Egede, Enugu

Egede is one of the communities that makes the Udi Local Government Area(was one of the former Odo-Ozo Local Government Area) in Enugu State of Nigeria. It is situated between Ebe town at the south, Umuoka town at the north, Affa town at the west Okpatu town and Awhum town at the east.

Introduction.

Egede town is a member of the Ugwunye clan. Other members of the clan include Nike town and Affa town. Together, they constitute the off-springs of Amukwu. The town has six villages: Anekeneze, Amozala, Okwum, Umuokpala, Umuanum and Umuovu. The town has two major segments or divides: Ikeghe and Ibite. The town's website can be located at www.egede.org.Below is a short history of the origin and structures of the town.

IDENTITY

ETYMOLOGY Theories concerning the evolution of the name “Egede” revolve around the fact that it was a name given to a son that emerged from the marriage between a woman known as Ugwunye and Ukwu. Though historical record has it that Ugwunye had her first son (Nike) in her first marriage with Awuwa, the credible fact remains (through data collated) that Egede was the son of Ugwunye. Herein lies the background for the emergence of the terminology.

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

Egede is situated in Udi local Government Areaa of Enugu State in the South eastern part of Nigeria. The people generally speak Igbo language which is spoken predominantly in the areas within the South east states such as Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, Enugu and Rivers. It is made up of eight (8) potential units or councils or villages.

By the north and North east are: Umuanum and Umuokpala villages bounded by Amozalla Affa and Okpatu, Umulumgbe and Umuoka towns respectively. By the East is Okwum village bounded by part of Okpatu town while in the South East and South are Anekeneze village bounded by Awhum, Ukana, and Ebe towns. On the West axis are Amozalla and Umuovu villages bounded by Obinagu Affa.

DEMOGRAPHY

The official population count of the people within Udi local government council was two hundred and thirty-four thousand and two (234,002) at the 2006 census . Though there are controversies concerning the credibility of census figures in Nigeria, the people of Egede could be said to represent a sizeable percentage of the population record stated hitherto.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

ORIGIN

EGEDE: OUR ANCESTRY FROM UGWUNYE Ugwunye was the woman generally held to be the ancestral mother of Egede people. Some elders opined that she was the sister to Ojebe, (the man, who formed the ancestral fountain father of the towns under the present Ojebe-Ogene clan tie namely: Okpatu, Ebe, Abor, Awhum, Ukana, Ukehe, Umulumgbe) and stands as the maternal ancestral milestone of the towns under Umu-Ugwunye clan: Nike, Egede and Affa (and probably more).

Ugwunye was acclaimed to have married to a man by name Onichaakulu, preferably called Awa by her direct descendants – the Nike people. The marital union of Onichaakulu (Awuwa/ Awa) and Ugwunye gave birth to Nike. Following a separation in the marriage between Ugwunye and Onichaakulu, She got married to another man named Onyimonyi, who begot Ukwu, the father of Egede. There was and is the popular opinion that Ukwu was the son of Onyimonyi, and father of Egede.

A similar account from a different perspective presented by late Chief Michael Onwuzu, stated that Onyimonyi married the woman (Ugwunye) and died. Then after the son (Ukwu) remarried her to give birth to Egede. Furthermore, her nuptial journey culminated in his later marital union with Achalaukwu, which gave birth to Afamefuna, who became the ancestral father of Affa people/town of today, living a few kilometers away from the Northern part of Egede.

UGWUNYE-EZEDIKE TALK There had been polemics concerning the relationship between Ugwunye and Ezedike, a different clan composed of Akpaakwume, Nze and Aku towns (the last town in the present Igbo-etiti Local Government Area of Nsukka section of Enugu state). While some people dismissed the relationship between Ugwunye and Ezedike as mere union of clans for administrative convenience without actually any ancestral stock, others hold the opinion that there was a primordial paternal ancestral union between Ugwunye and Ezedike clan. This was not anchored on objective fact but on the shifting sands of legendary.

TRADITIONAL SOCIETY: The traditional Egede political organization was based on a quasi-democratic republican system of government. This system of administration was like a consultative assembly of the common people governed and administered by a council of elders. In tight knit communities, this system guaranteed its citizens equality, as opposed to a feudalist system with a king ruling over subjects. Although title holders were respected because of their accomplishments and capabilities, they were never revered as kings, but often performed special functions given to them by such assemblies. Law starts with the Umunna, which is a male line of descent from a founding ancestor (who the line is sometimes named after) with groups of compounds containing closely related families headed by the eldest male member. Law matters are often settled through mediators while the banking system for loans and savings were used. The Umunna could be seen as the most formidable pillar among the people of Egede in the traditional era.

It is pertinent to note that a system of Indentured servitude existed among the people after and before the arrival and knowledge of Europeans. Indentured servitude according to Olaudah Equiano does not entail doing more work than other members of the community, but it indicates that those concerned were not permitted to eat with the free-born. It was against the backdrop of this early traces of serfdom that slave trade experience became feasibile in Africa.

EARLY CONTACT WITH COLONIAL MASTERS The arrival of the British in the 1870s and increased encounters between the people of Egede and other ethnicities led to a deepening unique sense of identity. The people proved remarkably decisive and enthusiastic in their embrace of Christianity and Western education. Due to the incompatibility of the decentralized style of government among the people and the centralized system required for British indirect rule, British colonial rule was marked with open conflicts and much tension. Under British colonial rule, the diversity within each of Nigeria's major ethnic groups slowly decreased and distinctions between the Igbo and other large ethnic groups, such as the Hausa and the Yoruba, became sharper. The early encounter with the Colonial masters drastically transformed the traditional society. It brought about changes in culture such as the introduction of Warrant Chiefs, where there were no such monarchies. Christianity played a great part in the introduction of European ideology into the society and culture, sometimes shunning parts of the culture. Furthermore, there was a drastic change in the living conditions under the colonial masters. The tradition of building houses out of mud walls and thatched roofs began to phase out. People started building with cement blocks and zinc roofs. Roads for vehicles were built. Buildings such as hospitals and schools began to emerge. These were some of the impact of the people’s early contact with the colonial masters.

THE ERA AFTER THE INDEPENDENCE This era was characterized mainly by series of intertribal and ethnic clashes. The climax of it was the civil war between Northern Muslims and the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria. The war, which came to be known as the Nigerian Civil War or the "Nigerian-Biafran War", lasted from July 6, 1967, until January 15, 1970, after which the federal government reabsorbed Biafra into Nigeria. Several million Eastern Nigerians, especially the Egede people, were believed to have died during the civil war. In July 2007, the former leader of Biafra, General Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, renewed calls for the secession of the Biafran state as a sovereign entity. After the War, the entire land (Igboland) was devastated. Many hospitals, schools, and homes were completely destroyed in the war. The post-war era posed great challenges to the people which ushered in the era for the development and preservation of cultural legacies.

RESUME

No history is complete without reference to origin. However, the knowledge of a people’s root is very exigent in understanding their worldview and perspective to life. The ongoing quest for a profound knowledge of the Egede people would help unravel her historical roots and also help the sons and daughters of the town appreciate their rich cultural heritage and values. This is the thrust of this historical documentation.

Feast

The town has three major festivals. The first is the Odo festival. Although fast disappearing, the festivals here are associated with the return and departure of the Odo spirits. These occur every two years which typically mark the Odo seasons. The second festival is the famous a ge-grade ritual called Ogba,. Ogba means the rite of passage into adulthood. Although it is also open to women but it is substantively a male rite of passage. It takes place every ten years. Within that cycle, each segment of the village celebrates its own at a different date. The choice of any date is based on the traditional dating system also guided by the Igbo native weeks. The third festival is the New-Yam Festival called 'aka-ani' meaning the handshake with the goods of the land. Apparently, the gods that are responsible for the bountiful yam harvest. It is celebrated on every Saturday Orie of every September. The festival commemorates the harvest of the new yam.

Religion

Egede indigenes believe in the Odo deity before the coming of Christianity. Each village has its own special variant of the Odo and accordingly has a dedicated forest for the Odo. Odo Egede includes the nemaa (mother of spirits), the okpoakarika (the sporting and policing spirit) and the okwuikpe (the dancing spirit). The town has many indigenous catholic priests which include Late Fr. Prof Innocent Ihemalol Egbujie,Fr. Lawrence Agu,late Fr. John Amuji, Fr. John Nwafor,Fr Edward Agu(Brother to Fr. lawrence Agu), Fr. Hyacinth Egwuyi,Fr Christian Onuoha, Fr Josephmary Enyi, Fr. Paul Ebuneoha,Fr Humphrey Uche Ani, Fr. Andrew Egbegolu, Fr Anthony Ude,Fr Ikechukwu Aka, Fr. Isife Liberatus,Fr Paul Ik. Otakagu, late Fr Christian Ogbo, Fr. Anthony Oluba,Fr Henry Amuji, Fr Emmanuel Amuji,Fr.Kerian Onwuzu and Fr. Christopher Onochie. The Egede professed sisters include Sr.Patricia Okeke, Sr. Raymonda Onuora,Sr. Monica Igwe, Sr.Scholastica Otakagu,Sr. Agatha Enu, Sr. Helen Ekwueme,Sr Patricia Ogbuagu, Sr. Eucharia Isilue and Sr Nwagu. Egede has its own parish,Saint Cyril catholic church.And the parish priests that have been in Egede since her creation as a parish include Frs. Godfrey Oleri,Gabriel Ude, Damian Ekette, Peter Okeke and now Fr Stan Chinedu Zeowa.The main central catechesit of Egede has been mr Ferdinand Onuorah,and there are sub-ordinate catechists who assist him in the sub-parochial structures of the parish. However, there are few Protestant worship centres in the town, as the town is predominantly catholic.

Education

PREAMBLE:

Man’s innate for knowledge has transformed human history as it is in the case of Egede people. Apart from the systematic means of acquiring knowledge which came with the colonialists/missionaries, Egede people had their own traditional mode of attaining knowledge, transmitting values, customs, morals, skills and technical-know-how of the people. The general mode of knowledge transfer is discussed under two major categories namely: informal and formal ways.

INFORMAL EDUCATION Generally, every society whether simple or complex has a system of training and educating its people to acquire knowledge. So, informal education is the means of acquiring knowledge without an organized or systematic way. It is a form of education done at home or other places which may involve the parents, relatives, community, charismatic individuals.

In Igbo land, functionalism was almost the guiding principle of educating the younger ones. The people were introduced into informal system of education and learnt by doing. In other words, it is a participatory education through ceremonies, rituals, initiation, recitation and recreation. Those under learning or training mostly engaged in practical farming, fishing, weaving, cooking, carving, knitting and so forth. Usually at the end of learning, one is given a test or a job to be done which if one passes the assessment is free to be on his own. Normally, a passing out ceremony or initiation into adulthood was organized.

Apart from learning skills, the traditional education has its own intellectual training which included: learning local history, legends of the environment (that is local geography, plants and animals), poetry, riddles, proverb, story–telling, story relay and others during moonlight, nights. The informal education was characterized by the combinations of physical training, character building, mutual activity and intellectual training of the people.

In the olden days especially in the dry season, children often sat around an elderly wise person who taught the children through story-telling usually after supper. The male folk sat with the men at the ‘Nkollo’ to share wisdom and other vital information. The girls stayed with the mothers especially in the kitchen to learn the duties of a woman. This inclination to fathers and mothers by the children in their genders help to maintain the special mode of and education helped to structure the behaviour of people in the society.

FORMAL EDUCATION Prior to the arrival of the missionaries, the Egede people had an established informal system of learning. With this already on ground, the early missionaries were able to introduce the formal system of education. They began first by converting the traditional worshippers through catechesis and teaching of oral and written English so as to facilitate missionary enterprise. Later they embarked on building schools from 1918 in Egede for full-time formal education.

Initially, the missionaries with their Christian belief and formal system of education met a strong opposition, disaffection and hostility in Egede as it was the case in other places in Igbo land. Its general acceptance was a later development following the glaring dividends of formal education.

The first missionaries came into Igbo land through Onitsha in 1886. It was from Onitsha that they began to move to other parts of Igbo land. Ultimately, with the invitation of Chief Onyeama Owusi of Eke, the warrant Chief the missionaries came to Udi area in 1908 and had their base at Eke. Then from Eke they moved to other carved out stations which also became worshipping centre as well as school centres. Fortunately Egede became one of those centres. When the missionaries firsts came to Egede they created an outstation known as “Ugwu Agbudu” in Amozalla. It was from there that they established and operated the first school system in Egede. Ironically, at this time western education was meant for the useless, slaves and good-for-nothing in the town.

The so-called sons of the soil and wise ones with the help of their parents paid fifteen (15) shillings to be exempted from being enrolled in the missionary school. It is on record that late Michael A Onwuzu, late Engr Isife etc., was among the first people to be taken along with the white missionaries to acquire formal education. The Egede community organized themselves and contributed some amount of money to settle the salaries of the teachers. At a point, there was serious tension and contention between Ibite and Ikeghe sections to have their schools respectively. This threatened the unity of the town and meanwhile the contribution for the payment of teachers’ salaries ceased.

The Ikeghe section capitalized on this opportunity to develop another school at Umuanum, which was to run concurrently with the already existing onea is at Ugwu Agbudu Amozalla Ibite.

It was in 1925 that the tension calmed down hence, they agreed and resolved to unite again to resume their collective contribution for the upkeep of the school. In order to make this unity symbolic, the two elders Agubuzu from Umuanum Ikeghe and Agubu n’ ogba Anekeneeze Ibite came together at the centre of the town respectively. At the present site of St. Cyril Church, they uprooted a small plant, called ‘Agbugba Ezenevo”. This signified that, henceforth, the place will be the centre of the entire town and symbol of unity for the community. Since then, the place has served as the central point for Egede people. There were two families that voluntarily gave the portion of the land which serves as the centre and where the gigantic Catholic Church (St Cyril) is situated. They are Igbodu family in Anekeneze and Ede family in Umuanum respectively.

However, the school at Ugwu Agbudu was relocated to St. Cyril station, which had then standards one to four. The school began admitting more number of pupils from far and near. According to Mr Ferdinand Onuora a renowned teacher and veteran historian who gave us this account, he said, though it was a mud-house, there was the desire to build another structure to accommodate the new students. This was actualized in 1947 under a white priest called Fr. Bronsnaha. The school was built at Amozalla and named Sacred Heart School Egede. Previously, the teachers were secretly organizing an unapproved standard five and six.

Sacred Heart school was approved and improved to standards five and six, which was previously operative only in Eke, Abor and Udi town but Later Egede joined in 1947 as one of the schools offering highest standards in the old Udi and Agbaja region. During this period the schools (St. Cyril and Sacred Heart both in Egede) could boast of about twenty five pupils with about nine qualified teachers. The alumuni of these schools included: late M.A. Onwuzu, J. Ekwueme and numerous diligent Egede people.

In addition, almost a decade after specifically in 1957 another school system was introduced. This time it was due to the tremendous increase in the interest for formal education. Mr. Ferdinand Onuorah gave us a vivid account of how the quest for another school structure started. He said that the whole scenario began when a strong wind devastated the roof of Sacred Heart School in Amozalla. The entire town could not raise enough money to renovate it. More so, the tension ensued again but this time to the favour of the Ikeghe section. This led to the withdrawal of the Ikeghe people from contributing for the maintenance of the teachers and structures of the school. This also became another opportunity for the Ikeghe people to seek for the establishment of another school at their side. As a matter of fact, the white missionaries began to consider this interest of Ikeghe people. During this time an inter-house sport competition was scheduled to be hosted at the out sketch of Okwum village. The hosting of the inter-house sports was made possible by the effort of the villagers, Mr. Ferdinand Onuorah and some teachers who prepared the ground and field for the competition.

In 1957, the sports competition was hosted in Egede. After a successful hosting of the sports competition, a small structure was erected at the place where the Inter-house Competition was hosted as a proposed site for school constructed at the ground where it was hosted. Later this site was named Christ the king station and school, with Mr. Paulinus Onwuama and Patrick from Amaji (both are indigenes of Egede town) as the first teachers.

This is the origin of the school at Okwum which was known as St Mary school. The missionary priests gave them the benefit of three month to finish the building as a pre-requisite for approval. It is said ‘when there is a will, there is way’ Ikeghe people hired eleven labourers from Nkanu to help in the construction work. According to Mr. F. Onuorah, each family from Ikeghe contributed their effort by fetching water from Iyioku River at Awhum to assist in the work.

Finally, the building was finished within the three-month duration and was approved by Fr. Derharty. It was named St. Mary School Egede and had its first head master as Mr. Pius Ozoani from Ngwo in 1958. The number of schools in Egede increased to three in number.

Furthermore, in 1972, a higher system of education known as “Egede Girls Secondary school” was introduced through the dogged and personal effort of Igwe Brothers from Amozalla. The fame of the school grew to a top height with its first principle as Mr. Nkakwonwu from Awka. It was a school for only girls with a boarding system and other facilities in place. The school became a ground for acquiring not only knowledge but also character building. In a sweep of time it was turned into a school for both boys and girls.

There is no doubt about the huge interest for acquiring knowledge among Egede people. This strong interest was discovered by the white missionaries and has remained aglow. This is evident in the number of school in Egede today. The schools presently have increased to five primary schools and one secondary school. They are listed below:

LIST OF SCHOOLS IN EGEDE 1. St. Cyril Catholic Primary and Nursery School Egede 2. Sacred Heart Primary School Amozalla Egede 3. St. Mary’s Primary School Okwum Egede 4. Anglican Primary School Anekeneze Egede 5. Community Primary School Egede 6. Community Secondary School Egede( i.e. former Egede Girls)

There are a number of schools in the neighboring towns which some students from Egede also attend. They are all in the attempt to gain knowledge. It is quite obvious how our people had benefited from the education that has this long history. It has enabled many Egede people to accept civilization at the earliest time and thus gained influence and affluence far and wide. It helped our people to embrace the fact of life and fend for their well-being through sincere efforts.

The history of education system in Egede will not be complete without emphasizing the present condition of the schools. Of course all the schools are still in existence only that their structural and administrative conditions are not encouraging. Some of them are in a dilapidated and abandoned state. The values and interest for education is noticeably decreasing. So, the schools already in a deplorable stage need urgent attention, renovations and maintenance. A lot of applauds should be accorded to Governor Sullivan Chime’s administration which returned all the missionary Schools to the Church. Consequently, positive steps had already been taken towards rebuilding and restoring the schools to regain its excellence for character building and learning. All hands must be on deck for the attainment of positive results.

RESUME: Egede people will forever be grateful to the early white missionaries for their sacrifices and contributions. Right from the early period Egede indigenes have continued to benefit from the fruit of education. This chapter has really x-rayed the history behind the development of schools in Egede town tracing it from advent of Christianity to the recent state of the schools. This will help our readers appreciate the efforts of the missionaries and co-operation of Egede people towards achieving the common goal of ensuring character formation through learning. The evidence of the impact of education among the Egede people is numerous to be mentioned.

References. A history of Egede town by the Association of Egede Indegenious Priest and Religious

Shillington, Kevin. Encyclopedia of African History. CRC Press. 2005, p. 674.

Afigbo, A. E. Groundwork of Igbo history. Lagos: Vista Books. 1992. pp. 522–541

Mathews, Martin P.. Nigeria: Current Issues and Historical Background. Nova Publishers. 2002, p. 38.