NIGERIAN PEOPLE AND CULTURE

NIGERIAN PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Famous for her huge population of more than 200 million and with more than 370 ethnics groups, Nigeria has the highest population in African continent. The country is made up of three major ethnic groups namely: the Hausa-Fulani, the Yorubas and the Igbos – and they represent around 70 per cent of the population. Another 10 per cent comprises of several other groups numbering more than 1 million members each, including the Kanuri, Tiv, and Ibibio. More than 300 smaller ethnic groups account for the remaining 20 per cent of the population.

IGBO

Igboland is the home of the Igbo people and it covers most of the south-eastern Nigeria. This area is divided by the Niger River into two unequal sections – the eastern region and the midwestern region. The river, however, has not acted as a barrier to cultural unity; rather it has provided an easy means of communication.

The question of the origin of Igbo people has not been fully answered but there are very intriguing theories or histories that are now being studied in order to ascertain the origin of the Igbo people There is a school of thoughts that linked the origin of the Igbo people to Jewish state of Israel. Also, there is another one which claimed that the Igbo people might have migrated from Egypt during the stone age era. All these aside, historians have located the Igbos originally around the Niger-Benue confluence; thence, due to population pressure, they migrated through the Niger. Igbos during the migration moved from Egypt, through the Sudan and southwards to their present location.

It has become a part of the history that the Igbos have manifested their zest for adventure and industry in their roles as national public servants, educators, captains of industry and commerce, philanthropists, and have contributed in no small measure both to the emancipation of Nigeria from colonial rule and the progress of developing the country.Igbos are culturally rich people and they are surrounded on all sides by other tribes like Bini, Warri, Ijaw, Efik, Tiv etc. Igbo people are industrious, friendly and educated people and they played an important role in Nigerian political development.

Igbo people have a dynamic and fascinating cultural heritage that says lots about them, and most of the Igbo people are Christians and few traditionalist. Their cultures are further divided into many groups, due to dialects and boundaries among the eastern states in particular and a good sample of this is their traditional way of welcoming visitors, which is usually offering kola to guests, even before they made their mission known.Most of the cities and towns in eastern Nigeria are predominantly occupied by the Igbo people. Amongst these main cities are: Enugu City – The Coal City, Owerri, Onitsha, Asaba, Awka, Umuahia, Abakaliki, Umunze, Aba, Nnewi, Orlu, Okigwe, Nsuka, Ekwulobia, etc.

HAUSA

With the decline of the Nok and Sokoto, who had previously controlled Central and Northern Nigeria between 800 BCE and 200 CE, the Hausa were able to emerge as the new power in the region. Closely linked with the Kanuri people of Kanem-Bornu (Lake Chad), the Hausa aristocracy adopted Islam in the 11th century CE. In 1810 the Fulani, another Islamic African ethnic group that spanned across West Africa, invaded the Hausa states.

The cultural similarities of these two group, however, opened doors for a significant integration between the groups, who in modern times are often demarcated as “Hausa-Fulani”, rather than as individuated groups. The Hausa remain pre-eminent in Northern Nigeria. Their impact in Nigeria is paramount, as the Hausa-Fulani amalgamation has controlled Nigerian politics for much of its independent history. They remain one of the largest and most historically grounded civilizations in West Africa.

The Hausas are Sahelian people mainly located in northern Nigeria, southeastern Niger, Sudan, Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and Chad and many Fulani in these regions do not distinguish themselves from the Hausa. The Hausa have been Muslim since the 14th century, and have converted many other Nigerian tribes to the Muslim faith by contact, trade etc. The architecture of the Hausa is perhaps one of the least known but most beautiful of the medieval age. Many of their early mosques and palaces are bright and colourful and often include intricate engraving or elaborate symbols designed into the facade.

Major towns and cities Many of the towns and cities in northern Nigeria had been predominantly occupied by the Hausa-Fulani people dated back to the stone age. Amongst these main cities are: Kano City – known as the groundnuts pyramids and indigo city. Others are Biram, Katsina, Abuja, Bauchi, Birnin Kebbi, Damaturu, Dutse, Gombe, Gusau, Jalingo, Jebba, jos, Kaduna, Katsina, Lafia, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Sokoto, Suleja, Yola, Zaria.

YORUBA

Yoruba people live mostly in South-West Nigeria. They have developed a variety of different artistic forms including pottery, weaving, beadwork, metalwork, and mask making. Most of the artworks were made to honour the gods and ancestors and since there are more than 401 known gods to the Yoruba there is much sculpture and artwork made.

The Yorubas originated from Ile-Ife, arose and became quite popular by their trading with the Portuguese, which gave them a large supply of guns. However, they were unable to push back the Fulani who invaded them and pushed much of the Yoruba to the south.

In the late 1800s, the Yorubas formed a treaty with the Fulani and in 1901 they were colonised by the British. Because of their enmity with the Fulani who are the great Islamic evangelists, most of the Yoruba people do not hold to Islam but instead worship many of the gods and spirits that the Yoruba hold to.

Economically, Yoruba people primarily engage in agriculture, with about 15% of the people employed as merchants or artists and craftsman. One of the features that make Yoruba people unique is their tendency to form into large city groups instead of small village groups. The Yorubas are today one of the three main ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. They can also be found in neighboring countries.

The Yorubas are the main ethnic group in the states of Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo, which are subdivisions of Nigeria; they also constitute a sizable proportion of Kwara and Kogi States as well as Edo State.

Major towns and cities Traditionally, the Yorubas organised themselves into networks of related villages, towns and kingdoms; with most of them headed by an Oba (King) or Baale (a nobleman or mayor). Major Yoruba cities and towns include Ile-Ife, Ibadan, Lagos, Ijebu Ode, Abeokuta, Akure, Ilorin, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogbomosho, Ado-Ekiti, Osogbo, Ilesa, Owo, Kabba, Offa, Ilesa, Ilobu, Ede etc. There are other Yoruba cities and towns such as Ketu, Sabe, Dassa and others in Republic of Benin.

Yoruba people are a large ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in Africa, and the majority of them speak the Yoruba language. The Yoruba constitute approximately 25 percent of Nigeria’s total population, and around 40 million individuals throughout the region of West Africa. While the majority of the Yoruba live in western Nigeria, there are also substantial indigenous Yoruba communities in Benin, Ghana, Togo and the Caribbean.A significant percentage of Africans enslaved during the TransAtlantic Slave Trade in the Americas managed to maintain the Yoruba spiritual religion known as Aborisha. Indeed, the initiation and practice of Aborisha spiritual religion offers a route to all people of African descent, who were victims of slave trade in the Americas or the Caribbean, to make claim to Yoruba heritage.