Argungu

▪ Nigeria

      town and traditional emirate, Kebbi state, northwestern Nigeria. The town is on the Sokoto (Kebbi) River and lies at the intersection of roads from Birnin Kebbi, Gwandu, Sokoto town, Augi, and Kaingiwa. The town is a collecting point for tobacco, grown in the surrounding riverine floodplains, and peanuts (groundnuts) and is a major local market centre for rice, millet, sorghum, fish, cotton, cattle, goats, and sheep.

      Argungu is noted for its Fashin Ruwa, an annual fishing festival usually held in February, and for its Kanta Museum, which houses 16th-century artifacts. The ruins of the walled town of Surame, the 16th- and 17th-century capital of the Hausa kings of Kebbi, are 35 miles (56 km) east-northeast. In addition to the government school (1919) and Kanta College (1970), Argungu has a health office and a medical centre. Most of its Muslim inhabitants are Kebbawas (a subgroup of the Hausa), but there are clusters of Fulani, Arewa (Ariwa), and Tienga (Kengawa) peoples. The traditional ruling family, the Lekawa, selects the emir, the sarkin Kebbi. Pop. (2006) local government area, 195,484.

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