Minna derived its name from Gbagyi (Gwari) words min and na Min means spray and ha’ means fire. The town was originally in the hill-top at Sayako and had walls known locally as ganuwa built around it was then the traditional administrative headquarters of the Gwaris. There were also Gbagyi (Gwari) towns and villages in and around the present site of modem Minna Historically at a certain period of the year villages far and near Min-na town on the hilltop used to extinguish their fire for a New Year fire which was usually fetched from Minna town This practice of annual extinguishing or spraying of fire mathematically gave the town on the hill its name Minna with single ‘n’ The additional ‘n in the word Minna’ was the making of Europeans to suit their pronunciation. Other villages that make up modern Minna are Gbangbopi, Gbadnase, Shango, Bosso, Ebmi (Maikunkele) and Gbadiko. belonged to Bosso District, which is also under the Chief of Bosso who had his palace right in the heart of Minna. The construction of railway line from Baro to Minna in 1911 is one of the factors that led to its becoming the Administrative Headquarters of the old Niger province which subsequently paved way for strangers to settle in the town Some settled permanently while others only worked as civil servants and some took up trading. The strangers who naturally could not live with the natives on the hills nor surrounding villages built their huts down hills.