The Niaboua of Cote d’Ivoire

The Niaboua of Cote d’Ivoire, numbering approximately 88,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Kru people of west-central Ivory Coast around Daloa and Soubre, whose oral tradition recounts their arrival from Liberia in the 15th century fleeing war, speaking a language within the broader Wee dialect continuum. They mostly adhere to Animism and Nyabwa is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Cote d’Ivoire
People Cluster: Kru
Primary Language(s): Nyabwa (nwb)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 88,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013118
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Niaboua of Cote d’Ivoire

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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nyabwa
Language Family: Kru

100%
%
Nyabwa Speakers

Media Resources in Nyabwa:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Nyabwa:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1991 Wycliffe Bible Translators Inc.✓✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Nyabwa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Niaboua 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 Niaboua:
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 Niaboua of Cote d’Ivoire

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.
readJohn 11:25

Pray for the many who have never heard about or understood the importance of what Jesus did for them, asking God to make a way for them to hear that the perfect Son of Man suffered, died, and rose again so that they might be saved.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
readJohn 10:29

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice as they remember that they can never lose their salvation

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
readJohn 7:38

Ask God to raise up believers and sustain them as they cross cultures to share hope with those who need it. Pray that many might come to know Christ and that streams of living water will flow from their hearts so they will never thirst again.

Nyabwa-Nyedebwa Across Countries (ROP3 - 107527) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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.

Scroll to Top