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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Mandara of Nigeria

The Mandara of Nigeria, numbering approximately 23,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are descendants of the Wandala sultanate founded in the Mandara Mountains around 1500, renowned historically for horse breeding and ironworking before Islamization spread through the kingdom in the eighteenth century. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Wandala is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Wandala (mfi)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 23,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013983
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Pray for the Mandara 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: Folk Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

98%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Wandala
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Wandala Speakers

Media Resources in Wandala:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Wandala:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1988 Wycliffe✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Wandala bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mandara are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Mandara:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Mandara of Nigeria

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
readIsaiah 40:8

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will be freed from the emptiness of fading hopes and find lasting life and truth in the unchanging Word of God.

And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
readActs 6:7

Pray that the Word of God will be increasingly available to these people in ways they will resonate with so that all may have a chance to respond to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
readPsalm 111:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will praise the Lord with their whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Mandara Across Countries (ROP3 - 106228) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MandaraPG012673MandaraCameroon79,500Engaged yet UnreachedWandalaFolk Islam
MandaraPG013983MandaraNigeria23,500Engaged yet UnreachedWandalaFolk Islam

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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