, is cooked as a porridge or served like rice with soup and is closely associated with the region. Roasted maize and roasted yam are sold at roadsides in season.

To drink there is kunu, a lightly spiced millet drink, zobo made from dried hibiscus, fura da nono, balls of millet dough crumbled into fermented milk sold by Fulani women, and sweet tea served at small stalls. Plateau fruit — guavas, mangoes and citrus — is sold by the roadside, and the city's tea and coffee culture is stronger than in most of Nigeria.