The Igbo people are an ethnic group in Nigeria. They are primarily found in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo States. Ethnic Igbo populations are found in Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, as migrants as well as outside Africa. There has been much speculation about the origins of the Igbo people, which are largely unknown. The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa.
Yoruba is a language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. Yoruba speakers number roughly 47 million, including about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
Ifẹ̀ is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria, founded approximately between the 1000 BC and 600 BC. The city is located in present-day Osun State. Ifẹ̀ is about 218 kilometers northeast of Lagos with a population of over 500,000 people, which is the highest in Osun State according to population census of 2006.
Yorubaland is the homeland and cultural region of the Yoruba people in West Africa. It spans the modern-day countries of Nigeria, Togo and Benin, and covers a total land area of 142,114 km2 (54,871 sq mi). Of this land area, 106,016 km2 (74.6%) lies within Nigeria, 18.9% in Benin, and the remaining 6.5% is in Togo. Prior to European colonization, a portion of this area was known as Yoruba country. The geo-cultural space contains an estimated 55 million people, the majority of this population being ethnic Yoruba.
The culture of Nigeria is shaped by Nigeria's multiple ethnic groups. The country has 527 languages, seven of which are extinct. Nigeria also has over 1,150 dialects and ethnic groups. The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausas that are predominantly in the north, the Yorubas who predominate in the southwest, and the Igbos in the southeast. There are many other ethnic groups with sizeable populations across the different parts of the country. The Kanuri people are located in the northeast part of Nigeria, the Tiv people are in the north central, and the Efik-Ibibio are in the south South. The Bini people are most frequent in the region between Yorubaland and Igboland.
The Itsekiri are one of the fundamental Yoruba subgroups in Nigeria's Niger Delta area. They originate from Ile-Ife and speak a Yoruboid language and can be found in Ondo, Edo and Delta State. The Itsekiris presently transcends a population of over 1 million people and live mainly in parts of Ondo, Edo and majorly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria.
Igboland, also known as Southeastern Nigeria, is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people. It is a cultural and common linguistic region in southern Nigeria. Geographically, it is divided into two sections by the lower Niger River: an eastern and a western one. Its population is characterised by the diverse Igbo culture and the speakers of equally diverse Igbo languages.
Yoruboid is a language family composed of the Igala group of dialects spoken in south central Nigeria, and the Edekiri group spoken in a band across Togo, Ghana, Benin and southern Nigeria, including the Itsekiri of Warri Kingdom.
The Anioma people are a predominantly Igboid speaking ethnolingustic group located in present day Delta State, Nigeria. As Anioma is also an acronym derived from the regions that make up the Western Igbo area: Aniocha (A), Ndokwa (N), Ika (I) and Oshimili (O), the coinage was made by the founding father of the Anioma state movement, Chief Dennis Osadebay in 1951 and has since remained the preferred indigenous name by which the people collectively refer to themselves. The Anioma people encompass and are native to communities which span the 9 northern Local Government Areas of Delta State. Politically, the Anioma occupy the Delta North Senatorial District, where they are the majority.
Abagana is a town in Nigeria. It is the headquarters of Njikoka Local Government Area Anambra State and lies approximately 20 kilometers from Onitsha along the old Enugu-Onitsha Trunk A Road that divides the town into two halves.
The Hausa are a native ethnic group in West Africa. They speak the Hausa language, which is the second most spoken language after Arabic in the Afro-Asiatic language family. The Hausa are a culturally homogeneous people based primarily in the Sahelian and the sparse savanna areas of southern Niger and northern Nigeria respectively, numbering around 86 million people, with significant populations in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Chad, Central African Republic, Togo, Ghana, as well as smaller populations in Sudan, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Senegal, Gambia. Predominantly Hausa-speaking communities are scattered throughout West Africa and on the traditional Hajj route north and east traversing the Sahara, with an especially large population in and around the town of Agadez. Other Hausa have also moved to large coastal cities in the region such as Lagos, Port Harcourt, Accra, Abidjan, Banjul and Cotonou as well as to parts of North Africa such as Libya over the course of the last 500 years. The Hausa traditionally live in small villages as well as in precolonial towns and cities where they grow crops, raise livestock including cattle as well as engage in trade, both local and long distance across Africa. They speak the Hausa language, an Afro-Asiatic language of the Chadic group. The Hausa aristocracy had historically developed an equestrian based culture. Still a status symbol of the traditional nobility in Hausa society, the horse still features in the Eid day celebrations, known as Ranar Sallah. Daura is the cultural center of the Hausa people. The town predates all the other major Hausa towns in tradition and culture.
The Kingdom of Nri was a medieval polity located in what is now Nigeria. The kingdom existed as a sphere of religious and political influence over a significant part of what is known today as Igboland prior to expansion, and was administered by a priest-king called an Eze Nri. The Eze Nri managed trade and diplomacy on behalf of the Nri people, a subgroup of the Igbo-speaking people, and possessed divine authority in religious matters.
The Yoruba people are a West African ethnic group who mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by the Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outside the continent, and bear further representation among members of the African diaspora. The vast majority of the Yoruba population is today within the country of Nigeria, where they make up 20.7% of the country's population according to Ethnologue estimations, making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native or L1 speakers.
The Engenni people live in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. They are among the many sub Ijaw groups but they speak a language which linguistic scholars have described to be Edoid. They live in close proximity with other Ijaw people. They primarily live in Ahoada west local government area of Rivers state, Nigeria. Although they consider themselves to be Engenni, the Engenni speak an Edoid language. Alagoa (2003) said: “---The penetration of the Niger-Delta by Edoid groups extends to the Epie-Atissa and Engenni of the central and Eastern Niger-Delta----The Epie, along with the Ogbia and other groups of the central and eastern Niger-Delta, are historically united with the Ijaw.” The other groups of the central and eastern Niger-Delta which Professor Ebiegberi Alagoa said that were historically united with the Ijaw, include the Engenni, as shown from his narrative above. The Engenni have close relations with neighbouring Ijaw tribes such as the Zarama and Epie-Atissa.
The Ogba is a tribe of the Benin ancestral group in Rivers state. The Ogba people speak the Ogba dialect. The Ogba reside in a local government called Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni in Rivers state Nigeria. The Ogba language has three dialects namely; Usomini, Igburu, Egi dialect. The Ogba kingdom is made up of three clans which includes; Egi, Igburu, Usomini clans, and its largest urban town is Omoku. Ogba people speak two sub-dialects of the Ogba dialect, the Egi and Igburu. Eligbo and Ukporomini are two Ogba communities in Ahaoda East Local Government Area, while Itu II in Emohua LGA also speaks Ogba language.
Aniocha South is a Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Ogwashi-Uku. The communities that make up the Local Government Area are Abah Unor, Adonte, Ashama, Egbudu-Akah, Ejeme-Aniogor, Ejeme-Unor, Ewulu, Isheagu(comprising Onuiyi, Atuakpai and Obikwere), Ogwashi Uku, Nsukwa, Ubulu-Okiti, Ubulu-Ukwu, Ubulu-Unor, Ukwu-Oba and Umute.
Awka-Etiti, historically known as Awka-Diedo ; later mentioned as Awka-Nkakwu (Okankaku) by colonial authors, is an affluent town comprising seven villages in Idemili South local government area of Anambra state, Nigeria. The seven villages of Awka-Etiti in order of age established are: Nkolofia, Umunocha, Ejighinandu, Iruowelle, Umudunu, Nnaba and Ogunzele.
The Ofala Festival is an annual ceremony practiced by Igbo people, particularly the indigenes of Onitsha, Umueri, Umuoji and other neighboring communities such as Aguleri, Nnewi and Ukpo in Dunukofia Local Government Area. It serves as a rites of renewal of the king or Igwe or Obi and it is similar to the Igue festival in Benin and the Ine, Osi or Ogbanigbe Festival in many mid-West Igbo communities of Nigeria. The term ofala, is derived from two Igbo words - ọfọ and ala. The festival is celebrated within two days mostly in October by the Obi and is a customary obligation that must be performed every couple of years without fail.
The Ọwọrọ ethnic nationality represents a group of people around the Niger-Benue confluence speaking a Yoruba dialect called Oworo. They are generally classified as part of Northeast Yoruba (NEY) of the Yoruba people.
The Okun people are a Yoruba speaking people found majorly in Kogi, but with settlements in Kwara, Ekiti, and Ondo states of Nigeria. Their dialects are generally classified in the Northeast Yoruba language (NEY) grouping. They are collectively called "Okun", which in Okun dialects could mean "Sorry", "Well-done", or as an all-encompassing greeting. Similarly, this form of greeting is also found among the Ekiti and Igbomina groups of Yoruba people. It is also a mode of greeting among the Ijesa people of southwestern Nigeria.
