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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.

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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 my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
readIsaiah 48:11

Pray that those who have been living for their own glory will turn to the One who is worthy of all praise and find their true identity in Him.

“I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by my name."
readIsaiah 65:1

Pray that the lost will be found by God, even when they are not seeking Him. Pray that He will reveal Himself to them in a way they cannot ignore and that they will respond in faith.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
readRomans 10:13

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and sometimes have doubts, God will help them remember and trust the power of Jesus to save them from their sins.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic 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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