Southern Kaduna
Gurara/Nok Southern Zaria | |
---|---|
Cultural region | |
![]() Nok plastic head on a truck during the SK Fest 2023, Township Stadium, Kafanchan | |
Nickname: Chongai S/K | |
Part of | Kaduna State ![]() |
- Settlement of Nok culture | c. 1500 BC |
- Nok culture area | c. 1500 BC - c. 500 AD |
- Kwararafa confederacy | c. 900 - c. 1700 |
- Northern Region British Nigeria (later Middle Belt, Nigeria) | 1903-4 (1950s) |
- Southern Zaria | c. 1900 |
- Nerzit region | c. 1950 |
- Southern Kaduna | c. 1990 |
- Gurara/Nok State | proposed |
Founded by | - Proto Nok people |
Capital | • Kafanchan (Economic capital) |
Composed of | |
Government | |
• Type | • Chief
• Village heads |
Area | |
• Land | 26,000 km2 (10,000 sq mi) |
Population (2016 estimate) | |
• Total | 4,564,100 |
Demographics | |
• Major indigenous languages | |
• Major non-indigenous languages | |
Time zone | WAT |
Southern Kaduna (Tyap: A̱tak Ka̱duna [ǝtag kǝduna] ; Jju: Ka̱tak Ka̱duna [kǝtag kǝduna] ; Hausa: Kudancin Kaduna [kudǝnt͡ʃin kəduna] ; formerly Southern Zaria)[1] is an area of the Nok Culture region inhabited by various related ethnic groups who do not identify as Hausa, living south of Zaria, Kaduna State. It is located in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. According to the Southern Kaduna People's Union (SOKAPU), Southern Kaduna consists of 12 (or 13[2]) Local Government Areas out of 23 in Kaduna State.
In September 2020, the SOKAPU national publicity secretary, Luka Binniyat, in a statement he signed said the region makes up 51.2% of the entire state's population as shown in the 2006 census figures, occupying 26,000 sq. km. of the state's 46,000 sq. km. total land mass, with 57 registered ethnic nationalities of the state's 67 identified ones.[3] Angerbrandt (2015) views it as being less of a geographical identity and more of an ethnic identity concept.[4]