Middle Belt

The Middle Belt is a human geographical term designating the region of central Nigeria populated largely by minority ethnic groups and stretching across the country longitudinally. The Middle Belt is indeterminate in that it lacks designated "borders" and is charactized by a heterogeneity and diversity of peoples and cultures. The eminence of manifold minority groups to some degree constitutes an ethno-linguistic barrier in the country, drawing a separation between the principally Islamic North and the more secular, Christian/animist south. The region is a convergence of these cultural domains and maintains a tremendous degree of ethno-linguistic diversity, with languages of the Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger–Congo families, three of the primary African language groups, all being spoken.

Minorities in Nigeria tend to be dominated by the three largest ethnic groups, the Hausa of North and the Igbo and Yoruba of the South; the result in the Middle Belt is occasional political unity and solidarity amongst these highly differentiated peoples, an example being the United Middle Belt Congress that emerged following Nigeria's independence from Britain in 1960.

Areas of Nigeria which are generally referred to as belonging to the Middle Belt are: Kwara State, Kogi State, Benue State, Plateau State, Nasarawa State, Niger State, Adamawa State and Taraba State. Also included are the southern parts of Kaduna State, Zuru area of Kebbi State, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro areas of Bauchi State, Tangale and Waja areas of Gombe State and the southern parts of Borno State (Biu area).

However, the definition of the Middle Belt areas are subject to great debate due to the presence of significant number of ethnic Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri groups. In addition, the Yoruba of Kwara and Kogi have a strong affinity with the larger Yoruba body and frequently prefer not to be associated with the Middle Belt identity.