According to Falola, the Egun are an ethnic subgroup of the Yoruba (n.d). Falola states that "the Yoruba numbering over 20 million, are the second largest language group in Nigeria and one of the most populous and better-known African ethnic groups. They occupy southwestern Nigeria, and can be found elsewhere-in the Republic of Benin and Togo in West Africa and, as members of the African diaspora, in the American continent" (ibid.). Eades adds that the Yoruba homeland in southwestern Nigeria includes the whole of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Oyo States, and the southeastern parts of Kwara State (1980).

Karade agrees that the Yoruba are found in southwestern Nigeria and "in a small portion of the southeastern part of Benin." He further states that, among other Yoruba gods, reverence is given to the "Egun," or ancestors (n.d). According to Ethnologue, Egun is also a dialect of Gun-be, a language spoken in Lagos State, Badagry Local Government Administration (LGA) and in Benin (1996, 347).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Eades, J.S. 1980. The Yoruba Today. Cambridge: University Press. http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/YorubaT/ytl.html [Accessed: 24 Aug. 2000]

Ethnlogue: Languages of the World. 1996. 13th Edition. Edited by Barbara F. Grimes. Texas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Falola, Toyin. n.d. Indigenous Production of Knowledge in Africa. http:store.yahoo.com/africanworld/0865436991.html [Accessed: 24 Aug. 2000]

Karade, Baba Ainkugbe. n.d. "The Ancestral Call." http://theancestralcall.com/yoruba.htm [Accessed: 24 Aug. 2000]