Lafia is the capital city of Nasarawa state, Nigeria. It is regarded as the largest town in Nasarawa state. Modern Lafia is a collecting point for sesame seeds, soybeans, and is a trading centre for yams, sorghum, millet, and cotton. Besides farming; , cotton weaving and dyeing are traditionally important activities of the town's permanent inhabitants/members of the Alago, Tiv, and Kanuri people which are the royal clans, while Fulani herdsmen bring their cattle to graze in the vicinity during the dry season.
Tin and columbite are mined nearby, and there is a deposit of coal southeast of the town. Lafia is home to Nasarawa State University Faculty of Agriculture Lafia, Nasarawa State Polytechnic Lafia, College of Agriculture Lafia, and recently Federal University, Lafia and a large number of primary and secondary schools.