![[Mid Western State]](../images/n/ng-mw.gif)
Last modified: 2014-07-05 by bruce berry
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image by Jens Pattke,
12 July 2006
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Mid Western State (1967-1970)
The Mid-Western Region was a division of Nigeria from 1963 to 1991. It was renamed Bendel state in 1976. This was subdivided into the Delta and Edo states in 1991It was formed in June 1963 from the Benin and Delta provinces of the Western Region, and its capital was Benin City. It was designated as a province in 1966. In 1967 when the other provinces were split up into several states, it remained territorially intact and become a state.
During the Nigerian Civil War, the Biafran forces invaded the new Mid-Western state, en route to Lagos, in an attempt to force a quick end to the war. While under Biafran occupation, the state was declared as the "Republic of Benin" as Nigerian forces were about to retake the region. The republic collapsed a day after the declaration when Nigerian troops overtook Benin City.
Prior to 1970, all of the Nigerian states had their own coats of arms and own flags. The
state flags were modeled
on the Nigerian national flag but with the
state coat of arms in the centre of the white stripe. These state flags
were adopted in 1967 and abolished in 1970. Since 1970 only the Nigerian
national coat of arms and national flag may be used as symbol of a state.
Source: Enzyklopädie der staatlichen Wappen und Flaggen (Encyclopaedia
of State Coat of Arms and State Flags), Volume 7.
Jens Pattke, 09 July 2006
