People Groups of Kaduna State, North Central Nigeria

History

The word 'Kaduna' etymologically is suggestively a corruption of a Gbagyi word/name 'Odna' for a river (Shekwo, 1979:48, Hayab, 2015). Another version claims the origin of the name, Kaduna, is linked to the Hausa word for crocodile. However, the latter narrative is disputed by the Gbagyi, the indigenous group, acknowledged to have lived in the area for centuries unknown.

Perhaps the reputation of the name, Kaduna, could be associated with Lord Frederick Lugard, the then Governor-General of the territory of what was to become Nigeria and his colonial colleagues when the capital of the former Northern Region was relocated from Zungeru to Kaduna in 1916. Historians suggest that the movement of the colonial office to Kaduna had been initiated from 1912 -1918/20 with preliminary effort having been made in 1902 from Jebba to Zungeru (Kolapo & Akurang-Parry, 2007:107-15, Lugard, 2013:122).

Colonial Impact

At the start of British colonial rule, the construct ‘Nigeria’ made the people groups who lived in the area to be viewed as 'Northern Nigerians' - a conception which endures till date. By the year 1967, these people groups were again carved into 'North Central State' (Nwabueze, 1982:222) and this was the case until 1975 when 'Kaduna State' was formerly created by the then military leader, General Murtala Mohammed, with all different identities amalgamated into one state without recourse to a referendum. The state hence is an heir to the old Northern Region of Nigeria, which had its capital at Kaduna, now the centre of a territory of about 6.3 million people (Nigerian census figure, 2006).

It should be noted that the old Northern Region in the year 1967 gave birth to six states in the north of Nigeria, leaving Kaduna as the capital of the North-Central State, a name that was changed to Kaduna State in 1976 (Nwabueze, 1982:222). Afterwards, Kaduna was further divided in 1987, a situation which produced Katsina State. Under the authority of Kaduna is the ancient city of Zaria, Kafanchan, Kachia, Kajuru, Saminaka, and Nok, the area where one of Africa's earliest civilisations is recorded to have been excavated (Fagg, 1959, Breunig, 2014b).

The Peoples of Kaduna state 

The most intriguing aspect of this area is that the colonial construction and its post-colonial successor call 'Nigeria' scarcely documented the history of the people or the manner of how Kaduna state's people groups encompassed in this construct define and identify themselves. As a result, the people groups who populate the area have remained in near oblivion or obscurity as they are often assumed to be Hausa people, a supposition which is erroneous.

Remarkably, nowadays, Kaduna State, north-central Nigeria, is politically classified as belonging to the 'North - West' zone of existing Nigeria’s six (6) Geopolitical Zones. The inclusion of Kaduna in the ‘North West’ perhaps is a political calculation which defies the logic of history. In terms of population, it is the third largest in the nation with different ethnic groups numbering between 58 to 63 (if not more) with the exact count requiring further verification through an unpretentious field work [Hayab, 2015]*

The question which begs for an answer, therefore, is what ethnic groups make up the peoples who are 'indigenous' to the state? This query, perhaps, is what this article sets out to respond to next as the so called 'dominant ethnic groups', are encircled by at least 58 others (Temple, 1922, Meek 1925 Vol I & II, 1931, Gunn, 1956). The case whether a group could be called 'Hausa/Fulani' is subject to debate but that is for another study.

That said, it is significant to note that the groups in the focused area are separate entities, not dialects, but languages and cultures on their own right in as much as it is evident that they are cognate or related groups. Accordingly, I will try to present these groups (not all though) in their indigenous names with the Hausa version in bracket:

1. Abin (called Binawa by the Hausa found in Lere LGA)
2. Adara (dubbed Kadara by the Hausa)
3. Adungyi (called Dungi or Dingi by the Hausa, Saminaka/Lere area)
4. Agbiri (called Gure by the Hausa)

5. Akurmi (labelled Kurama by the Hausa)
6. Aninka (an endangered people, with an ancestral home in Gwantu)
7. Aniragu (called Kahugu by the Hausa)
8. Animuwen (popularly called Numana)

9. Anghan (called Kamanton by the Hausa)
10. Amap (called Amo by the Hausa)

11. Arumaruma (named Ruruma by the Hausa)
12. Ashe (called Koro, Kagarko LGA)
13. Asholio (Dubbed Marwa or Moro'a)

14. Atyap (dubbed Kataf by the Hausa)

15. Bajju (called Kaje in Hausa)

16. Bekulu (Ikulu by the Hausa)

17. Bazaar (Waci, often known as the Koro, Kagarko LGA)

18. Bu (called Abu by the Hausa and their neighbours in Sanga)
19. Dangam (an endangered people and language found in Sanga)

20. Fantswam (Kafanchan)

21. Fulbe (Fulani arrived and settled in the region in the 1800s)

22. Gbagyi (Gwari)

23. Gwandara

24. Gwong (called Kagoma by the Hausa)

25. Ham (labelled Jaba in Hausa with a derogatory connotation)

26. Hausa 

27. Janji (an endangered people and language)

28. Kaibi (a people and a language found in not more than 5 settlements)

29. Kigono (information still scanty, further research required)

30. Kinugu (information still scanty, further research needed)

31. Kitimi (information still hazy, more investigation to be carried out).

32. Kiwafa (still to confirm)

33. Kiwallo  (still to confirm)

34. Kono (Kauru LGA)

35. Kuvori (called Surubu by the Hausa),

36. Lemoro (there is the need for confirmation (Lere/Kauru areas)

37. Mada: Mada must have arrived current location during British colonial rule.
38. Mayir (called Ayu or Fadan Ayu in Hausa).

39. Nandu (Sanga)

40. Nineb, Aneb or Nufi (tagged Kanufi by the Hausa)

41. Nindem (Jemma'a LGA)

42. Ningeshe (still to confirm)
43. Ningon (Sanga LGA)

44. Nikyop (called Kaninkon)

45. Ninzo
46. Numbu (Sanga LGA)

47. Nyenkpa (Yeskwa)
48. Obiro (Kuturmi)

49. Oegworok (Kagoro)

50. Pikal (still to confirm)

51. Piti (Abisi/Nisak is the native name)

52. Ribang (still to confirm)

53. Rishuwa (still to confirm)

54. Rumayya

55. Sheni (an endangered people and language)

56. Siyawa (From Bauchi state)
57. Tachirak (given the name Kachechere)

58. Takad (call Atakad in Hausa)

59. Tari (Sanga LGA)

60. Tsam (Chawai)
61. Tuku (called Atuku)

(See, Temple, 1922, Meek, 1925, Vol. I & II, 1931, Gunn, 1956 for the confirmation of some of the ethnic groups).

Besides, available records show that Christian mission activities in the area began formally from the 1900s with the establishment of Sudan Interior Mission (S.I.M.) in the Ham town of Har Kwain (Kwoi) in 1910 (Turaki, 1993, Hayab, 2016). The coming of the missionaries account for why the people groups (the Non- Hausa - Fulani) are predominantly Christians. Culturally, the people groups of the then southern Zaria who now see themselves as southern Kaduna, with some exception it must be admitted, share a lot in cultural observance of marriage, naming rite, death, mourning and burial, farming, social organisation, kinship formation, exogamy, etc, (Meyn 1982). Until a full scale research is undertaken, the diversity of Kaduna state remains blurred and problematic as some ethnic groups are so small in population, so much so, that they are often overshadowed by the larger groups who live near them.

*Hayab (2015) was part of a doctoral research on language and identity at Stellenbosch University, South Africa completed in December 2016. The contributor teaches English language and Literature at Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, an institution located in the south of Kaduna State, Nigeria, where 59 people groups out of the 61 listed ethnic groups above are found.

References

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