Kyegh Sha Shwa

An annual large-scale Tiv cultural gathering held in Makurdi. It celebrates Tiv heritage through traditional food, music, and dance. The festival is especially associated with Nyamkyegh sha shwa, a traditional chicken and beniseed dish that holds deep cultural meaning for the Tiv people.

This festival serves as a living expression of Tiv culinary heritage and communal identity. It brings together Tiv people across generations to share, perform, and transmit their food traditions, dances, and music. The Nyamkyegh sha shwa dish is central to the gathering, symbolising Tiv domesticity and agricultural heritage.

Traditional Tiv food preparation and sharing, cultural dances, music performances, community gathering, display of traditional attire.

The festival was started by the Rev. Fr. Solomon Mfa Ukeyima, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, who is known as its convener and "Tor KSS". According to a report by Denen Achussah in The New Times, the idea came to him while he was priest in charge of St. Francis Mission, Daudu, where people grow yams and sesame in large quantities, and the first edition was held in Daudu, Guma Local Government Area, in 2015. Fr. Ukeyima has said the aim is for the Tiv to come together, reason together and find ways of bettering the lot of their people. He also hoped the festival would revive the growing of beniseed, once farmed across Tivland but now grown commercially mainly in Guma, Gwer West and Gwer East.

The fifth edition was held in Gboko on 27 December 2019, after an unveiling in Lagos, and was preceded by a cultural night at the J.S. Tarka Stadium. Reported attractions include uka-uka, a contest to eat a large share of pounded yam with the smallest piece of meat and no soup, folktale and food conservation contests, a guest lecture, displays of Tiv attire and trade in cultural goods. Guests sit in groups and eat from shared dishes.

Note on sources: the venue has varied. The New Times names Daudu (2015) and Gboko (2019); the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority's festival calendar lists Makurdi on 26 and 27 December; and the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (2025) gives 27 December at the Benue State Secretariat, Makurdi.

Sources: Denen Achussah, "Catholic priest uniting the Tiv through Kyegh Sha Shwa Cultural Festival", The New Times; Nigerian Tourism Development Authority, Nigeria Festivals and Tourism Events list; National Institute for Cultural Orientation (nico.gov.ng), 17 April 2025.

Food and Cultural Festival

See the Tiv people and the Tiv language in our Nigeria Heritage Archive: the states and local government areas where Tiv communities live, neighbouring peoples, population figures and sources.