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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Polci of Nigeria

The Polci of Nigeria, numbering approximately 37,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic group located in Bauchi State, Nigeria, particularly in the Dass and Toro Local Government Areas. They are also known as Pesse, Polci, Polchi, Polsawa, Palshwa. They are an Indigenous people in the Chadic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Pesse and their primary religion is Animism.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Polci

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Chadic
Primary Language(s): Pesse (pze)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 37,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG014083
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Pray for the Polci of Nigeria

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Pesse
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Pesse Speakers

Media Resources in Pesse:

Films:

No entries found for: Pesse(pze). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Pesse:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Pesse bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Minimally Reached People Group, (LPI: 3), 2% to 3% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical (GSEC: 4), this people group is greater than or equal to 2% evangelical

Next steps for the Polci:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Polci are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Polci:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Polci are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Polci:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Polci of Nigeria

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
readExodus 2:23-24

As the lost among them labor, groan, and cry out under false religions and sin, pray God will have mercy on them and hear their cries, that He will be their Rescuer from the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of light.

Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
readPsalm 47:6

Pray that believers will have a heart to invite others to trust in Christ alone so that they might sing praises to His name.

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
readPsalm 133:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be unified and love one another as God loves them.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Polci Across Countries (ROP3 - 108095) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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