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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Manga Kanuri of Nigeria

The Manga Kanuri of Nigeria, numbering approximately 445,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Kanuri dialect subgroup descended from the medieval Kanem-Bornu Empire, whose Manga population east of Zinder, Niger, sees itself as distinct from the related Barebari Kanuri, with communities also settled across Nigeria's historic Borno Emirate. They mostly adhere to Folk Islam and Manga Kanuri is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Kanuri-Saharan
Primary Language(s): Manga Kanuri (kby)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Islam
Population: 445,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013984
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Pray for the Manga Kanuri 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

100%
%
Folk Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Manga Kanuri
Language Family: Saharan

100%
%
Kanuri, Manga Speakers

Media Resources in Manga Kanuri:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Manga Kanuri:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2018 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc✓✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Manga Kanuri bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Manga Kanuri:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Manga Kanuri of Nigeria

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
read1 John 3:8

Pray for those living in darkness to recognize the destructive power of sin and the victory Christ has won over it.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
readPsalm 96:2

Pray that gospel resources will reach this generation so that they will receive the good news and sing to the LORD, bless His name, and tell of His salvation each day.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
readRomans 5:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in what God has done for them and will help others know how they can also be reconciled to God.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
readRomans 1:16

Pray that God will raise up sons and daughters who, like Paul, will be bold to share the gospel across cultural barriers so that many might receive salvation.

Kanuri, Manga Across Countries (ROP3 - 106240) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▼PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Manga KanuriPG013984Manga KanuriNigeria445,000Unengaged and UnreachedManga KanuriFolk Islam
Manga KanuriPG013603Manga KanuriNiger833,000Engaged yet UnreachedManga KanuriFolk 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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