Ngas

The Ngas, also widely known as Angas, are a Plateau people found mainly in Pankshin, Kanke and neighbouring areas of Plateau State. Ngas is the preferred language and ethnic name in many contemporary contexts.

Ngas history is connected to long settlement on the central Plateau, where hill communities developed farming, defence and local ritual systems. Colonial administration and missionary activity later reshaped education, religion and local governance.

Ngas society is organised through clans, village communities, elders, titled leaders and recognised traditional rulers. Extended families and age-grade obligations remain important.

Traditional Ngas religion recognised a supreme being, ancestral spirits and ritual links to land, hills and farming. Christianity is now widespread, while customary festivals and rites continue to express Ngas identity.

Ngas cultural life includes farming festivals, music, dance, masquerade-related practices and marriage ceremonies. The Pankshin-Kanke area remains a core marker of Ngas identity.