Minna, Niger state capital, derived its name from Gbagyi (Gwari) words ‘Min' and ‘na’.

The word ‘Min' means spray and ‘na’ means fire.

The town originally was on the hill at Sayako and walls (Ganuwa) built around it.

There were also Gbagyi towns and villages in and around the present site of the modern Minna.

In the olden days, at the certain period of the year, all villages far and near Min-na town on the hills used to extinguish their fire for the New Year fire which was usually fetched from Min-na town.

This practice of annual extinguishing or spraying of fire gave the town on the hill its name M’ina’ with single ‘n' the additional ‘n’ in the word `Minna’ was the making of colonial masters to suit their pronunciation.