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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Gokana of Nigeria

The Gokana of Nigeria, numbering approximately 197,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are one of the six traditional kingdoms of Nigeria's Ogoni people in the Niger Delta, whose communities survived the slave-trade era without losing members to enslavement, formally separated into its own county council in 1956. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Gokana is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Benue
Primary Language(s): Gokana (gkn)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 197,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013806
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Pray for the Gokana 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

98%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gokana
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Gokana Speakers

Media Resources in Gokana:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Gokana:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Gokana bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Gokana 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 Gokana:
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 Gokana of Nigeria

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
readJohn 3:17

Pray for those who are living under the burdens of man-made religion to learn about the freedom Jesus offers them and turn to Him in faith.

He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
readIsaiah 40:11

Pray that the lost will come to know the tender care of the Good Shepherd, who gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
readActs 16:15

Pray that God will bring entire families and households to faith in Him and raise up servant-leaders from among them.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
read1 John 1:5

Pray that God will raise up believers who can share the gospel with people who don't know the good news of Jesus, that God is light and in him, there is no darkness at all.

Gokana Across Countries (ROP3 - 103418) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▲Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
GokanaPG013806GokanaNigeria197,000No Longer UnreachedGokanaProtestantism

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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