Towards a Mwaghavul History: an Exploration

By Joseph Dahip

The history of the Mwaghavul is a long one, documented in various forms, ranging from records of administration by the colonialist, to the documentation of archaeological discoveries by white explorers and administrators, documentation and analysis of languages, oral lore and culture by linguists and the latest series of narration and documentation of various aspects of the Mwaghavul people by students and individuals. These have not been collated into a single source of information about the Mwaghavul.

Information on the history of the Mwaghavul are mostly found in students thesis, dissertations and long essays on Mwaghavul origin, the Jos Museum, National Archives Kaduna (NAK), the Jos Province (Jos. Prof) archival materials and the History Department of the University of Jos and other Nigerian Universities.

Providing a comprehensive history of the Mwaghavul for its future generations is the aim of this book. This is in view of the fact that most of the older publications and documented information on the Mwaghavul are out of print. In addition, the transmission of history from the elderly to the younger generation is dying out as the gap between these two is ever widening because of the rural-urban drift in the country, and the international migration of the Mwaghavul people.


Primary source of information was obtained from oral traditions of the Mwaghavul people with focus group discussions conducted with elderly Mwaghavul people and opinion leaders, including visits and interviews of individuals during key Mwaghavul festivities such as Ryem-Pushit, Titdiu-Kombun, Kopshu-Mpang West, Bwanzuhum-Kerang and Wus-Panyam. Secondary data were sourced from written documents and records of colonial administration, explorers and early missionaries. Other sources of secondary data were academic write-ups on Mwaghavul students thesis in Nigerian tertiary institutions and write-ups on Mwaghavul by individuals in the society. The use of both indigenous and corrupted (by English or Hausa) names for Mwaghavul polity and places are generally adapted in this work.

The Mwaghavul language is among the Afro-Asiatic languages spoken on the Jos Plateau and it belongs to the Chadic sub-family as indicated by Isichei (1982, p. 7) and Meek (1971). Although Meek places it under the Hamitic group, Ames (1983), Isichei (1982) and Danfulani (1995a, 2003) place it under the Nilo-Saharan or Afro-asiatic, under the Chadic sub unit. Professional linguists, among them, Crozier & Blench (1992), Zygmunt Frajzyngier (1991, 1993), Paul Newman (1990), Carl Hoffman (1976), Joseph Greenberg (1966), Hermann Jungraithmayr (1963/64, 1970) and Hermann Jungraithmayr and D. Ibriszimov (1994) all agree with the opinion given above when they unanimously assert that Mwaghavul as a language belongs to the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic, which is elsewhere referred to such in the works of Richard Morr (1968) and Daniel N. Wambutda (1991) as Nilo Saharan. This makes the Mwaghavul and their other Chadic-speaking neighbours of the Jos Plateau and other groups scattered between the Chad-Borno basin and the Jos Plateau hills, the kinsmen of the Maguzawa or the Hausa, which constitute the single largest Chadic-speaking group in the whole world.

Isichei (1982, 1983) further notes that Mwaghavul is closely related with and is mutually intelligible to Goemai, Ngas, Montol, Mupun, Mship, Chakfem, Yuom, Mushere, Kulere, Jipal, Njak and other Chadic languages spoken on the eastern part of the Jos Plateau, especially in Bokkos, Pankshin, Kanke, Mikang, Tal and Shendam Local Government Areas of Plateau State.

According to proponents of the migrant view, the Chadic speakers presently found on the Jos Plateau left Borno between 1100 A.D. and 1350 A.D. They were among the pre-Kanuri inhabitants possibly associated with the So who had occupied the plains of the Chad basin. In Mwaghavul so or sokho means horse racing. The Mwaghavul are noted as horse riders and war

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465348289

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Copyright © 2011 by Joseph Dahip.

Edited by Sale Akila Lohor, Barry Akila Katu and Umar Habila Dadem Danfulani

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011913975

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-4827-2

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

Foreword

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

References

Primary Sources: Informants

A Glossary Of Mwaghavul Words Used

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

APPENDIX 3

APPENDIX 4

APPENDIX 5

APPENDIX 6

APPENDIX 7

APPENDIX 8

APPENDIX 9

APPENDIX 10

APPENDIX 11

APPENDIX 12

APPENDIX 13

APPENDIX 14

APPENDIX 15

DEDICATION

This book is unreservedly dedicated to the Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA) in general, but particularly, to its United States Branch under the leadership of Joseph Dahip. As already pointed out in the foreword, it was their initiative, commitment and money, which made the project that made the production of this book possible. It is also dedicated to the ancestors and patriarchs of the Mwaghavul who, over the centuries, founded the culture, language, art, science, technology and the distinct social formation which eventually gave rise to Mwaghavul identity or Mwaghavul ethnic nationality. In the same vein, it is dedicated to future generations of Mwaghavul sons and daughters—wherever they might be residing around the globe—in the hope that they would develop and transform Mwaghavul heritage in a manner that they contribute to global civilization just as they benefit from same in a reciprocal manner.

Professor Monday Y. Mangvwat

FOREWORD

In 2003, I made one of my several trips to the Iowa State University (USA) with which the University of Jos had a partnership project (Widernet Project). While in my hotel room, I picked up an unusual phone call. This call was from Joseph Dahip from the state of Minnesota, some 400km north of Iowa State close to Canada. As it turned out, this telephone call was a pleasant surprise.

Apparently, Joseph Dahip and his Mwaghavul colleagues’ resident in the United States of America had gotten information that I had visited Iowa State University and would be there for two weeks. The phone call was to request me to give them audience on a Sunday afternoon. I quickly obliged. Thus, Joseph Dahip and three other colleagues arrived at my hotel room at about 11.00 am and left at about 1:00 pm (US time). As it turned out, they had seen and read the American edition of a book which I had edited titled: Peoples and Cultures of Northern Nigeria (1999), which was in circulation in the United States. This book was the outcome of a request for it by an association of Nigerians of Northern States origin living in the United States of America known as Zumunta Association USA, Inc. but the work was funded by a Senate Research Grant award of the University of Jos, which was graciously given.

I promised the Joseph Dahip led entourage that I would not find the time to coordinate the work personally (this was in the middle of my tenure as Vice-Chancellor) but I would put together a team that would do it. On return to Nigeria, I quickly constituted a group of six scholars under the leadership of Dr. Mark Lere to prosecute the project. I also told them that they were at liberty to bring in other persons they deem appropriate but that I regarded the six of them as the ones to whom I had given this responsibility. In December of that year, Joseph Dahip came to Nigeria and personally gave me the sum of $2,000 (two thousand US dollars cash), which I converted to its Naira equivalent, at the going rate, and handed over to the Lere Committee. I instructed that work should commence immediately. Our target was six months for field work and another six months for writing. But this was not to be.

I am not sure I can justify or defend the long delay in completing this work but I take solace in the fact that it has been done at all. I am counting on the understanding and forbearance of Joseph and the small but active branch of the Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA) in the United States of America to pardon this delay. I can only hope that the delay would not have created any crisis of distrust within the group for which we would offer unreserved apology.

Be that as it may, the book is finally out. Despite the delay, I am quite satisfied with the outcome. Indeed, in addition to the work of the editors, I personally went through each chapter and made further corrections. In this regards, I can confirm seventy per cent accuracy of the facts contained and less so of the interpretations of some of the chapters. As the reader would certainly discover, the quality of the chapters vary from one author to another obviously reflecting the quality of field work carried out by the various chapter contributors. This is not too unfamiliar for works of this nature. To the best of my knowledge, except for references on the Mwaghavul (Sura) in colonial publications and notes including Polycarp F. Datok’s History of Panyam, some of which are in the National Archives Kaduna (NAK), this is the first attempt at publishing a comprehensive history of the Mwaghavul. It is thus a pioneer publication which should be read within this context. I believe that its appearance has gone a long way in dousing some of the anxieties of successive national leadership of the Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA) who have been in frequent contact with me over the need for such a publication. Indeed, the MDA had set up, among others, a History Committee in pursuit of the same objective which did not materialize.

It only remains to add that one hopes that the expressed desire of many Mwaghavul elite for a publication of this sort would be backed by similar enthusiasm in purchasing copies and reading them. We urge that the book be critically read because we welcome criticisms, comments, observations and other shortcomings so that a revised edition of the work can deliberately overcome any lapses that might be pointed out. It must be emphasized that this publication, despite the excitement it might generate, should be regarded as a working document from which subsequent literature on various aspects of Mwaghavul history, culture, politics, economy, language, art, science and technology would hopefully emerge.

Finally, given the fact that studies in Mwaghavul is still in its formative stage, the appearance of this book is a most welcome beginning. I commend it to the reading public as a fairly true account of Mwaghavul history. Expectedly, schools, colleges and universities should find in it a significant addition to the growing literature on the peoples and cultures of the Jos Plateau.

Professor Monday Y. Mangvwat, Ph.D.

Department of History and International Studies

University of Jos, Jos—Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

General Introduction

Rahila Gowon, Ph.D.

Background

The history of the Mwaghavul is a long one, documented in various forms, ranging from records of administration by the colonialist, to the documentation of archaeological discoveries by white explorers and administrators, documentation and analysis of languages, oral lore and culture by linguists and the latest series of narration and documentation of various aspects of the Mwaghavul people by students and individuals.

These have not been collated into a single source of information about the Mwaghavul. This gap was brought to focus by the Mwaghavul community in the USA and Professor Monday Mangvwat at a meeting in the United States of America. Both parties took the challenge to bring together all the important and existing literature about the Mwaghavul into a single volume of information.

The Mwaghavul community in the USA sponsored the project with funds for data collection and write-up, while Professor Mangvwat identified some academics and researches who undertook the work/project without requesting any remuneration.

Aims/Objectives

Getting a-one-volume information about the history of the Mwaghavul is no easy work. Such an exercise is envisaged to be cumbersome (except for researchers); because the exercise would involve movement from places of long distances and the perusal of different and many writings of different and various volumes. It is in overcoming this difficulty that this project was initiated. That is, to provide the Mwaghavul polity and interested readers the possibility of having a comprehensive history of the people with an easy-to read single volume information.

Information on the history of the Mwaghavul as earlier stated are mostly found in students theses, dissertations and long essays on Mwaghavul origin, the Jos Museum, National Archives Kaduna (NAK), the Jos Province (Jos. Prof) archival materials and the History Department of the University of Jos and other Nigerian Universities. These places are usually not within easy access to the common people. This write up is thus meant to make available this category of information, within easy access, to the wider section of the Mwaghavul polity and the general public.

Providing a comprehensive history of the Mwaghavul for its future generations is another aim of this venture. This is in view of the fact that most of the older publications and documented information on the Mwaghavul are out of print. In addition, the transmission of history from the elderly to the younger generation is dying out as the gap between these two is ever widening because of the rural-urban drift in the country, and the international migration of the Mwaghavul people. This one-volume history is also intended to be a means of uniting the Mwaghavul polity both at home and abroad, in addition to being an upgraded source of information about them. In addition, old people and young opinion leaders who are important sources of information could also die. The necessity to forestall the effect of this eventuality is also one of the objectives of this project.

Scope and Delimitation

The scope of this project covers all aspects of the life of the Mwaghavul people from pre-colonial times to the present dispensation. To adequately cover the scope comprehensively, the history has been divided into two phases, namely pre-colonial history and the post-colonial period (1900-present day). Each of these two broad spectrums has been examined under a number of themes with various topics and issues. The Pre-Colonial epoch has been discussed under the following themes: (1) the environmental setting and peopling or settlement pattern of Mwaghavul land; (2) the socio-political organization of the Mwaghavul people, (3) the economic structure of the Mwaghavul and,( 4) early external relations and influence. The Colonial and Post-Colonial epochs, which began from 1900, have been analyzed under the following two themes: (1) advent of Europeans and (2) change and continuity.

The terminal date was restricted to independence, because events after that date are better documented and more accessible than the previous period and can therefore be easily varied. Besides, most of the classified documents on Nigerian history after independence are only being classified recently and, therefore, not available to this group of researchers at the time of writing.

Methodology

The methodology used in sourcing for information and collecting data for this book is multi-dimensional (Shorter, 1975) in outlook and approach. This is in keeping with the ploy-methodic and interdisciplinary approach being advocated by Harold W. Turner (1981), Ikenga-Metuh (1984, 1991) and scholars in the Arts, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences and in all academic disciplines today. This multi-layered approach informed the pooling of scholars of Mwaghavul studies from the variegated disciplines of Education, English, History, Religious Studies and Political Sciences at the University of Jos to write various chapters and sections of this book. This supports the popular African saying that A Masquerade is not Watched from One Spot (Danfulani, 1999), if the observer is to have a complete picture of its performance.

Thus both primary and secondary sources were consulted and the sourcing for data was done through ethnographic-surveys, qualitative approach or oral interviews, and the utilization of Focus Group Discussions (FDGs), aside from the application of questionnaires, recordings of cultural displays and artifacts on both audio and video cassettes in addition to pictures on still cameras. These were done from the onset of the research work in 2003.

Primary source of information was gotten from primary oral traditions of the Mwaghavul people with FGDs conducted with elderly Mwaghavul people and opinion leaders, including visits and interviews of individuals during key Mwaghavul festivities such as Ryem-Pushit, Titdiu-Kombun, Kopshu-Mpang West, Bwanzuhum-Kerang and Wus-Panyam.

Secondary data were sourced from written documents and records of colonial administration, explorers and early missionaries. Other sources of secondary data were academic write-ups on Mwaghavul student’s theses in Nigerian tertiary institutions and write-ups on Mwaghavul by individuals in the society. The use of both indigenous and corrupted (by English or Hausa) names for Mwaghavul polity and places are generally adapted in this work. Explanations and reasons have been provided for use where indigenous or corrupted words for polity and places are used, though these may not be popular or in popular use today.

Data and information received were analyzed at the individual and group levels, using both inductive and deductive analysis of facts. Authors were encouraged to analyze data when writing, while these were brought at the group level, where all authors were present and further discussion and analyses were done after presentations by authors. These were then presented to the Editorial Advisor of the project—Professor Monday Mangvwat for further editing.

Geographical Description and Definition of Mwaghavul

The Mwaghavul are located within the Central Zone of present Plateau State of Nigeria and are among the larger ethnic groups within the State; with the others being the Berom, Ngas and Goemai. They are largely found in Mangu Local Government Area and in the western fringes of Pankshin Local Government Area of the State and are said to be 59,623 according to the 1963 census. Their indigenous area of abode covers an area of 3,268 square kilometers on the high Plateau region located within latitude 8.30o to 10.10oN and longitude 8.30° and 10.00°E. Although secondary migrations have brought about Mwaghavul settlements in Shendam, Quanpan, Langtang South, Wase Local Government Areas of Plateau State, Saminaka and Zaria in Kaduna States; these Mwaghavul polities still owe their traditional allegiance and ancestry to their Mwaghavul home settlements.

The northern part of the area is on the Plateau, but slopes down to the narrow southern wedge, where the landscape is very rocky, having granite rocks, volcanic mountains laced with narrow valleys as common features. The climate is semi-temperate with an average rainfall of 1,400mms. They are bounded to the east and southeast by the Ngas and Mupun, both of Pankshin Local Government Area; to the northeast by the Pyem (of Mangu Local Government Area) and Kadung (of Pankshin Local Government Area, with Badni being a district in Chanso ward of Mangu LGA) and to the north by the Berom of Barkin-Ladi. To the west, they are bounded by the Ron and Mushere of Bokkos Local Government Area while to the south they are bounded by the Kofyar Federation (of Quan Pan Local Government Area). The Chakfem and Jipal who are sometimes placed with them but who are noted to be on their own by their language and customs (Isichei, 1982) are also found on the southern fringes of the Mwaghavul. A small population of the Mupun is also found settling in Katul District of Jipal, in Tokbet, Sambe, and Selek villages.

The peopling of Mwaghavul entity as shown from secondary sources (written documents) indicate that Mwaghavul peopling are categorized into eight areas, namely Kombun, Panyam, Kerang, Mpang, Vodni, Mangun, Takkas and Chakfiem. According to Ames (1972, pp. 147-151), the Old Sura (Mwaghavul) is divided with a northern and southern Sura. The north comprises of Panyam, Kombun and Vodni while the south has Mpang, Kerang, Mangun and Chakfiem. He goes further to identify

An isolated colony of the Mwaghavul to be found among the Ngas of Pankshin called the Takkas . . . a clear example of the influences the Mwaghavul have had on their neighbors (1972, pp. 147-151).

In the same vein Matthews (1934) noted that Chakfiem is a kin of Mangun, an entity of the Mwaghavul. On the other hand the language index of Nigeria (Crozier & Blench, 1992) puts Chakfiem on its own and having Mushere as its own language kinship. Is the omission of Jipal as part of the Mwaghavul entity by early writers a mistake or was it deliberate? This omission could not have been a mistake, but was deliberate, because Ames (1972), Matthews (1934) and Isichei (1982) traced the origin of some or whole of Mwaghavul entity as being from Ngung near Jipal or Ngung and Jipal respectively. This indicates that though Jipal has a kinship affinity with the Mwaghavul, it has always been on its own and has more visible links with the people of Kofyar federation. In fact Jipal was most likely the centre from which the ethnic groups of the Kofyar federation spread out into the lowland areas that they occupy today (McNetting, 1968). However, administrative structuring of the land by the colonialist and missionary enterprises placed Jipal with the Mwaghavul.

On the other hand, some elders of the Jipal have disputed that Jipal is a part of early Mwaghavul land, though they presently are linked with Mwaghavul for governmental administration. Thus, in summarizing the Mwaghavul entity, two categorizations would be used to do that. These are the language and cultural categorization and the administrative and social categorization. Under the language and cultural categorization are:

1.   Kombun, which has Bwai, Ruf, and Suluwa.

2.   Pianiya with Sekop, Fwanko, Kodaghas, Jwak, Kopal, Niyes, Bwor, Kombili, and Changhal.

3.   Vodni having Kifong, Makor, Tileng Paat, and Kodol.

4.   Mpang with Chindom, Panyil, Bwonpe, Perka and Fwam Clans;

5.   Kerang consists of Tim and Dikibin.

6.   Mangun has Luwe, Yilpia, Yemdung, Yem Pang and Yemlihit clans.

7.   Tekkas is made up of Duwa, Gissin, Putdong, Mangar and Juvur clans

8.   Mangu, a recent development, has become a separate and distinct entity with the following settlements: Kinat, Kantoma, Chicchim, Gyambwas, Mairana, Bwai, Bunga, Shimlang, Halle.

Even though there are distinct language and some cultural differences between Jipal and Chakfem and the rest of the Mwaghavul districts; the similarities in the names of their settlement areas suggest that they all had an early affinity. The slight differences in language and culture could be as result of the geographical barriers they encountered among themselves as they dispersed from each other.

Under the administrative and social categorization are:

1.   Kombun.

2.   Panyam

3.   Vodni

4.   Kerang

5.   Mpang

6.   Mangun

7.   Mangu

8.   Jipal: Rundum, Kaburuk, Katul, Kabum, Kanjing, Kaper, Male, Bul, Jwaghal, Kwa

9.   Chakfiem: Muko, Wubel, Narohos, Tim, Manden, Zhibin, Zhilem, Mihdihin, Koppang, Kabung, Chakchaar.

10.   Takkas

Definition and Description of Mwaghavul Language

The Mwaghavul language is among the Afro-Asiatic languages spoken on the Jos Plateau and it belongs to the Chadic sub-family as indicated by Isichei (1982, p. 7) and Meek (1971). Although Meek places it under the Hamitic group, Ames (1983), Isichei (1982) and Danfulani (1995a, 2003) place it under the Nilo-Saharan or Afro-asiatic, under the Chadic sub unit. Professional linguists, among them, Crozier & Blench (1992), Zygmunt Frajzyngier (1991, 1993), Paul Newman (1990), Carl Hoffman (1976), Joseph Greenberg (1966), Hermann Jungraithmayr (1963/64, 1970) and Hermann Jungraithmayr and D. Ibriszimov (1994) all agree with the opinion given above when they unanimously assert that Mwaghavul as a language belongs to the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic, which is elsewhere referred to such in the works of Richard Morr (1968) and Daniel N. Wambutda (1991) as Nilo Saharan. This makes the Mwaghavul and their other Chadic-speaking neighbours of the Jos Plateau and other groups scattered between the Chad-Borno basin and the Jos Plateau hills, the kinsmen of the Maguzawa or the Hausa, which constitute the single largest Chadic-speaking group in the whole world. The array of specialist mentioned above also agree that the Jos Plateau is a haven of languages and the Biblical tower of Babel may as well have been located here since three language families meet here: both Bantu and Kwa units of the Benue Congo Family of languages, aside from Chadic are spoken on the Jos Plateau, which has over fifty diffrent languages and even higher number of dialects. In fact, historians have informed us that the original home of the Bantu speakers of Southern Africa is the Jos Plateau and Southern Kaduna area, which incidentally is the home of the reknown Nok culture.

Isichei (1982, 1983) further notes that Mwaghavul is closely related with and is mutually intelligible to Goemai, Ngas, Montol, Mupun, M’ship, Chakfem, Yuom, Mushere, Kulere, Jipal, Njak and other Chadic languages spoken on the eastern part of the Jos Plateau, especially in Bokkos, Pankshin, Kanke, Mikang, Tal and Shendam Local Government Areas of Plateau State. This seeming mutual intelligibility might be what made Temple (1965) to consider Mwaghavul (Sura) as a dialect of Ngas (Angas). Although languages included in this sub-family such as the Ngas, Mupun, M’ship, Tal, Kofyar, Bogghom, Montol, Goemai, Jipal, Chakfem, Ron, Kulere, Fier, Tambes, Ngung, Kadung, Yom and Mushere, among others are mutually intelligible as noted by Hoffman (1976, pp. 173, 71); and Danfulani (1995a, 2003, p. 8), they constitute nevertheless different languages. They could not be said to be dialects of the same language because though they might pass the test of language kinship in relation to morphology and phonology; syntactic, semantic and sometimes phonological elements of the languages indicate that they are different languages. This though still constitute a great controversy among linguists who have worked in this area and on these languages. It must, however, be noted that languages such as those spoken by their Pyem neighbors and the Tarok in the Southern Senatorial district belong to the Kwa sub family of the Benue-Congo Language Family.

Indigenous area of coverage of Mwaghavul language include, Kombun, Panyam (Pianiya), Kerang, Pushit (Vodni), Mpang (Ampang West) Mangun and Takkas, Jipal and Chakfiem. Within this indigenous area of coverage, dialectical variations are noticeable from one area to another.

Social area of coverage of the language encompasses those under the indigenous area of coverage extending to M’ship (Chip), Mupun, Jipal, Chakfem, Mushere and some areas of Ron (Challa), Berom and Pyem who share boundaries with the Mwaghavul. This is because the first African agents of Christianity within the area of influence, apart from the Tarok and Ngas, were the Mwaghavul. Closely following the advent of Christianity was western education. Thus, Mwaghavul became the language of Christianity and education during the advent of Christianity.

In describing the potentials of languages on the Jos-Plateau, Danfulani (1995a, 2003) notes that these have been poorly studied based on the fact that the ethnic units and geographic spread of these are small and numerous; and further sounding a warning that these are even growing smaller as the younger generation is contended with the two languages of colonization, English and Hausa. He thus, proposed that studies and teaching should be carried out in these languages to ensure that they do not go into extinction. This overview of languages on the Jos-Plateau makes it imperative for the Mwaghavul people to protect and save the language because the death of a language is the loss of a whole culture, tradition and a people. This then is the challenge for all Mwaghavul at home and in the Diaspora.

Table 1: Village Area in the Following Mwaghavual Districts

Table 1: Village Area in the Following Mwaghavul Districts (con’t)

Table 1: Village Area in the Following Mwaghavul Districts (con’t)

Table 1: Village Area in the Following Mwaghavul Districts (con’t)

CHAPTER TWO

Origin, Migration and Settlement:

Early History of the Mwaghavul up to 1907

Barnabas Milaham Barnabas

History of the Mwaghavul and its Relation to the

Early History of the Jos Plateau

The area that is commonly referred to as the Jos Plateau is located in Central Nigeria. The region derives its name from its major physical features, which is characterized by massive high lands that are occasionally surrounded by expansive low lands. At the initial stage of the British colonial rule the Jos Plateau formed part of the Bauchi-Plateau highlands and was administered under Bauchi province until the re-organization of 1926, when Plateau Province was created as an administrative unit and the area was renamed Jos Plateau.

The area is inhabited by many ethnic groups. The two major language groups found on the Jos Plateau are the Benue-Congo comprising the Berom, Anaguta, Afizere, Pyem, Tarok, Amo, and Buji, among others; and the Chadic speakers consisting of the Ngas, Goemai, Mwaghavul, Chip, Tal, Mupun and Kofyar, among others. Most of these ethnic groups found on the Plateau claim an external origin. However, what we do know about the early history of the Jos Plateau through archaeological studies is that evidence of human existence in the region was during the stone-age (the Paleolithic and Neolithic epochs) that date back circa 39,000 years and is associated with the Nok culture, which flourished circa 500 BCE (Before Common Era)—300 CE (Common Era).

The sites for the collection of the stone materials on the Plateau were at Mai-Idon-Toro, Dutse Kongba (among the Bache—Rukuba) Bisichi, Kassa and Rop. These sites revealed the presence of stone axes, microliths and pottery that exhibit the existence of human beings. Among these sites the Mai-Idon-Toro, Bisichi, Kassa and Rop sites in Berom land are closed to Mwaghavul settlements. Although no archaeological work has been undertaken in Mwaghavul land, the Stone Age (Paleolithic and Neolithic epochs) and Nok cultures which existed among the Berom, who are the immediate neighbors of the Mwaghavul, could not have been restricted to these places. For these cultures might as well have flourished in the central and southern regions of the Plateau, which Mwaghavul land forms a part. Other objects of historical antiquity which occurred near Mwaghavul settlements in the Central Plateau area are the presence of well constructed stone circles at Fier and Mangor-Gwawarza and a stone bridge at Butura which are adjacent settlements to Mwaghavul land. Furthermore, some of the items associated with the Nok culture have been randomly found in various ancient settlements in Mwaghavul land and parts of the Jos Plateau. The only problem is that there has been a renaissance study of these areas by experts. The presence of these artifacts, their magnificent sizes and the intricacy involved in their construction suggests not only the existence of human habitation, but that a substantial, functional and a prestigious political and social authority had been established in these areas.