ABSTRACT
The Idoma-speaking peoples, numbering in all about 250,000, are spread over a wide arc from Keana, east of Lafia town, through the Doma and Agatu Districts of Lafia and Nassarawa Division to Idoma Division, ending with two separate outliers, the Iyala and Nkum, in Ogoja Province.1 This arc is flanked by three groups of people speaking closely related languages: the Afu in Nassarawa, the Akweya-Yachi of Akpa District of Idoma Division and the northern border of Ogoja Division, and finally, the Egede, who live mainly in Idoma Division. If these groups are included in a somewhat looser notion of “ Idoma-speaking peoples/' then the distribution of the whole group is continuous from Keana south to Okuku, five miles north of Ogoja Town, apart from the Nkum, still further south on either side of the Cross River, north-west of Ikom. Another isolated group should perhaps be included: the Etulo (Utur) of Katsina Ala, since their language is closely related to Idoma.
