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Raising a new Generation of Leaders

Nigerian Peoples and Culture

GST 221
Topic:

Culture Areas in Nigeria AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

Lecturer:

Dr. (Mrs.) M.I. Ozoya

Lecture outline
• Objectives
• Nigeria at a glance
• Definition of Culture
• Culture in specific areas of Nigeria
• Conclusion

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 Objectives
At the end of this this lecture, students should be
able to:
• To present a brief description of Nigeria.
• To define culture.
• To identify some cultural specifics in different
parts of Nigeria.

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 Nigeria at a glance 1/6
• Nigeria covers an area of 356,669 square miles
(923,768 square kilometers).
• It is located in West Africa, along the eastern
coast of the Gulf of Guinea, and north of the
equator.

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 Nigeria at a glance 2/6
• It is bordered on the west by Benin Republic, on
the north by Niger and Chad, and on the east by
Cameroon.
• Consists of about 193 million people.

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Nigeria at a glance 3/6
Origin traceable to the Berlin Conference of
1884-1885.
Amalgamation of Southern and Northern
protectorate on 1st January 1914.
Name given by Flora Shaw in 1890 (connoting
the great river; Niger area; black people).
Had her independence in 1960.
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 Nigeria at a glance 4/6
Nigeria is made up of 36 states with the FCT in
Abuja.
Consists of three main religion: Christianity,
Islam and African Traditional religion.
• Has about 646 languages.
• Lingua Franca is English.
• Consists of more than 250 ethnic tribes
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 Nigeria at a glance 5/6
• With regard to ethnic breakdown,
• the Hausa-Fulani make up 29 percent of the population,
• followed by the Yoruba with 21 percent,
• the Igbo with 18 percent,
• the Ijaw with 10 percent,
• the Kanuri with 4 percent,
• the Ibibio with 3.5 percent, and
• the Tiv with 2.5 percent.
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 Nigeria at a glance 6/6
• The Rivers Niger and Benue come together in
the center of the country, creating a "Y" shape
that splits Nigeria into three separate sections.
• This "Y" symbol forms the boundaries of the
three major ethnic groups, with the Hausa in the
north, the Yoruba in the southwest, and the Igbo
in the southeast.
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Map of Nigeria

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WAZOBIA
These three major ethnic groups are summarized
with the popular word WAZOBIA.
• Wa (Yoruba word for come)
• Zo (Hausa word for come)
• Bia (Igbo word for come)

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 Definition of culture 1/5
• The concept of culture has no generally
accepted definition.
• As such, it can be defined in different manners.
• Its amorphous nature makes it consist of several
definitions depending on the context and
expectation of the author.
• Some of these definitions are examined:
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 Definition of culture 2/5
According to Webster dictionary (2014), culture
is the integrated pattern of human knowledge,
belief, and behavior that depends upon the
capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge
to succeeding generations

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 Definition of culture 3/5
• According to Nwabueze (2010), culture is
everything a society thinks, believes, does, and
possesses as members of that society. It is our
social inheritance that gives structure to our
lives.

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 Definition of culture 4/5
• Most famous and all-encompassing was coined
by the British Anthropologist, Edward Burnett
Tylor (1832-1917) as…
• “that complex whole which includes knowledge,
belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society”. (Tylor, 1873)
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 Definition of culture 5/5
• In a nutshell, culture is the total way of life of a
people. It consists of a people’s Language,
technology, interrelationships, thought
patterns, religious affiliations, amongst others.

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 Elements of Culture
• Culture is made up of some elements as follows:
Norms: the rules and regulations guiding social
behaviour;
• Laws: Institutionalized norms;
• Values: What a society considers as good and
desirable;
• Language: Symbol of communication (verbal and
non-verbal).

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 Culture in specific areas of Nigeria 1/3
• Culture areas in Nigeria examines the way of
life of a group of people in different parts of
Nigeria. culture is often differentiated among
ethnic groups in Nigeria.

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Culture in specific areas of Nigeria 2/3
The predominant ethnic groups are:
Hausa-Fulani
Yoruba
Igbo
Ijaw
Kanuri
Ibibio
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 Culture in specific areas of Nigeria 3/3
• Some aspects of the foregoing identified culture
areas shall be examined. These include
dressing, food, language, religion, and
occupation.

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Hausa-Fulani (DEPICTED IN YELLOW)

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 Hausa-Fulani 1/7
• Its’ people are located in the upper Northern
part of Nigeria (as depicted in the foregoing
map).
• It is made up of such States as Sokoto, Kebbi,
Zamfara, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Bauchi and
Gombe.

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Hausa-Fulani 2/7
• The dominant religion is Islam.
• They speak predominantly the Hausa language,
though there are diverse specific dialects.

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 Hausa-Fulani 3/7
• Their mode of dressing is elaborate and highly
dictated by religion.
• The men wear elaborately decorated Baban
riga, jalabia and juanni often accompanied with
a colorful embroidered caps (Fula) and a turban
to veil the face.

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Hausa-Fulani 4/
Hausa-Fulani men’s dressing

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 Hausa-Fulani 5/7
• Women, on the other hand, wear wrappers
called abaya made with colorful cloth with a
matching blouse, head tie and shawl. They also
wear BUBU. For religious reasons some women
wear veil from head to toe including socks and
hand gloves.

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Hausa-Fulani 6/7

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 Hausa-Fulani 7/7
• Food (tuwo)among the Hausa-Fulani is made of
grains such as millet, Sorhum, wheat, rice,
beans, and corn. Their food consist of Kosai,
Funkaso, Fura, dadawa, etc.
• They are mainly engaged in the occupation of
farming, trading and animal rearing.

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Yoruba 1/8
• The Yoruba people are predominantly
located in the southwestern part of
Nigeria.
• It was initially used to refer to the Oyo
Empire but over the years it has come to
be divided into States like Oyo, Osun,
Ogun, Ondo, Lagos, Kwara, and Ekiti and
some parts of Benin area of Edo State.
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Yoruba 2/8
• Their dominant religion is Christianity
• They speak the Yoruba language with diverse
dialects

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Yoruba 3/8
• Yoruba map

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 Yoruba 4/8
• Their clothing are made of cotton known as Aso
oke. They have an elegant mode of dressing
where men wear Kẹmbẹ, Dandogo, Danṣiki,
Agbada, Buba, Ṣokoto and matching caps.

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Yoruba 5/8

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 Yoruba 6/8
• Women wear mainly iro (wrapper) and buba (blouse).

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 Yoruba 7/8
• Their food include amala, efo riro, iyan, eba, isu ikokore and obe-egusi

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 Yoruba 8/8
• They are mainly engaged in the occupation of
farming, Trading, and
formal employment.

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 Igbo 1/8
• Igbo people are found in southeastern Nigeria.
• Igboland consists of such states as Imo, Abia,
Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, and some parts of
Akwa Ibom, Benue, Rivers, Cross Rivers, Kogi
Edo, and Delta.

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Igbo 2/8
• The dominant religion is Christianity
• They speak the Igbo language with diverse
dialects

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Igbo 3/8

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 Igbo 4/8
• Attire: both men and women wear wrapper
while the chiefs wear their chieftaincy robe and
cap. Women top up with a gorgeous blouse and
large-size gele.

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Igbo 5/8

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Igbo 6/8

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Igbo 7/8

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 Igbo 8/8
• Igbo people eat a lot of vegetables. They have
such foods as Nkwobi, utazi, fufu, tapioka,oha
soup and so on.

• They are mostly craftsmen, farmers and traders

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 Ijaw
• They are located among the Niger Delta States in
Nigeria. These include mainly Bayelsa, Delta, and
Rivers. Others include Ondo, Edo and Akwa Ibom.
Mainly christians
• Main language is Izon with different dialects

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Ijaw cont’d
• They are elaborately adorned in their
indigenous dress pattern with wrapper and
beads. As shown in the following…

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Ijaw Cont’d

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Ijaw cont’d
• Dressing

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Ijaw cont’d
• Their food include plantain, cocoyam, paddy
rice, banana, and yam
• They are mainly fishermen and farmers.

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Kanuri
• It is located in northeastern part of Nigeria
involving Yobe and Bornu States with some part of
Jigawa. They are also found outside Nigeria
including Chad. Main religion is Islam
• They speak Kanuri with other dialects.

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Kanuri Cont’d

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Kanuri Cont’d
• There is a unique mode of dressing among the
Kanuris and it is some way similar to that of
the Hausa-Fulani.

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Kanuri Cont’d

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Kanuri Cont’d
• Atire

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Kanuri men from Chad

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Kanuri Cont’d
• Their delicacies are similar to that of the
Hausa-Fulani which is made up of mainly
grains such as millet, sorghum, rice, wheat and
corn. They are employed in commerce,
government service and transportation.

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Ibibio
• They occupy the palm belt of southeastern Nigeria
also known as Coastal Southern Nigeria. They are
related to the Annang, Efik, Ekid, Oron and Ibeno
people. They are found predominantly in Akwa Ibom
State.
• They are predominantly Christians
• They speak Ibibio, Efik and other dialects.

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Ibibio (Akwa Ibom State) Map

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Ibibio Cont’d
• Their mode of dressing is gorgeous and colorful.
They men wear trousers and wrappers as well,
which is similar to the Igbos while the women top
up their dressing with elegant blouses and hair-tie.
Cultural dresses especially for festivals are also
present and esoteric in nature.

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Ibibio Cont’d
• Their mode of dressing is gorgeous and colorful.
They men wear trousers and wrappers as well,
which is similar to the Igbos while the women top
up their dressing with elegant blouses and hair-tie.
Cultural dresses especially for festivals are also
present and esoteric in nature.

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Ibibio Cont’d
• They are known for special delicacies like Ikpan
kukwo,
Afang,
• Edikan Ikong, and
• Atama.
• They engage in fishing , farming and trading.

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Esan Ethnic group
The Esan people (Ishan) are known to be a
major ethnic group in Southwestern Nigeria.
Consists of 35 kingdoms or clans.
Esanland is situated west of the Niger River.

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Edo State within the Nigerian map

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Esan Ethnic group cont’d
• Religion
• The major religion of the Esan ethnic group is
Christianity although many still practice
traditional religion.

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Esan Ethnic group cont’d
• Dressing
• The Esan people are known to be exotic in their
dressing.The male dress like the Yorubas by wearing
Adagba with similarities of Igbo dressing such as the
wearing of wrappers, hat and walking stick especially in
ceremonies. The women known to be lavishly adorned
with beads.

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Esan women dressing

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Esan men dressing

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Esan Ethnic group cont’d
The Esan ethnic group have delicacies such as eba,
ama, bobozi, olene, with diverse types of soups made
from blended leaves such as
• bitter leaf,
• cassava leaves,
• groundnut soup
• Cocoa leaf, etc.
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Esan Ethnic group cont’d
• Occupation
• Esan people are manly farmers. However,
formal employment is beginning to bloom
among them
• Also engagement in politics is now common
among the men.

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Conclusion
• Culture areas in Nigeria are diverse. However they
are no longer as fixed as portrayed as they are
becoming diffused as a result of Western popular
culture perpetuated by the spread of the internet.
All the same, Nigeria is beautiful for its diverse
culture.

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• Thank you for your attention.
• Nagode
• Ese
• Daalu
• Obilu

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