The Tigon Mbembe of Nigeria

The Tigon Mbembe of Nigeria, numbering approximately 52,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Jukunoid-speaking people of the Cameroon-Nigeria border region, distinct from the unrelated Mbembe of Nigeria's Cross River area despite the shared name, inhabiting a region of West Africa long noted for its dense linguistic diversity. They mostly adhere to Animism and Tigon Mbembe is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Benue
Primary Language(s): Tigon Mbembe (nza)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 52,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG014130
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Tigon Mbembe 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

90%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tigon Mbembe
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Mbembe, Tigon Speakers

Media Resources in Tigon Mbembe:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Tigon Mbembe:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Tigon Mbembe bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Tigon Mbembe 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 Tigon Mbembe:
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 Tigon Mbembe of Nigeria

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
readColossians 3:5-6

Pray for God to have mercy and give those who don't yet know Him the gift of Jesus and His salvation for all who call upon His name.

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
readMatthew 13:23

Pray that their hearts will have good soil that receives the Word, understands it, and bears fruit for God's kingdom.

Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.
readJohn 17:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will experience freedom from sin as God sanctifies them in the truth of His Word.

To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.
read1 Corinthians 9:20

Pray that believers from similar cultures will be compelled by Christ's love to reach people who don't know the gospel, and that those people will receive the good news with joy.

Mbembe, Tigon Across Countries (ROP3 - 110049) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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.

Scroll to Top