Southern Kaduna

Southern Kaduna (A̱tak Ka̱duna ; Jju: Ka̱tak Ka̱duna ; Kudancin Kaduna ; formerly Southern Zaria) is an area of the Nok Culture region inhabited by various related ethnic groups who do not identify as Hausa, living south of Zaria, Kaduna State. It is located in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. According to the Southern Kaduna People's Union (SOKAPU), Southern Kaduna consists of 12 (or 13 ) Local Government Areas out of 23 in Kaduna State.

In September 2020, the SOKAPU national publicity secretary, Luka Binniyat, in a statement he signed said the region makes up 51.2% of the entire state's population as shown in the 2006 census figures, occupying 26,000 sq. km. of the state's 46,000 sq. km. total land mass, with 57 registered ethnic nationalities of the state's 67 identified ones. Angerbrandt (2015) views it as being less of a geographical identity and more of an ethnic identity concept.

Antiquity
The Nok culture thrived in the area now known as Southern Kaduna as early as 1500 BC and lasted up until circa 500 AD.

Middle ages
Achi (2005:378) mentioned that the itinerary settlement of Zangon Kataf, established circa 1650 AD for the itinerant Hausa traders became important.

Administrative divisions
The table below contains the 12 Local Government Areas of Southern Kaduna:

Ethnic composition
Southern Kaduna is composed of closely related ethnic groups and several subgroups united by a common culture and history. James (2000) classified these people based on their ethno-linguistic affinities under the topic "The Middle Belt (Composition of the Nok Culture Area)", and grouping the subgroups into the following groups:

The Proto-Plateau ethnolinguistic cluster
The above grouping on the Proto-Plateau ethnolinguistic clusters was however modified based on the spoken languages by Blench (2008) as follows:

The Proto-West Chadic languages
Outside of James (2000)'s classification lie the groups from the Proto-West Chadic ethnolinguistic cluster:

Population
The Southern kaduna population is estimated to be over 4.5 million people out of the estimated 8.5 million population in Kaduna state in 2016. Predicted 5.1 million people out of 12 million predicted population of Kaduna State in 2021. The common general languages spoken in the area are Hausa, English and the Nigerian Pidgin.

Languages
Southern Kaduna consists of a diverse minority of ethnolinguistic groups, who speak languages belonging to the Niger–Congo and West Chadic language groups. Below are the languages and dialects spoken by the people of Southern Kaduna:

Natural resources
In the mid-2000s, former Nigerian Minister of Solid Minerals during the Olusegun Obasanjo regime, Leslie Obiora, compiled a list of minerals across the country, which amounted to a total of 74 minerals; 34 were declared fit for mining on a commercial scale, with Southern Kaduna having over 30 minerals with over fifty percent (50%) of them minable.

In August 2016, the NTA reported the discovery of nickel in the village of Dangoma, a village over 11 km south of Kafanchan, by a private mining network led by an Australian mining veteran, Hugh Morgan. The Australian was said to have reported that the discovered nickel balls which are rumored to have a nickel grade exceeding 90 percent and believed to be a global innovation due to their wide distribution, present an opportunity for generating immediate revenue through a straightforward and cost-effective screening process. This revenue can be utilized to finance a comprehensive evaluation of the discovery, which has sparked excitement within the exploration community. The newspaper added, ""...the discovery is unusual because the nickel is found in small balls up to 3mm in diameter of a high purity in shallow soils in what could be the surface expression of a much bigger hard-rock nickel field.""

Ginger
Southern Kaduna is the epicentre of ginger production in Nigeria. In the 1990s, ginger farmers enjoyed profit from the sales of their harvested crops due to the availability of ginger processing companies all over the region. Still, today, most of those companies have shut down without efforts to revive them on the government's side.

A fungal disease outbreak was noticed across many areas in Southern Kaduna in the first week of July 2023. In September 2023, while speaking in Kachia, the President of the National Ginger Association of Nigeria, Nuhu B. Dauda, decried the loss of about 10 billion Naira by the state's economy due to the strange disease that affected the ginger production for the year. A month later, in October, while also speaking on the outbreak of ginger blight, a fungal disease, across seven Local Government Areas of Southern Kaduna, which affected about 2,500 farm hectares, the senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial District, Sunday Marshall Katung, in an interview with Arise News demanded support from the Nigerian federal government and stated that 85% of Nigeria's ginger production was from Kaduna State, largely contributing to making the country the 2nd highest producer of the crop in the world. He added that Nigeria realized about 10 billion Naira from the export of the crop in the 2nd quarter of that year. In May 2024, Daily Trust reported that in addition to the loss of seeds to the outbreak, farmers faced the risk of being kidnapped by kidnappers in their farmlands around Kachia and Kagarko Local Government Areas.

Education


It was asserted by Kazah-Toure (1999:130) that Southern Kaduna took a lead in education in the defunct Northern Region, during the period around the Nigerian Civil War (between 1966 and 1970s). Bonat (1989:55) claims that a majority of the educated people from this region who are non-Hausa, were in the teaching profession and in the middle cadre of the civil service in contrast to the Hausa who were dominant at the highest bureaucratic levels.

In March 2024, a group, Kaduna Indigenous Publishers Network spoke of the establishment of the Southern Kaduna Educational and Human Capacity Development Commission, to create access for the youths of the region to good education and training opportunities.

Present tertiary institutions

 * Air Force Institute of Technology (Nigeria), Kaduna
 * Greenfield University, Kaduna
 * Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna
 * Kaduna State University, Kaduna and Kafanchan Campuses
 * National Open University of Nigeria, Gworok Study Center
 * Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna
 * Kaduna State College of Education, Kafanchan
 * School of Agricultural Technology, Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Cenkwon
 * College of Nursing, Kafanchan

Politics
The Southern Kaduna People's Union (SOKAPU) had been the umbrella socio-cultural body for the about 67 recognized ethnic groups of Southern Kaduna over the decades. The group is currently under the leadership of Samuel Tabara Kato. He succeeded Awemi Dio Maisamari in December 2023 as National President of SOKAPU.

In September 2022, the Southern Kaduna Leadership Council (SKLC) chaired by Ishaya Dary Akau, listed SOKAPU as its member. Other members of the council announced included the Southern Kaduna Elders Consultative Forum, Southern Kaduna Autochthonous Community Development Associations Forum, Forum of Southern Kaduna Professors, Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Association, Southern Kaduna Retired Military and Para-Military Officers Association, Southern Kaduna Lawyers Forum, Southern Kaduna Leaders Forum, and the Visionaries for the formation of the Council. The listing of the SOKAPU under the SKLC, however, was not popular with some members of the SOKAPU executive as the group was soon plunged into an internal crisis which climaxed with the resignation of Maisamari.

In 2021, while speaking to Guardian Nigeria, the SOKAPU President, Jonathan Asake stated that Southern Kaduna had demanded the creation of Gurara State for over 30 years. He added that the proposed state was among the 18 proposed states in the report of the 2014 Nigerian National Confab conducted during the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan given amending the Nigerian constitution.

Notable people
Among the notable people from Southern Kaduna are:
 * Katung Aduwak (b. 1980), winner Big Brother Naija premier edition (2006); film director, screenwriter, producer
 * Martin Luther Agwai (b. 1948), Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff (2006–2007); Chief of Army Staff (2003–2006); Commander, UNAMID (2008–2009)
 * Gwamna Awan (1915–2008), Agwam Agworok V, one of the rulers with the longest reign in Africa (1945–2008)
 * Musa Bityong (194?–1985), one of the first Nigerian Army officers to be airborne qualified, alleged shooter of Nigeria's Military Head-of-state Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Western Region governor Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi during the 29 July 1966 coup
 * Bala Ade Dauke (1931 – 2005), first Indigenous district head in Southern Zaria (excluding the independent Chiefdoms of Jaba, Kagoro, and Moroa)
 * Ishaya Iko Ibrahim (1952–2022), Nigeria's 18th Chief of Naval Staff (2008–2010)
 * Josiah Tagwai Kantiyok (b. 1968), consultant and chief executive of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (2009–2020), Agwam Fantswam II (2020–date)
 * Abigail Marshall Katung (b. 1973), 1st African Lord mayor of Leeds (2024–2025)
 * Sunday Marshall Katung (b. 1961), senator representing Kaduna South senatorial district (2023–date), lawyer
 * Matthew Hassan Kukah (b. 1952), Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, human rights activist
 * Zamani Lekwot (b. 1944), military governor Rivers State (1975–1978), Southern Kaduna elder statesman
 * Blessing Liman (b. 1984), Nigeria's 1st female military pilot
 * Adamu Audu Maikori (1942–2020), 1st professional lawyer in Southern Kaduna, politician, banker, military pilot
 * Audu Maikori (b. 1975), co-founder Chocolate City (record label), lawyer
 * Victor Moses (b. 1990), professional footballer
 * Christopher Gwabin Musa (b. 1967), Nigeria's 18th Chief of Defence Staff (2023–date)
 * Andrew Jonathan Nok (1962–2017), professor of biochemistry, researcher and winner of the Alexander Humboldt Prize and (2013); discovered the gene responsible for the synthesis of sialidase
 * Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa (1948–2012), 1st Governor of Kaduna State from Southern Kaduna (2010–2012)
 * Andrew Laah Yakubu (b. 1955), Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (2012–2014), engineer
 * Luka Nyeh Yusuf (1952–2009), Nigeria's 20th Chief of Army Staff (2007–2008), Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces (Liberia) (2006–2007)