Dadiya
Overview
The New Testament in Dadiya (autonym: Lodiya) was published by The Seed Company in 2024. It is available online via YouVersion/Bible.com (New Testament, 27 books).
Language and People
Dadiya (ISO 639-3: dbd; autonym: Lodiya) is a Niger-Congo language belonging to the Adamawa branch, specifically within the Waja-Jen (Tula–Waja) sub-family. It was labeled "G1" in Joseph Greenberg's original Adamawa classification. Like related languages Waja and Tula, Dadiya is part of a cluster of Savanna languages in northeastern Nigeria; however, unlike Waja and Tula, Dadiya has lost its ancestral Bantu-type noun class system.
The Dadiya people live primarily in Balanga Local Government Area of Gombe State, in the northeastern corner of Nigeria near the Muri Mountains, with smaller populations in Lamurde LGA of Adamawa State and Karim-Lamido LGA of Taraba State. The headquarters of Dadiya land is the town of Bambam. Native speakers numbered approximately 70,000 as of a 2014 estimate (Ethnologue). The community also lives alongside neighboring groups including the Waja, Tula, Cham, Tangale, and Fulani peoples.
The Dadiya have a traditional ruler titled the Folo Dadiya, based in Bambam. Historically, Dadiya settlements were established in and around the Muri Mountains. The Dadiya Community Development Association (DACODA) represents the community globally. Christian missionaries arrived in 1930 and were received positively; today approximately 40% of the population are Christians, with a similar proportion Muslim and the remainder practicing traditional beliefs.
Publishing and Organizations
The Seed Company is a Wycliffe Bible Translators affiliate organization that accelerates Bible translation by partnering with and funding indigenous translation teams. Founded in 1993, it specializes in supporting national translator-led projects across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The 2024 Dadiya NT represents one of its recent completed projects in the northeastern Nigeria region.