Tella Taraba

A BRIEF HISTORY OF TELLA TARABA STATE, NIGERIA

Tella is a town/city situated in Taraba State near the Taraba River. CULTURE
The people of Tella mostly speak Hausa, Fulfulde and Jukun language. They practice the extended family system and usually have large families. Not many families are polygamous as compared to other states in Nigeria. Some of the elderly people have tribal marks on their faces especially Jukuns. It was used as a way to identify one’s tribe. The king is in charge of all the affairs of the town. People from far and wide come to Tella on the ‘market day’. It is a big event in which people trade their goods. Wednesdays are special days to buy and sell fish because they are cheaper on that day and people rush to buy. RELIGION
Islamic religion is the religion that has the highest population there, the king himself is a muslim so Tella is an Islamic Town. Fewer people that are practicing Christianity and so they are powerless. AGRICULTURE
The people of Tella are mostly farmers. Their cash crops are rice, sorghum, cassava, groundnut, guinea corn and vegetables. They farm fishes from Taraba River and also fetch water from it for domestic purposes (that was been practiced in the past). Recently, they embarked on agricultural development programs and started livestock farming of cows and chicken etc which was not practiced in the past. They usually just reared a few animals in their homes.