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Enugu[enOO´gOO] Pronunciation Key, city (1991 est. pop. 279,000), SE Nigeria. It is a diversified industrial center and a road and rail hub. Furniture, ceramics, textiles, shoes, asbestos, cement, oxygen and acetylene gases, and steel are the chief products. Enugu developed as a mining town after the discovery of coal in 1909. In 1916 the railroad from Port Harcourt reached Enugu. The city served as capital of Nigeria's former Southern (1929–39) and Eastern (1939–67) regions, and of the short-lived secessionist state of Biafra (1967–70). Coal mining in the area was slowed in the 1970s because of Nigeria's increased petroleum production, but remains important. A campus of the Univ. of Nigeria that includes an economic development institute is in Enugu, as well as several teachers colleges and two campuses of Enugu Univ.
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