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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

But he said, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
readLuke 18:27

Praise God that He is the God of impossible things and that He is able to save even those who seem beyond hope.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
readIsaiah 52:7

Pray that those who don't know the good news of peace and salvation through Jesus Christ will have an opportunity to receive it. Pray that it will bring hope and healing to their souls.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
readRomans 5:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of glory and be in awe of God's mercy that gives them access to Him through faith.

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.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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