The Berom (sometimes also spelt as Birom; exonyms: Tyap: A̱kuut) is one of the largest autochthonous ethnic group in Plateau State, central Nigeria.[2] Covering about four local government areas, which include Jos North, Jos South, Barkin Ladi (Gwol) and Riyom. Berom people are also found in some southern Kaduna State local government areas like Fadan Karshe with Berom settlers tracing their origins to Za'ang (Zawan) a Berom district on the Jos Plateau. They emigrated during the British Colonial Government of Nigeria. A large number of this tribe, if not all, are Christians (about 99% of the populace of the Berom people are estimated to be practising Christianity). Statistics also have it that a large number of the population of Plateau State is made up of Berom people.
The Berom people have a rich cultural heritage. They celebrate the Nzem Berom festival annually in March or April. Other festivals include Nzem Tou Chun(worongchun) and Wusal Berom. Its one of the major aborigine groups in Nigeria (Plateau State) that believes in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God (Dagwi).
[3]
Worong cun, in April/May - planting festival, celebrated after good rains
Búná/Vwana, in August - fonio harvest festival
Mado, in October/November - hunting festival celebrated for prosperity. Che people also take part.
Behwol, in February/March - hunting festival celebrated for prosperity. Che, Boze, Anaguta, inand Izere peoples also take part.
Nzem Berom, in March/April - one-week Berom festival celebrating Berom cultural identity that was first celebrated in 1981
Wusal Berom, in November - Christian festival that was first celebrated in 1992
Festivals in Berom culture are primarily related to agriculture and hunting, which have been the main events revolving around Berom livelihood and cosmology. Agriculture-related festivals are typically cycled around different villages.
Nzem Beromedit
The influx of Christianity and western Education paved way for many socio-cultural changes in Berom culture. In order to avoid the danger of losing the socio-cultural practice of the ancestor, and the overall precolonial activities such as the Mandyeng, Nshok, Worom Chun, Vwana, ceremonies were brought into a single umbrella festival called Nzem Berom. Nzem Berom is held within the first week of April, to coincide with the period when Mandyeng, Nshok and Badu Festival was held. The Nzem is a period when different cultural displays are exhibited from different parts of Berom land, especially in music, dance, arts and culture.
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Mandyengedit
Mandyeng is a major festival celebrated in Berom land to usher in the rainy season. The festivals normally take place in March/ April. In the past the Berom regard Mandyeng/Nshok (they are very similar) the most vital festivals which ensured a good farming and hunting period and harvest. Not all the Berom communities celebrate Mandyeng and Nshok. Those that perform 'Mandyeng' claim their roots from Riyom, they include; Vwang, Kuru, Zawan, Gyel, Rim, Bachit, Bangai, Lwa, Sop, Jol, Wereng Kwi, Gwo, Kakuruk, Kuzeng, Kurak, Kuchin, Rahos and Tahoss.
Nshok: Nshok slightly varies from Mandiyeng due to the fact that it also associates hunting with the rainy season farming. It is also held once a year around the months of April and May, to usher in the new season just as the Mandyeng.[citation needed]
Namesedit
In the pre-colonial era the Berom regarded hunting as both an occupation and a sport. Although economically it was not as important as farming, hunting was regarded as a show of skill and bravery.[6] So much so, that most Berom names are derived from game animals, most importantly duiker[citation needed], due to their perceived beauty. Names such as Gyang, Pam, Dung, Davou, Chuwang, Badung etc. for boys are most common, while girls answer to Kaneng, Lyop, Chundung, Nvou, Kangyang. These are names for different species of duiker.[citation needed] Others, such as Bot (frog) Tok (fish), Tsok (toad) etc. are names for other animals that are non-domesticated, but not game.[7] These names clearly typify how important game was in pre-colonial Berom society.
Nshok was not the only hunting festival in Berom land. Festivals such as Mado and Behwol existed[8] but are not as important as Nshok.
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Musicedit
Some of the musical instruments among the Berom include:
Yom Nshi: a two-string banjo made with calabash and skin as resonators
Yom: a straw string instrument
Kwag or Gwashak: a scraper made from dry cactus played with a stick slid across the sawed body of the dry cactus to produce a scraping sound
Kundung: a xylophone made of cattle horns and cobwebs (image).
Berom musical instruments listed in Blench (2021):[10]
The ancient Beroms primary food staple was chun (fonio) which even to this day remains a primary part of Berom diet. Tuk chun is served with any soup of choice; katai chun (rich soup of mostly wild vegetables) and bwirik chun (gruel). Maize grits are sometimes used as a substitute for chun in katai. As time went, the Beroms adopted pwana and ngai (millet) for gruel.
Clothing and Attireedit
Land and natural featuresedit
Berom ancestral lands are all located on high ground on the Josplateau; beautiful scenery and undulating terrains. One prominent plant found in all Berom localities is ryep or cactus
Leadershipedit
The Berom have a paramount ruler called the Gbong Gwom Jos.[11] The traditional stool was created in 1935 by the British colonial administration of Northern Nigeria.[12] Northern Nigeria was composed of completely different linguistic and cultural features between the ethnicities on the Plateau and the other groups. This ignorance of ethnic differences had initially encouraged the formation of vassal Hausa heads to oversee the created Jos Native Authority, which proved tumultuous with the Berom due to conflicting views and interests.[13]
Through a circular; No. 24p/1916[JOS PROF NAK 473/1916], dated 15 August 1917, the Resident at Bauchi Province was instructed to send potentials from various native authorities including district and village heads to be elevated as chieftains by the Governor General. In response to the circular, the Resident wrote back to the secretary Northern Province Kaduna via a memo No. 24/1916 [JOSPROF NAK 473/1916] dated 27 October 1917, recommended a paramount ruler to superintend the native areas.[citation needed]
In the pre-colonial period, the Berom were divided into autonomous political groups based on regions, but the colonial authority merged them under the Gbong Gwom in 1952 to help coordinate the activities of the natives.[14]
Leadersedit
The first chief Dachung Gyang of Riyom assumed leadership from 1935 to 1941.[15] Under Dachung Gyang, the traditional institution was designated as the Berom Tribal Council[16] composing of local chiefs within the Jos Native Authority. Its authority then only included mainly the Berom and excluded the chiefs of Buji, Naraguta, Jos and Bukuru. However, the government, in a Gazette of 7 February 1918, modified the list to include the Buji, Naraguta, Jos and Bukuru .[citation needed]
The emergence of Da Rwang Pam (1947 to his death on 14 July 1969[17]) saw the elevation of the head of the Tribal Council to the stool of the Gbong Gwom Jos.[18][19]
Since 1969, the stool has been held by the following:
Da. Dr. Fom Bot, 19 August 1969[17] to his death on 1 December 2002[20]
Da Victor Dung Pam, 17 April 2004[21] to 7 March 2009[22]
The Berom people are Christians in soul and tradition as several aspects of Berom life and culture has been absorbed by Christian norms and ethics most demonstrably through their tremendous hospitality. Over 95% of Beroms are members of either COCIN or Roman Catholic and 2 of the institutions listed below i.e BLTB and BOM are Christian institutions. There are also a record number of Berom Christian songs that trend on the Plateau.
Berom Educational and Cultural Organisation (BECO)
Berom Youth Movement (BYM)
motto: Gasi ha yi bwei
Berom Language and Translation Board (BLTB)
Berom Outreach Ministries (BOM)
Notable peopleedit
Lt Col James Yakubu Pam MFR b. 23rd Nov 1933 d.15 January 1966. Adjutant General of Nigerian Army. Killed in the abortive coup of Jan 15th 1966.Survived by Elizabeth Pam MFR (wife, deceased May 2011) and 6 children Kaneng Daze (entrepreneur), Jummai Sankey (Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria), Yusufu Pam (Frmr Attorney General Plateau State), Ishaku Pam FRCP (Consultant Physician and Clinical Director, Prof. Ishaya Pam (Frmr CMD Jos University Teaching Hospital) and Ibrahim Pam (World Bank) https://www.gamji.com/nowa/NEWS1103.htm
John Dungs†, soldier, industrialist, statesman and former Military Administrator of Delta State. CEO of H. F. Schroeder West Africa Limited[24] and founder CEO of Langfield Group Limited. A Prince of Riyom (scion of Da. Dung Jok, Gwom Rwei Riyom)
Toma Tok Bot, first pastor of the Berom Church[25]
Sambo Daju†, physicist, educationist and public servant. Former Commissioner of Education; Lands and Survey Benue-Plateau State[26]
D. B. Zang†, tin magnate, industrialist[27] and elder statesman
Sambo Bashi Gyel†, entrepreneur, politician and elder statesman
James Vwi (MHR), politician and Honourable Member of the House of Representatives of Nigeria in the Third Nigerian Republic (5 December 1992 – 17 November 1993)[30] representing Barkin Ladi constituency;[31] member House committee on petroleum and mineral resources. Former national president Berom Youth Movement (BYM). During the 2006/2007 democratic to democratic transition, he broke ranks with the incumbent PDP and aligned with his kinsman John Dungs
Barnabas Dusu†, Berom Language and Translation Board luminary that pioneered the translation of the Holy Bible to Berom language known as Bwok Basa Dagwi. The earlier version (New Testament) is known as Takada wuna sira pas
Yakubu Pam (Rev), pastor; Executive Secretary Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission and formerly chairman Plateau chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria and later CAN chairman North-Central geopolitical zone. Reverend Pam is also a member of the presidential council on CAN.[33]
Chris Bature, pastor and General Overseer Berom Outreach Ministries
Yohanna Kwa†, engineer and inventor. Former Chief Executive Nigerian Mining Corporation
Assistant Inspector General of Police Ezekiel Zang[34]
Sati Pam Dakwak†, former Head of Civil Service, Plateau State and elder statesman
Davou S. B. Gyel, entrepreneur and Honourable Member of the House of Representatives during the Third Nigerian Republic representing Jos South constituency
Matthew Pwajok, Director and former Managing Director Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA)
Rufus Bature, politician and former Member of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Secretary to the State Government in Simon Lalong's administration and later state chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC)[37]
Ezekiel Dalyop, public servant and former Head of Civil Service, Plateau State
Ayuba Pam Dangwong, Veteran journalist with the nation newspaper and a former special adviser media and publicity to Governor Jang. Prominent for his stories and reports during the crisis and defendant of Berom nation his son Dr Alex Pam known for charitable works in his community
^Blench, Roger. 2021. Talking eggs and were-frogs: Berom religion past and present. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
^"Nzem Berom Cultural festival on the Plateau". 16 December 2018.
^Nyam, Samuel Dung (2005). Berom socio-cultural festivals and ceremonies: from the pre-colonial times to date. BH Publication. p. 18. ISBN 9789783318335.
^Nyam, Samuel Dung (2005). Berom socio-cultural festivals and ceremonies: from the pre-colonial times to date. BH Publication. p. 64. ISBN 9789783318335.
^Nyam, Samuel Dung (2005). Berom socio-cultural festivals and ceremonies: from the pre-colonial times to date. BH Publication. pp. vii. ISBN 9789783318335.
^Nyam, Samuel Dung (2005). Berom Socio-cultural Festivals and Ceremonies: From the Pre-colonial Times to Date. ISBN 9789783318335.
^Blench, Roger. 2021. The musical instruments of the Berom of Central Nigeria. Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
^Nigeria: An Exhibition of Nigerian Royal Regalia, and Selection of Photographs, Arts and Crafts. Federal Ministry of Information & National Orientation Nigeria. 2004.
^Nyam, Samuel Dung (2005). Berom socio-cultural festivals and ceremonies: from the pre-colonial times to date. BH Publication. p. 121. ISBN 9789783318335.
^Dudley, B. J. (5 November 2013). Parties and Politics in Northern Nigeria. Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 9781136961823.
^Ochonu, Moses E. (14 February 2014). Colonialism by Proxy: Hausa Imperial Agents and Middle Belt Consciousness in Nigeria. Indiana University Press. p. 181. ISBN 9780253011657.
^Nigeria: An Exhibition of Nigerian Royal Regalia, and Selection of Photographs, Arts and Crafts. Federal Ministry of Information & National Orientation Nigeria. 2004.
^Nyam, Samuel Dung; Jacobs, Charles C. (2004). An Evaluation of the Gbong Gwom Institution from 1935-2004. BH Publication. p. 13.
^ abMolemodile, Vicky Mnguember Sylvester (2000). Nigerianness: A general perspective. Vougasen. p. 15. ISBN 9789783489387.
^Best, Shedrack Gaya (2007). Conflict and peace building in Plateau State, Nigeria. Spectrum Books Limited. p. 27. ISBN 9789780298036.
^Molemodile, Vicky Mnguember Sylvester (2000). Nigerianness: A general perspective. Vougasen. p. 15. ISBN 9789783489387.
^Nyam, Samuel Dung (2005). Berom socio-cultural festivals and ceremonies: from the pre-colonial times to date. BH Publication. p. 122. ISBN 9789783318335.
^Nigeria), League for Human Rights (Jos (2004). Recrudescent civil disturbances and human rights: the Jos and state-wide crises. League for Human Rights. p. 66.
^"Former Director Of Military Intelligence, Major General Dung Chong Laid To Rest In Jos – Independent Newspaper Nigeria" https://independent.ng/former-director-of-military-intelligence-major-general-dung-chong-laid-to-rest-in-jos/
^"Buhari swears in four permanent secretaries, presides over FEC" https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/526255-buhari-swears-in-four-permanent-secretaries-presides-over-fec.html?tztc=1
^"Commission promotes four CPs to AIG | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News — News — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News" https://guardian.ng/news/commission-promotes-four-cps-to-aig/