History of Nigeria city-states. A state council (the "Oyo Mesi") named the "Alaafin" (king) and acted as a check on his authority. Their capital city was situated about 100 km north of present-day Oyo. Unlike the forest-bound Yoruba kingdoms, Oyo was in the savanna and drew its military strength from its cavalry forces, which established hegemony over the adjacent Nupe and the Borgu kingdoms and thereby developed trade routes farther to the north. The Benin Empire (1440–1897; called "Bini" by locals) was a pre-colonial African state in what is now modern Nigeria. It should not be confused with the modern-day country called Benin,
The News Journal (Nigeria) hosted by the Ibadan office of Alliance Francaise. It also supported the Association of Communication and Language Arts Students (ACLAS) of the University of Ibadan in its 2013 Student Week. The News Journal has also earmarked NGN 100,000 in newspaper grants to the Department of Communication and Language Arts of the University of Ibadan, and continues to support the student Press Club. The News Journal (Nigeria) The News Journal is a community development newspaper serving the area that used to be known as Western State, Nigeria now comprising the main Yoruba states of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo and Ekiti.