Kafanchan


Kafanchan is a mainly Christian-dominated town in the southern part of Kaduna State, Middle Belt, Nigeria. It is the location of a junction station of the Nigerian Railway Corporation,
and it sits on the line connecting Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kafanchan, Kuru, Bauchi, and finally Maiduguri.
As of 2007, Kafanchan had an estimated population of 83,092.

Etymology

James asserted that the indigenous inhabitants of the Kafanchan town and environs, the Fantswam people, added the prefix "kwa" to all names of peoples and places, hence, the phrase, "kwa Fantswam". However, the Hausa immigrant elements who interacted with them found it more convenient to pronounce the phrase, kwa-Fantswam, as Kafanchan.
The town developed as a result of British colonial commercial activities, i.e. a railway junction town in the early 20th century.
This fact brings another claim as to how the name Kafanchan came into existence. It was said that the name originated during the Nigeria railway construction period in the 1920s, when the railtrack crossbars were being laid, the white man would say in Hausa "kafachan", meaning leg there, i.e. 'put your leg there', then a crossbar would be laid after the labourer widens his leg, pushing a leg forward. Hence, the name Kafanchan.

People

Kafanchan was originally inhabited by the Fantswam people, who migrated from Mashan and located on present-day Atyap land, when they saw an elephant around the Ni̱mbyia̱ forest and shot it with a spear, causing it to flee into the forest. Being hunters, they pursued it until they met where it fell within the plains. They finally settled there and became the aboriginal inhabitants of the present day Kafanchan plains.
A wave of migration caused by human and environmental factors such as the Fulani Jihad and famine caused other kin sub-groups such as the Nikyob, the Bajju and the Atyap to settle among the Fantswam. The Fantswam received them with open arms. The Hausa-Fulanis also came and settled among the Fantswam, after they were driven from Kajuru by the Kajuru chief in the early years of the Fulani Jihad of the early 1800s. Usman Yabo led his people from Kajuru to settle in a place they named Jama'a Dororo meaning "people of Dororo" and founded an emirate amidst the people who gave him and his people the portion of land where they stayed, south of Fantswam territory. Yabo's descendant, the Hausa-Fulani ruler, Muhammadu, moved his capital to the heart of the Fantswam land in 1933, after the formation of the Plateau province in 1926. This was done with the support of the British colonialists. Since neither the Fantswam nor their neighbouring kins had monarchs, the British colonialists on arrival in the 1900s, made the ruler of the Hausa-Fulani settlement emir of the surrounding area. The Hausa-Fulani named the area originally called Jama'a Sarari, a Hausa-Arabic phrase meaning "people of the plains". The Jama'an emirate was a vassal state of the Zaria emirate.
On completion of the railway line linking the Kaduna station with the Kuru and the Port Harcourt railway stations, Kafanchan again experienced a heavy influx of the Igbo people from Nigeria's southeast. Many of these people left after the Nigeria Civil War in 1967, although some later returned. Yorubas from the southwest also came and settled in considerable amounts in the expanding town.
After the death of the emir of Jama'a in 1998, there were resentments to the turbaning of his son as the next emir. In 1999, the son of the late emir was unpopularly turbaned, leading to a public uprising in Kafanchan.
The southern Kaduna indigenous people of the area, under the auspices of the Indigenous People of Jema'a responded to the turbaning by filing a suit against the Kaduna state government at the Kafanchan High Court. The Southern Kaduna people clamoured for the scrapping of the emirate system on their soil, as it was an alien institution imposed on them by the British colonialists. A result could not be ascertained until the new democratic regime came into being.
However, in the year 2001, the then-governor of Kaduna state, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, created the Fantswam and Nikyob-Nindem chiefdoms amidst over ten others in the Southern Kaduna area, thereby partially ending the 20th century imposition of the Fantswam people and her kins under emirate rule. However, the Jema'an emirate still remains an institution of the Hausa-Fulani inhabitants.
Today, Kafanchan is a melting pot of many Nigerians from parts of southern Kaduna such as the Gwong and the Ham, and other parts of Nigeria.

Language

Fantswam, otherwise known as "Kafanchan" is a dialect of Tyap lanɡuaɡe, alongside six or seven others: Gworok, Sholyio, Takad, Tyap, Tyeca̠rak and Tyuku, and also Jju seems to be a dialect of Tyap alonɡ side the others.

Counting in Fantswam

  1. A̠nyiunɡ
  2. A̠feanɡ
  3. A̠tat
  4. A̠naai
  5. A̠tfwuon
  6. Ka̠taa
  7. Natat
  8. Naimbwak
  9. Kubunyiunɡ
  10. Swak
  11. Swak ba̠ a̠nyiunɡ
  12. Swak ba̠ a̠feanɡ
  13. Swak ba̠ a̠tat
  14. Swak ba̠ a̠naai
  15. Swak ba̠ a̠tfwuon
  16. Swak ba̠ ka̠taa
  17. Swak ba̠ natat
  18. Swak ba̠ naimbwak
  19. Swak ba̠ kubunyiunɡ
  20. Nswak nfeanɡ
  1. A nyia ni? = How are you?
  2. N tfwuonɡ zonɡ. = I am hunɡry.
  3. Mashyi ta̠bat nunɡ. = I am thirsty.
  4. Bai a ya kyanɡya. = Come and eat food.
  5. Bai a fwua sa̠khwot. = Come and drink water.
  6. Yok zi̠ tyia̠ a̠byin nji̠t ka bi̠ naai, ma Gwaza. = Let us put our land in prayers, onto God!
  7. N cat a. = I love you.
  8. N shyia̠ a̠ka̠li. = I am at home.
  9. N na yuronɡ a. = I will call you.
  10. Cicet a ku labeang! = May you live long!
  11. Zi̠ tunɡ ndunɡ, zi̠ beanɡ á̠yaan. = Let's come toɡether, let's help one another.
  12. N gwai! = Thank you!
One word you are sure to find funny if you visit Fantswam and surroundinɡ areas of southern Kaduna is the exclamation, "Kwot!".

Traditional stools

There are three traditional stools present within Kafanchan town. These include the Fantswam, Nikyob-Nindem and Hausa-Fulani stools held by:
The town of Kafanchan houses some educational institutions in the state, including:
  1. Kaduna State University, Kafanchan Campus.
  2. Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya.
  3. Kaduna State College of Nursing and Midwifery, and
  4. Federal Science and Technical College.

    Hospitality and tourism

Kafanchan is home to some hotels such as:
Kafanchan also has a waterfall, known as Ka̱byek Tityong, Matsirga and River Wonderful, located close to Batadon, in A̱dvwan District of Fantswam chiefdom, with underdeveloped tourist attraction potentials, although an indigenously owned resort, Fantswam Resort was of late established around the waterfall area in A̱dvwan IV, Kafanchan.

Banking

Various bank branches are located in Kafanchan, especially along the Kafanchan-Kagoro Road. Some of these banks include:
Kafanchan also has some microfinance banks such as: