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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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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.

Pray Now!
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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

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.

Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
readActs 18:8

Pray that rulers and leaders will access the gospel, respond in faith, and be baptized, uniting with Christ and His Church, and influence others to follow Him.

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 as people place their faith in Christ, God will lead those who might hesitate in getting baptized to trust Him as they obey His command, even when obedience is hard.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
readActs 17:32

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures wisdom and discernment as they engage in spiritual conversations with those who are curious about the gospel.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MandaraPG013983MandaraNigeria23,500Engaged yet UnreachedWandalaFolk Islam
MandaraPG012673MandaraCameroon79,500Engaged 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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