The significance of this mount will ring till eternity…
Ever heard about Mount Patti? It is neither one of those Biblical mountains where amazing miracles were once worked not any of the few Africa’s high-rising and sky-piercing mountains. Rather, Mount Patti is an outstanding tourist spot right in the heart of Lokoja, Kogi State, with coordinates 7°49′N 6°45′E
Patti, in Nupe language, means mountain. When the first set of the whites arrived at Lokoja in the Colonial era, they were fascinated by this mountain range and as they began to inquire about it so as to discover more of its striking features, the natives told them that ‘patti’ means mountain. So they said ‘oh mountain, mountain.’ And to make it easier for themselves, they named the spot Mountain Patti.
Indeed, Lokoja and Kogi at large is never lacking in breath-taking, awe-inspiring features, ranging from people to places which have not ceased to amaze many from far and wide. Imagine the awesome and majestic Rivers Niger and Benue and the scenic splendour of their confluence. Add that to the magnificent Mount Patti which stands at about 458m (1,503 ft) above sea level
Mount Patti, a wooded range of highland, is an unmistakable landmark standing in a commanding fashion in Lokoja Township. On its peak lies this surprise swat of land, which can house more than 10 football fields.
From every part of the city of Lokoja, Mount Patti can be seen as its peak juts out into the sky. Mount Patti stands tall in the annala of Nigeria history. it is the birth place of Nigeria as the inspiration to christen the geographical entity came from the mountain top. The mountain top was developed by Lord Lugard, the british administrator who almagamated the Northern and the Southern protectorate in 1914.
In 1900, the governor-general of Northern and Southern Protectorate of Nigeria Sir Lord Frederick Lugard and other colonial leaders resided their office and resting place on the Mountain, with the mount peak close to the River Niger and Benue River.
Flora Shaw, in 1914, while relaxing on a cool evening and looking over Lokoja from the top of the mountain, mooted to Lord Lugard, the idea of naming the vast place “Niger Area” and Nigeria for short. It came into her mind because of the view of the Niger River and Benue, 6 kilometers away from the Mount.
In the essay, as pictured above, which first appeared in The Times on 8 January 1897, Shaw suggested the name Nigeria for the British Protectorate on the Niger River. In her essay, Shaw made the case for a shorter-term that would be used for the “agglomeration of pagan and Mohammedan States” to replace the official title, “Royal Niger Company Territories”. She thought that the term “Royal Niger Company Territories” was too long to be used as a name of a Real Estate Property under the Trading Company in that part of Africa. She was in search of a new name, and she coined “Nigeria.” She continued and said “The name Nigeria applying to no other part of Africa may without offense to any neighbors be accepted as co-extensive with the territories over which the Royal Niger Company has extended British influence, and may serve to differentiate them equally from the colonies of Lagos and the Niger Protectorate on the coast and from the French territories of the Upper Niger.”
Mount Patti is an excellent and beautiful natural endowment to behold and a choice place for tourists to visit as it has a significant high rising peak in the history of the Giant of Africa.
OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ADVISER ON CULTURE AND TOURISM 