Overview

The State has been rightly described as a miniature Nigeria because it contains within itself almost if not all, the various tribes or ethnic groups of Nigeria.

The State has over 30 ethnic groups each with a proud cultural heritage with no single group large enough to claim majority position. The people are hospitable and accommodating and have similar cultural and traditional ways of life. People from other parts of country coexist peacefully with the indigenes. Some of the tribes in the State among others are Berom, Ngas, Taroh, Goemai, Youm, Montol, Rukuba, Kwagalak, Piapung, Buji, Irigwe, Mushere, Jarawa, Anaguta, Gashish, Pyem, Amo, Chip, Meryang, Fier, Bogghom, Mwaghavul, Ron-Kulere, Aten etc. The diverse people of the State who are predominantly farmers have very rich cultural heritage which they uphold religiously, resulting in the many festivals which provide entertainment to the people and visitors the year round and also act as veritable tools of unity and progress for the various ethnic groups.

There are other tribes that came to settle in the State as a result of historical events. These include the Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw, Bini etc. This is a State where unity is seen very much compatible with diversity.

Plateau State because of her numerous ethnic groups provides some of the dominant cultural traits of the Nation's rich cultural heritage. The Art treasures and artefacts of the State occupy significant places of honour in galleries the world over. Our dances and our songs have won distinction at international festivals.

The cultural traits of the ethnic groups indigenous to the state interrelated and tend to blend into one another, depending on the proximity of one to the other. What is most noticeable is the similarity of culture amongst the diverse people of the state. Indeed, the cultural factors that bind the people are more than those that divide them.

The Plateau Highland Zone

This area covers the present Jos North, Jos East and Jos South, Barikin Ladi, Mangu, Bassa, Bokkos, Pankshin, Langtang North and Langtang South local government areas, with the following major ethnic groups, Berom, Taroh, Igwe, Mwaghavul, Ngas, Mupun, Ron, Kulere and a host of others.

These ethnic groups have generally rich material culture and unique architectural tradition. Their dances are energetic and very colorful. Their music is mainly from drums and wind instruments, some of, which are very sophisticated, e.g the Berom Kundung (xylophone).

The Kwararafa Zone

The ethnic groups of this zone belongs to the once famous Kwararafa Kingdom. They are generally strong traditionalists who are known for their rich traditional festivals, such as the Kwamteng, Kwa-kwaa waptoer and a host of other rich festivals with very colourful masquerades. They are great wood carvers, weavers and farmers. This area covers the present Mikang, Shendam, and Qua-an Pan local government areas.

Hausa-Fulani Zone

This zone features the Islamic, Kanuri-Hausa and Fulani traditions with elements of the cultural influence of the surrounding ethnic groups. Their main occupation include dyeing, weaving, trading and Islamic Studies. This zone includes towns of Kanam, Wase, with significant presence of Fulani and Hausa people. There is also a significant presence of Hausa people in the Jos Metropolitan Area and its surroundings where Hausa Tin miners settled. A quick trip around the Jos Metropolis to the outlaying areas will show a significant presence of Hausa settlers in those old mining villages as evidenced by their have Hausa names, which indicates that at one time or the other, those areas were populated by settlements.

The City Zone

This zone features the most acculturated part of the state bearing in mind that the city is the meeting point of all the ethnic groups in the country. This zone can be rightly called a miniature Nigeria and its culture can be termed the culture of Nigeria.

Lots of similarities and interrelationship exists between one zone and the others. Plateau State government attaches great importance to its people's culture, which form part of the Nigerian and indeed African culture. It has therefore identified with communities in the State by projecting their cultural images to neighbouring communities and the rest of the world. One of such areas is through festivals, which are very important to the life of the people in the state. It is also a period during which the people take stock of their achievements and failures of the past year and consequently plan for the next.

Plateau State government realizing the importance of festivals in the people's development process, directly participates in organising important cultural festivals or assists various communities in this regard by providing technical advice on the organisation and development of their festivals generally. This therefore points to the fact that the Plateau State government is progressively pulling its development aspiration within the context of its people's culture. Major festivals in the state include Mandieng, Pusdung, Puskat, Bit Goemai, Kwa-kwaa in Jos North and Jos South, B/ladi, Pankshin, Mangu, Shendam and Quan-Pan local government area respectively.

Ethnic Composition, Language, Culture and the Arts

The population of Plateau State is highly heterogeneous with over forty ethno-linguistic groups. No single ethnic group is large enough to claim majority position, but the following are regarded as the major ones: Birom, Angas, Mwangahvul, Taroh, Goemai, Tal, Fier, Afizere (Jarawa), Miango, Youm, Bogghom, Rukuba, Piapung, Kwalla, Montol, Jukun, Challa, Ron, Kulere, Pyem, Miship, Mupun, and Buji. Each ethnic group has its own distinct language, but as in every other state of the federation, English is the official language in Plateau State while Hausa has gained acceptability as a medium of communication.

A common feature among the ethnic groups in Plateau State is the strong attachment to dance culture and the performance of festivals, initiation rites and naming ceremonies, religious rituals and ancestral worship. Recently, there has been a tendency to incorporate several traditional festivals, which normally span the whole year into one mega-festival to save costs and attract many participants. A few of such mega-festivals performed once a year in different LGAs are: Pusdung (Pankshin LGA), Pus Kaat (Mangu LGA), Bit Goemui (Shendam LGA), and Panyam fishing festival (Quaian Pan LGA). The main religions of the people of Plateau State are: Christianity, Islam, and some traditional African religions.

Population Structure and Distribution

The 1991 national census put the population of Plateau State at 2,959,588, comprising of 1,027,926 males and 1,031,662 females. The average population density in the state is sixty-one persons per sq. km. Plateau State is a sparsely populated area when compared with the national population density of ninety-six persons per square Kilometer.

Population density still varies nonetheless among the LGAs of the state. Jos North, Jos South and Jos East have a combined population density of 391 persons per sq. km to become the most densely populated parts of Plateau State. The rest of the state can be said to have fairly low population ranging between forty and 125 persons per sq. km.

The high concentration of people in Jos North, Jos South and Jos East LGAs can be attributed to the attraction of mining, industrial and commercial activities, which are concentrated in and around Jos, the state capital. On the whole, the low population density of Plateau State is due to its rugged terrain and the extensive land-dependent nature of its rural economy.

Age and Sex Structure

The population of Plateau State displays an age-sex structure much like that of the other states of the federation. On the whole, females are slightly more than males, although the males out-number the females in some LGAs. In Plateau State, the proportion of the young (ten to fifteen years) is as high as forty-five per cent, while those between sixteen to sixty-five years old constitute about fifty-three per cent of the population and the aged account for only two per cent.

Rural Settlements

The settlement pattern in Plateau State has been greatly influenced by physiographic factors and the emergence of new transport routes. The pre-colonial settlement pattern in the state was characterized by nucleated villages located on hilltops for protection. The extended family or lineage lived in compounds, which were sited amidst terraced fields and fringed with cacti hedges and tight walls of mud and stones.

Today, people live largely in low land areas in dispersed settlements and compounds, usually unfenced.

Urban Development

The city of Jos is the largest settlement in Plateau State. It owes its origin to the introduction of tin mining on the Jos Plateau and railway lines linking it with Port Harcourt and Lagos, thus bringing the area into the orbit of the world economy. The development of the tin mining industry has generated both positive and negative impacts on Jos and its environs. On the positive side, tin mining led to the influx of migrants, mostly Hausas, Igbos, Yorubas and Europeans who constitute over half of the population of the town, making it a highly cosmopolitan and most peaceful urban centre in this part of the country. Tin mining also provided the base for capital formation by which the people were able to diversify into a wide range of commercial and industrial enterprises. In addition, tin mining provided the impetus for the early development of western education, a dense network of roads in Jos and its environs, as well as the regular supply of hydro-electricity.

On the negative side, tin mining had adversely affected the morphology of Jos metropolis, which is characterized by a leapfrog type of development, largely as a result of numerous long-term mining leases estimated to cover about fifty per cent of the land of Greater Jos Planning Area. Not only has much arable land been lost to mining in this area, the numerous mine pits and heaps of overburden, which were not effectively covered or removed have greatly reduced its natural scenic beauty. Furthermore, the initial advantage which tin mining conferred on Jos and the subsequent concentration of investments there, have turned it into a primate city within Plateau State with all the attendant socio-economic problems of unemployment, congestion, over-stretched facilities and high crime rate.

Social Infrastructure

Education

Education has been accorded a priority position in the development drive of Plateau State. Christian missionary groups were in the forefront of educational development in the early days of Plateau Province. The solid foundation they laid was consolidated and expanded in scope through the active participation of government (state and federal), private individuals and other voluntary organizations in the establishment and running of primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions in the state.

There are today, 637 primary schools and 289 post-primary institutions in Plateau State. In the realization that skilled manpower is essential for rapid socio-economic development, the state has established a number of tertiary institutions for effective manpower development such as polytechnics, colleges of education and colleges of agriculture, forestry and soil conservation. In addition, the Federal Government has established similar secondary and tertiary educational institutions in Plateau State, which admit students from specified states of the federation. There are also tertiary institutions established by individuals and voluntary organizations in the state.

Health Services

Plateau State is reasonably well covered with health facilities as a result of the active participation of government, private individuals and voluntary agencies in the health sector. There are two broad categories of health facilities in the state. The first category, known as primary health facilities, is the most ubiquitous and comprises dispensaries, maternal and child welfare clinics and health centres. The services provided include the treatment of common diseases and routine immunization. The second category of health services available in Plateau State consists of cottage and general hospitals where both routine and more complex health care services are provided. At the apex of the health care facilities in the State is the University of Jos Teaching Hospital, a Federal Government-funded referral hospital.

In all, the Plateau State Government has fifteen hospitals, forty-eight maternal and child welfare clinics, fifty-nine general clinics and 285 dispensaries. Private individuals have forty-seven hospitals, six maternal clinics, sixty-two child welfare clinics, 310 general clinics and 119 dispensaries. Voluntary agencies own and operate five hospitals, three maternal clinics, sixty-two general clinics and forty-five dispensaries. Although the number and variety of health facilities in Plateau State are impressive, there is still a need for improvement, especially in the area of building more facilities in the remote areas of the state and recruiting and training of more health workers.

Electricity

Plateau State has a great hydro-electricity potential in the rivers flowing rapidly down the Jos Plateau. The state can boast of being the first to enjoy hydro-electricity in Nigeria, because from 1929 to the end of the Nigerian civil war, Jos and the surrounding mine fields were supplied with electricity generated at Kura Falls by the Nigerian Electricity Supply Company (NESCO). A private company, NESCO was originally set up to supply electricity to the tin mines. It later extended its services to Buruku, Jos townships and Kafanchan in Kaduna State. The company was noted for its efficiency and until NEPA assumed, by law, the monopoly of electricity distribution in Nigeria, Jos and its environs enjoyed uninterrupted power supply. The company has developed other power stations in addition to the first one at Kura Falls. Plateau State also enjoys electricity supply from the national grid system, which supplies electricity to more than half of the LGAs in the State. The State Utility Board coordinates electricity supply to rural areas in Plateau State.

Transport and Communication

Plateau State is well served by a network of Federal, State and LGA roads. The Jos-Port Harcourt and Kuru-Maiduguri railway lines also traverse the State. There is an airport of international standard near Jos. The state has a radio station at Jos, with powerful AM and FM transmitters, in addition to the Nigerian Television Authority station giving the state good electronic media coverage. Most of the LGAs have telephone exchanges, which link them with the state capital and rest of the country. The Plateau State Government-owned newspaper, The Standard is widely distributed throughout the state.

Rail

There is a railway line running from Lagos through Kaduna and Kafanchan to the railway network terminal in the country. Another line runs from Kuru, a few kilometres from Jos to Bauchi, Gombe and Maiduguri where it terminates at the far North-East. The Nigerian Rail line passes through its highest point about 1,200 metres above sea level at the Kuru area. Therefore, both passengers and goods services are operated on both the Jos-Port-Harcourt and Jos-Lagos routes.

Air

Jos Airport situated at Heipang has one of the most modern buildings in the country and a very long runway for the jet-type airlines. The airport is served at the moment by the scheduled domestic flights of the Nigerian Airways limited from all the airports in the country and private airlines amongst which are Kabo air, EAS, Chanchangi, ALBARKA airlines, which operates on daily basis. Travellers now use the latest means of transportation by air from Jos to Lagos and other parts of the country from the airport.

Booking offices are available at some strategic places in the state capital for both domestic and international flights. People wishing to travel on foreign air lines other than the Nigerian Airways could do so through the Travel agencies in Jos. Those travelling to Yankari Games Reserve in neighbouring Bauchi State find it easier to land in Jos and travel to the Reserve by road which could be made comfortable under two hours.

Road

Jos, the capital of Plateau State is accessible by air, rail and road because of its suitable geographical location in the federation. Plateau State as a whole is situated between Nassarawa to the south, Kaduna State to the north, while Bauchi State is to the north-east. Jos is also linked with the sea ports of Calabar, Port-Harcourt, Warri and Lagos and the bustling commercial centres of Kano and Kaduna. Jos city is also linked with each of the local government areas by motorable roads.

NITEL AND NIPOST

The General post office is located along Ahmadu Bello way, opposite the Nigerian Railway Goods yard at the northern end of the Beach road. Many sub-post offices and postal agencies are available at strategic places all over the town to render effective services to the public. A more efficient automatic telephone exchange (digital system) by the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) is also operational in the state. NITEL has its headquarters at Anglo Jos along Yakubu Gowon way, Nigerian post and telegraphs has its own on the second floor of the New Nigerian Bank Building along Ahmadu Bello way. The state is also linked with the domestic satellite (DOMSTAT), which enables clear reception of television signals particularly from Network programmes from far away Lagos. Nigerians can now watch "live" coverage of happenings globally because of this technological advancement.

Members of the public in the state capital can now make use of the numerous public telephone facilities made available by the Federal ministry of communications. Such facilities are fast reducing the rates of crimes and disasters in Jos and even Bukuru Municipalities. A visit to Jos capital and Plateau state generally is usually an adventure of some memorable experiences and discoveries.