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The Dera of Nigeria

The Dera of Nigeria, numbering approximately 73,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a West Chadic people, also known as Kanakuru, whose homeland centers on Shelleng in Adamawa State, with communities extending into neighboring Borno State. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Dera (Nigeria) is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Dera (Nigeria) (kna)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 73,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013736
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Pray for the Dera 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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

71%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dera (Nigeria)
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Dera Speakers

Media Resources in Dera (Nigeria):

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Dera (Nigeria):

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Dera (Nigeria) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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SPI: No longer Unreached

The Dera 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 Dera:
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 Dera of Nigeria

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that those who need to surrender their lives to Christ will confess their sins and trust in Him, being united with Him in His death and resurrection, walking in newness of life.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
readMark 4:20

Pray that those who have never encountered the gospel will have the opportunity to receive it, and that it will fall on good soil and bear much fruit.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.
readPsalm 23:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember that the Lord is their shepherd, providing for their every need.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
read1 Corinthians 15:3-4

Pray that God will raise up believers to go to the lost and faithfully proclaim the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection so that all may have an opportunity to access and believe.

Dera, Kanakuru Across Countries (ROP3 - 102526) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▲CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
DeraPG013736DeraNigeria73,500No Longer UnreachedDera (Nigeria)Ethnoreligion

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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