The Berom People of Plateau State are among the principal ethnolinguistic communities of the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria. Their historical heartland extends through areas that today include Jos South, Barkin Ladi and Riyom, as well as parts of the wider Jos area. Their history is closely connected with agriculture, land, colonial tin mining, Christian missions, the growth of Jos and the political struggles that accompanied the transformation of the Plateau during the twentieth century.
The Berom language, historically written as Birom in much colonial literature, is classified among the Plateau languages of Nigeria and carries the ISO 639-3 code bom.
By the period for which detailed ethnographic and colonial records survive, Berom communities were firmly established across the central Jos Plateau. Their society was based substantially on farming, village organisation, kinship, ritual institutions and close ties to the land. British colonial rule would later transform these structures through mining, taxation, missionary activity, urbanisation and political centralisation.
Berom People of Plateau State Before Colonial Centralisation
Before British colonial administration, the Berom did not constitute a single centralised kingdom ruled by one paramount monarch. Their political organisation was substantially local.
T. M. Baker’s landmark 1954 doctoral study, The Social Organisation of the Birom, described Berom villages as political units that traditionally operated with considerable independence. Individual settlements possessed chiefs, lineages and ritual authorities, but there was no single government exercising political authority over all Berom communities.
This decentralised structure reflected a society in which the village, agricultural land, kinship and religious institutions formed important foundations of public life. Farming was central to the economy. Hunting and livestock keeping also formed parts of Berom livelihood and cultural practice.
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The landscape itself had social and religious significance. Communities organised agricultural activities around seasonal cycles, while ceremonies marked rain, planting, harvest, hunting and other stages of communal life.
This older political structure changed considerably during the colonial period as British administrators sought more centralised authorities through whom they could govern Plateau communities.
Colonial Tin Mining Transforms Beromland
The arrival of British colonial power and the rapid development of tin mining transformed the Jos Plateau on an extraordinary scale.
During the early twentieth century, colonial authorities opened the Plateau to increasingly intensive mining. European companies, African migrant workers, traders and government officials moved into the region as tin became one of the major commodities of colonial Northern Nigeria.
Berom communities were directly affected because important mining fields lay within areas where they lived and farmed.
Research by historians Daniel Datok Dalyop and Shakila Yacob has documented how colonial authorities sought labour for the tin industry between 1902 and 1960. Taxation and other economic pressures encouraged many men accustomed to agricultural livelihoods to enter wage labour on the mining fields.
The consequences extended far beyond employment. Mining disturbed agricultural land, altered access to territory and accelerated the growth of settlements associated with modern Jos and Bukuru. Roads, commerce and administrative structures expanded alongside the industry.
The new economy brought opportunities, but the social cost was substantial. An agricultural population became increasingly tied to a colonial economy built around mineral extraction.
Women consequently assumed an even greater share of agricultural production in many households as men entered mine labour. Farming nevertheless remained fundamental to Berom life. Crops including acha, also known as fonio, and millet continued to occupy important places in both agriculture and food culture.
The mining era also made Jos increasingly cosmopolitan. Hausa traders and workers, as well as migrants from southern Nigeria and other areas, became important parts of the expanding urban economy. This demographic transformation would later intersect with difficult arguments over political representation, land and indigene status.
Rwang Pam and the Rise of Centralised Berom Leadership
Colonial administration also transformed Berom political organisation.
British indirect rule worked most easily where officials could deal with recognised central authorities. The decentralised political organisation of many Plateau peoples presented administrators with a different situation from the emirates found elsewhere in Northern Nigeria.
By the 1940s, political organisation among educated Berom was also becoming more visible. The Berom Progressive Union emerged during this period as part of a wider awakening around political representation, education and land.
A major turning point came in 1947.
Rwang Pam, an educated Berom who had worked in Riyom and participated in the developing political institutions of the period, was selected and appointed Chief of Berom. He was transferred from Riyom to Jos, bringing the office closer to the colonial administrative centre.
His elevation represented an important stage in the development of the centralised chieftaincy institution eventually associated with the Gbong Gwom Jos.
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Rwang Pam remained a major figure until his death in July 1969. Da Fom Bot succeeded him later that year and occupied the stool until his death in December 2002. Da Victor Dung Pam subsequently held the stool from 2004 until his death in March 2009.
Da Jacob Gyang Buba became Gbong Gwom Jos in 2009. In 2026, he remained the occupant of the stool and Chairman of the Plateau State Council of Chiefs and Emirs.
The institution has therefore evolved considerably from the colonial administrative arrangements from which its modern form developed. Today it is one of the principal institutions through which Berom cultural identity and traditional leadership are expressed.
Christianity, Cultural Change and the Birth of Nzem Berom
Christian missions produced another lasting transformation.
The Sudan United Mission began working among the Berom in the early twentieth century. Missionary activity was recorded from 1907, although early conversion was limited. Foron later became an important centre of Christian mission activity among Berom communities.
A significant expansion occurred around the 1910s and 1920s as indigenous Christians began to participate actively in evangelisation. Christianity gradually became deeply rooted in Berom society and today exercises major influence over community and public life.
The adoption of Christianity and Western education did not simply erase older cultural traditions. Instead, Berom society underwent a long process in which older practices were abandoned, retained, adapted or reorganised.
One of the clearest examples is Nzem Berom.
Older Berom communities celebrated festivals and ceremonies associated with agriculture, hunting and seasonal life. Among the documented names are Mandyeng, Nshok, Badu and other local celebrations.
The unified Nzem Berom festival belongs to a more recent historical period.
In 1981, Berom cultural leaders, traditional authorities and the Berom Educational and Cultural Organization worked to bring several local festivals under a common cultural celebration. The first Nzem Berom was held on 4 April 1981.
According to BECO’s institutional history, the maiden celebration took place at the Polo Field. Dr Alexander Fom chaired the organising committee, while Abubakar Rimi, then Governor of Kano State, attended as guest speaker.
Nzem Berom subsequently developed into one of the most visible public expressions of Berom identity. Music, dance, dress, food, historical memory and performances from different Berom districts are brought together within a shared cultural space.
Its importance lies in this combination of old and new. The festival draws upon traditions older than 1981 while its unified structure reflects the conscious cultural organisation of the modern era.
Jos, Land and the Long Road to the 2026 Security Crisis
The transformation of Jos created questions that have remained politically sensitive for generations.
Berom, Afizere and Anaguta communities are recognised within state and local political structures as indigenous peoples of the Jos area. Hausa communities, meanwhile, have also maintained a substantial presence in Jos for generations, with historical claims concerning their settlement in the region extending well into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Under colonialism, Jos became a mining and commercial centre attracting people from across Nigeria. After independence, disputes over political representation, land, local government positions and the distinction between citizens classified as “indigenes” and “settlers” became increasingly contentious.
These tensions contributed to serious outbreaks of violence.
Jos experienced devastating communal violence in September 2001. Another major crisis followed a disputed local government election in November 2008, when political competition combined with ethnic and religious divisions.
The violence continued in 2010. On 19 January, more than 150 Muslim residents were killed at Kuru Karama. On 7 March, at least 200 mainly Christian residents were killed at Dogo Nahawa and neighbouring villages.
These episodes demonstrated how Christian and Muslim identities frequently overlapped with ethnic, political and territorial divisions, while disputes over access to land and public institutions intensified the conflict.
In later years, rural insecurity increasingly involved farmers, pastoralists and armed groups. Farm destruction, cattle theft, attacks on livestock, armed reprisals and the displacement of rural communities became recurring features of the crisis.
Amnesty International reported that Plateau State suffered extensive attacks between May 2023 and May 2025, recording thousands of deaths across the state and tens of thousands of displaced people. Its research also documented numerous attacks attributed to armed herders.
Other incidents have involved attacks on herders and cattle. In May 2025, Operation Safe Haven described violence in Riyom in which cattle destruction or rustling was attributed to individuals from Berom communities, followed by retaliatory attacks attributed to suspected Fulani herders.
The cycle of violence has repeatedly placed farming communities, pastoralists, livestock, local vigilantes and security personnel at risk.
The Suspension of Nzem Berom in 2026
The continuing insecurity acquired powerful cultural symbolism on 16 April 2026.
Da Jacob Gyang Buba announced that the year’s Nzem Berom festival, which had been scheduled for 24 April, would be suspended because of continuing insecurity and deaths in Plateau State.
The decision connected contemporary violence directly with an institution created more than four decades earlier to promote Berom unity and cultural continuity.
By August, insecurity in Riyom and surrounding areas remained serious.
On 12 August, gunmen attacked several communities associated with Berom residents, including Gwa-Wereng Rim, Kyeng in Bachi District, Dorong and Jol. Two people were reported killed, another injured and houses burned.
On 24 August, two security operatives were reportedly killed during an attack on Tanjol and Tarai communities in Jol District, Riyom. Their weapons were also reported missing after the attack.
Two days later, on 26 August, three members of a local vigilante group were killed when gunmen attacked a guard post at Gwa Rim.
The violence was not confined to attacks on farming communities. On 28 August, the Plateau State leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria reported that gunmen had killed 21 cattle at Bangai in Riyom. The association appealed for an official investigation and urged pastoral communities not to retaliate.
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The crisis has become inseparable from wider questions surrounding land, political representation, agricultural livelihoods, pastoralism, religious identity, displacement and public security.
Conclusion
The history of the Berom People of Plateau State is ultimately a history of continuity through profound change.
Berom communities existed across the central Jos Plateau long before British colonial administration centralised political authority. They built their lives substantially around agriculture and locally organised village societies.
Colonial tin mining changed that world. Land was transformed, wage labour expanded, Jos grew into a major urban centre and communities from many parts of Nigeria became increasingly connected on the Plateau.
Political institutions changed as well. Rwang Pam’s appointment in 1947 marked a decisive stage in the development of central Berom leadership, while the Gbong Gwom institution later became one of the most prominent symbols of Berom identity.
Christianity and Western education brought another period of transformation, yet cultural continuity survived through adaptation. Nzem Berom, first held as a unified festival in 1981, demonstrates how communities can reorganise older traditions to meet the demands of a changing age.
The insecurity confronting Plateau State in 2026 has added another difficult chapter. The suspension of Nzem Berom and renewed attacks in Riyom illustrate how questions of land, livelihood, security and identity remain connected to the history of the Plateau.
The Berom story is therefore neither frozen in antiquity nor confined to conflict. It is the history of a Plateau people whose institutions, economy and culture have repeatedly changed while their relationship with their homeland has remained central to their collective life.
Author’s Note
The history of the Berom shows how dramatically colonialism, economic change and political restructuring can reshape an African society without erasing its cultural foundations. From independent farming communities to the tin economy, from local chiefs to the Gbong Gwom institution, and from older seasonal ceremonies to Nzem Berom, successive generations have adapted inherited traditions to new realities. The present security crisis makes that history especially important, because understanding Plateau State requires attention not only to today’s violence but also to the longer history of land, political authority, migration, urban growth and community relations that created the world in which the crisis is unfolding.
References
Baker, T. M. The Social Organisation of the Birom. PhD thesis, University of London, 1954. UCL Discovery.
Dalyop, Daniel Datok and Shakila Yacob. “A History of Tin Mining and Coerced Proletarianization in Berom Land, Northern Nigeria, 1902–1960.” SARJANA, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2018, pp. 43–58.
Berom Educational and Cultural Organization. “History of BECO”, institutional record of the organisation and the establishment of Nzem Berom.
Berom Educational and Cultural Organization. “Nzem Berom Founding Fathers”, institutional account of the first Nzem Berom festival, 4 April 1981.
Glottolog 5.3. “Berom”, language classification and ISO 639-3 record.
Gaiya, Musa A. B. “Vou Gyang Bot Dung”, Dictionary of African Christian Biography.
Human Rights Watch. Jos: A City Torn Apart, 2001.
Human Rights Watch. They Do Not Own This Place: Government Discrimination Against “Non-Indigenes” in Nigeria, 2006.
Human Rights Watch. “Nigeria: Investigate Massacre, Step Up Patrols”, March 2010; and World Report 2011: Nigeria.
European Union Agency for Asylum. Nigeria: Security Situation, Plateau State, January 2026.
Amnesty International. “Nigeria: Mounting Death Toll and Looming Humanitarian Crisis amid Unchecked Attacks by Armed Groups”, May 2025.
Channels Television. “10 Killed in Fresh Plateau Attack Linked to Cattle Rustling, Farm Destruction”, 15 May 2025.
Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation. “VP Shettima Visits Gbong Gwom Jos, Preaches Tolerance, Peaceful Coexistence”, 28 January 2026.
Punch Newspapers. “Insecurity Forces Gbong Gwom Jos to Suspend Plateau Festival”, 16 April 2026.
Punch Newspapers. “Gunmen Attack Four Plateau Communities, Kill Two, Burn Houses”, 12 August 2026.
Premium Times. “Gunmen Kill Two Security Operatives, Seize Rifles in Plateau”, 24 August 2026.
Vanguard. “Three Vigilantes Killed in Midnight Gun Attack in Plateau”, 26 August 2026.
The Guardian Nigeria. “Gunmen Kill 21 Cattle in Plateau Community”, 28 August 2026.
