Arewa is a Hausa language

Hausa language

Hausa is the Chadic language with the largest number of speakers, spoken as a first language by about 25 million people, and as a second language by about 18 million more, an approximate total of 43 million people...

 term meaning "northern" or "northerners". Its popular usage in contemporary Nigeria

Nigeria

Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

 sometimes suggests a northern Nigerian regionalism or proto-nationalism. In both Nigeria and Niger

Niger

Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

, Arewa is the name of very specific historical entities: in Niger a pre-colonial state, and in Nigeria a small local government region.

Specific meanings

"Arewa" is derived from the Hausa word for "North", "Areoun", the "-wa" the typical "People of" suffix. In Niger, it has a very specific meaning. Arewa (Niger)

Arewa (Niger)

Arewa is a small pre-colonial animist dominated state of the Dallol Maouri valley of Niger, known for the indigenous "Maouri"/"Mawri" Hausa culture.-Contemporary rule:...

 is a small pre-colonial animist dominated state of the Dallol Maouri valley, known for the indigenous "Maouri"/"Mawri" Hausa culture.
In Nigeria, Arewa Dandi

Arewa Dandi

Arewa Dandi is a Local Government Area in Kebbi State, Nigeria, sharing a boundary with the Republic of Niger. Its headquarters are in the town of Arewa Dandi.It has an area of 3,901 km² and a population of 184,030 at the 2006 census....

 is a "Local Government Area" in Kebbi State

Kebbi State

Kebbi State is a state in north-western Nigeria with its capital at Birnin Kebbi. The state was formed from part of Sokoto State in 1991. Kebbi State is bordered by Sokoto State, Niger State, Dosso Region in the Republic of Niger and the nation of Benin. It has a total area of...

, and has been called simply "Arewa" in the past.

In Nigeria, AREWA (SPELT CORRECTLY) means beautiful in the Yoruba tribe.

Nigerian regionalist usage

In post independence Nigeria, some use the word as a general term for Nigerian Hausaland: a contraction of "Arewacin Nijeriya" (Northern Nigeria). Much of the north was once politically united in the Northern Region

Northern Region, Nigeria

The Northern Region was one of Nigeria's federal divisions. It was created before independence in 1960, with its capital at Kaduna. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the British Northern Cameroons, who had voted to become part of Nigeria....

, a federal division disbanded in 1967, and was previously home of the seven Hausa states, later the Sokoto Caliphate in the pre-colonial period, and the Northern Nigeria Protectorate

Northern Nigeria Protectorate

Northern Nigeria was a British protectorate formed in 1900. The basis of the protectorate was the 1885 Treaty of Berlin which broadly granted Northern Nigeria to Britain, on the basis of their protectorates in Southern Nigeria...

 under British colonial rule.

Northern Nigeria regionalist groups, such as the Arewa Consultative Forum

Arewa Consultative Forum

The Arewa Consultative Forum is a political and cultural association of leaders in Northern Nigeria formed in 2000 which has considerable influence in the political scene...

,, the Arewa Media Forum based in Kaduna

Kaduna

Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census...

, and the related Arewa House and Arewa People's Congress

Arewa People's Congress

The Arewa People's Congress is a group in Northern Nigeria established to protect the interests of the Muslim Hausa and Fulani of the area. It has been described as a militant wing of the Arewa Consultative Forum....

 are examples of this usage. These groups do not advocate independence from Nigeria, and focus on cultural unity of the so-called Hausa-Fulani

Hausa-Fulani

Hausa-Fulani is a term used to refer collectively to the Hausa and Fulani people of West Africa. The two are grouped together because since the Fulani War their histories have been largely intertwined...

 community which forms the majority in the north of the nation.

Within even smaller regionalist circles, the term Arewa Republic is used as to describe a speculative future region, entity , or state that coincides with the pre 1967 Northern Region, Nigeria

Northern Region, Nigeria

The Northern Region was one of Nigeria's federal divisions. It was created before independence in 1960, with its capital at Kaduna. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the British Northern Cameroons, who had voted to become part of Nigeria....

.