My Father Worked All His Life In North, I Finished Primary School Before I Knew I Wasn’t Hausa-Niyi

Nollywood actor Raph Niyi has shared an unusual story about his childhood, revealing that growing up in northern Nigeria shaped his identity so strongly that he believed he was Hausa until after completing primary school.

Niyi made the disclosure during an interview on African A-List on Saturday, October 3, 2026, while reflecting on his childhood, family background and the influence of his father’s career on his upbringing.

According to the actor, his father worked for the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) at a time when railway employment was a major part of his professional life. His father’s job kept him in northern Nigeria throughout his working years, resulting in the family moving between different locations across the region.

Niyi said he and his siblings were born in the North and spent their formative years there. Because the family lived in several northern communities, he became deeply familiar with the cultures, languages and social environment around him.

Explaining how his upbringing influenced his perception of his own identity, the actor said he initially assumed that he was Hausa because of the environment in which he was raised.

He recalled that his father’s railway career meant the family was not restricted to one particular northern state. Instead, they lived in different parts of the region, giving him an upbringing that was strongly connected to northern Nigerian culture.

Speaking about his father’s career, Niyi said: “My dad was a railway worker, called NRC then. But it wasn’t as popular as it is now. My father worked all his life in the north. We were all born in the north. We lived across all the northern states.”

The actor went on to explain that his childhood experience was so deeply rooted in the region that he did not initially question his ethnic identity.

According to him, it was only after completing primary school that he discovered that he was not Hausa.

Niyi said: “As a matter of fact, I finished primary school before I knew I wasn’t an Hausa boy.”

For Niyi, spending his early years almost entirely in northern Nigeria shaped his sense of belonging before he later became aware of his family’s broader ethnic background.

Watch the video from stamp time 4:22 to 4:46

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