The Zarma People of North-West Nigeria: Safeguarding a rich heritage amid modernisation, by Tawheed YakubÂ
The Zarma (Zabarmawa) people are one of the ancient and culturally resilient ethnic groups of the western Sahel, renowned for their strong communal bonds, deep historical consciousness, and enduring cultural identity across the Niger River basin.
They are celebrated for their rich traditions, agricultural expertise, warrior heritage, and a worldview shaped by centuries of migration, adaptation, and interaction with neighbouring peoples.
In Nigeria, the Zarma are predominantly found in Kebbi State, particularly in areas around Argungu, Birnin Kebbi, Augie, Bagudo, and surrounding riverine communities.
Beyond Nigeria, they form a major ethnic group in south-western Niger Republic, with historical links extending into Mali and Burkina Faso.
Over generations, the Zarma have played a significant role in the socio-political, economic, and cultural history of the Middle Niger region, maintaining a distinct identity despite external influences, conquest, and colonial restructuring.
They are known for their well-structured traditional institutions, farming and fishing traditions, oral history, music, and a strong sense of discipline rooted in ancestral values.
Zarma heritage reflects a people shaped by riverine life, seasonal agriculture, long-distance migration, and cultural continuity.
Despite the spread of Islam, colonial administration, and modern influences, the Zarma continue to preserve a strong sense of identity grounded in language, kinship, and communal unity.
Historical Background and Origin
Zarma history is largely preserved through oral traditions, genealogies, praise poetry, folktales, and the memories of elders and griots.
According to these traditions, the Zarma trace their origins to ancient Songhai-related communities along the Niger River, sharing deep historical and linguistic ties with the Songhai people.
Historically, the Zarma were primarily agrarian and river-based people, cultivating crops along fertile floodplains while also engaging in fishing, trade, and animal husbandry.
Their settlements flourished due to proximity to major trade routes linking Hausaland, Songhai territories, and the wider Sahel.
The Zarma came into contact with neighbouring groups such as the Hausa, Fulani, Tuareg, Kambari, Dendi, and Songhai, leading to cultural exchange while preserving a distinct Zarma identity.
In Nigeria, many Zarma communities became integrated into the Kebbi Kingdom and other regional polities, contributing to administration, agriculture, and local defence.
Traditional governance among the Zarma revolved around chiefs, village heads, councils of elders, lineage leaders, and Islamic scholars, whose authority was derived from ancestry, moral uprightness, wisdom, and religious legitimacy.
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These institutions regulated land use, conflict resolution, marriage, festivals, and social order. Through pre-colonial autonomy, jihad-era transformations, colonial rule, and post-independence transitions, the Zarma sustained their identity through resilience, kinship, and cultural solidarity.
Culture and Tradition
Zarma culture is deeply communal, disciplined, and symbolic. Society is organised around extended families, clans, and age-based responsibilities that define leadership roles, labour, and social obligations.
The Zarma language, part of the Songhai language family, is a vital carrier of cultural memory, expressed through proverbs, storytelling, praise poetry, songs, and ritual communication. It remains widely spoken in both Nigeria and Niger, serving as a strong marker of identity.
Traditional Zarma belief systems emphasised ancestral respect, moral conduct, bravery, hospitality, and harmony with nature, particularly the river environment. With the spread of Islam, now the dominant religion, many traditional values were integrated into Islamic ethics, shaping social behaviour, ceremonies, and communal life.
Zarma cultural expressions include traditional music using drums, flutes, and string instruments, communal dances performed during festivals and ceremonies, oral poetry, praise songs, and historical narratives.
Others include traditional attire featuring flowing robes and symbolic headgear, storytelling and proverbs used for moral instruction.
These expressions reflect a people whose identity is preserved through collective participation, oral heritage, and respect for tradition.
Marriage Customs
Marriage among the Zarma is a highly respected institution symbolising family continuity, social alliance, and moral responsibility.
Traditional Zarma marriage practices involve formal family introductions and negotiations led by elders, payment of bride price, often in the form of livestock, money, or farm produce, blessings and counsel from elders and Islamic scholars, communal celebrations with music, drumming, and feasting, with emphasis on respect, responsibility, and family honour.
Marriage is viewed not merely as a union between two individuals but as a bond between families and lineages. Polygamy has traditionally been practised, especially among successful farmers and community leaders, though modern economic realities have reduced its prevalence.
Today, many Zarma marriages combine traditional customs with Islamic rites and civil ceremonies.
Socio-Economic Life
Agriculture remains the backbone of Zarma economic life. The Zarma people are skilled farmers who cultivate crops such as millet, sorghum, rice, maize, onions, groundnuts, and vegetables, benefiting from the fertile floodplains of the Niger River.
Other traditional economic activities include fishing and river-based livelihoods, livestock rearing, local and long-distance trade, craft production and weaving.
In contemporary times, Zarma men and women are increasingly engaged in education, civil service, business, security services, politics, religious scholarship, and community development, contributing actively to regional and national growth in Nigeria and beyond.
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Modern Times
Like many indigenous communities, the Zarma face challenges linked to modernisation and environmental change, including declining use of the Zarma language among urban youths, economic pressures and rural underdevelopment, climate change affecting river-based agriculture, cultural erosion through migration and urbanisation.
Despite these challenges, the Zarma continue to affirm their identity through cultural festivals, traditional leadership institutions, Islamic learning centres, community associations, and renewed efforts at heritage preservation.
Ceremonies and Cultural Practices
Zarma ceremonies reflect deep spirituality, communal solidarity, and respect for ancestry. Key cultural practices include harvest and river-related festivals, naming ceremonies rooted in Islamic and traditional values, marriage and family celebrations, communal labour and feasting, storytelling, music, and dance gatherings, and the use of councils of elders for conflict resolution
Each ceremony reinforces core Zarma values of respect for elders, hard work, courage, hospitality, faith, and communal cooperation.
The Zarma people remain one of the Sahel’s historically rooted and culturally steadfast communities, resilient, adaptive, and deeply connected to their ancestral heritage.
From the banks of the Niger River to modern towns and institutions, the Zarma continue to uphold a legacy founded on unity, discipline, faith, and respect for tradition.
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