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The Eleme of Nigeria

The Eleme of Nigeria, numbering approximately 129,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Niger Delta people of ten towns east of Port Harcourt in Rivers State, Nigeria, whose Semi-Bantu ancestors share a common origin with the neighboring Ibibio and Ogoni peoples of the Cross River region. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Eleme is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Eleme

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Benue
Primary Language(s): Eleme (elm)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 129,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013767
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Pray for the Eleme of Nigeria

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

88%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Eleme
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Eleme Speakers

Media Resources in Eleme:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Eleme:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2001 Bible Society of Nigeria✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Eleme bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Eleme are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Eleme:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Eleme of Nigeria

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that those who do know about God's free gift will hear and believe that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and that they will joyfully accept this gift.

...And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
readLuke 24:47

Pray that the message of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus will reach everyone.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
read2 Corinthians 9:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust God in all things, especially in times of persecution.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Praise the God who is able to make a way forward, even when it seems impossible. Ask Him to do a new thing among this people group specifically and among the nations, raising up believers to go and share the gospel with individuals and places where it has not flourished before.

Eleme Across Countries (ROP3 - 102897) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ElemePG013767ElemeNigeria129,000No Longer UnreachedElemeProtestantism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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