THE PEOPLE OF OGOJA

OGOJA MASQURADE DANCING

         Ogoja is a Local Government Area in Cross River State , Nigeri. The town was one of the provinces during pre-colonial independence. It consists of many tribal units, including Ishibori (this village has different clans such as Uhmuria, Ikaptang, Ikajor, Ishinyema, Ikariku, Imerakorm) and Igoli as the central town. Mbube, being one of the major tribes, comprises different villages, including: Odajie, Adagum, Ekumtak, Idum, Ojerim, Egbe, Nkim, Ogberia Ogang & Ogberia Ochoro, Oboso, Benkpe, Edide, Bansan, Aragban, etc. Their major source of livelihood is subsistence agriculture, basically farming of cassava, yams, palm oil, palm wine etc. Ekajuk, is one of the major clan in Ogoja Local government area. Divided into Ward I and Ward II, and includes major communities such as Nwang, Ekpogrinya, Esham, Egbong, Nnang, Ewinimba and Bansara -HISTORY OF OGOJA PEOPLE

OGOJA NEW YAM FESTIVAL

  Ogoja is bounded to the north by Benue State, Ikom in the South, Boki and Okundi in the east and Yala in the West. It has an estimated population of about 430,000 and a land mass of about 960,5689 sq. km.
Ogoja has for long remained a potential area of socio-economic development, especially in agriculture where the main products that are mostly produced are yam, cassava, rice, groundnuts, guinea corn, ground beans, sweet potatoes, millet and fruit trees.
The influence of the early missionaries was significantly felt in the area, thus, Christianity is the predominant religion. The area is also endowed with different cultural value and some of them are revived and modernized to emphasize the cultural heritage of the people. Very songs also exist in different areas for different festivals such as the new yam festivals, traditional marriages, birth and burials.

Ogoja is linguistically diverse. The numbers of languages spoken in the area is about six (6) and they distributed through out the five (5) clans. The major languages spoken in the area are Bekwarra, Bakor, Mbe and Nkum.
Ethically, Ogoja is very complex but of the diversity of the area and this enable a considerable amount of communication amongst the ethnic groups.

 MARKET

The Ogoja people generally operate a five-day market week. The major markets in the area are found at Ishibori and Ogboja in Ogoja Urban, Odajie, Idum and Ojerim in Mbube, Ogidi, Ukpa and Afrike in Bekwarra and Ndok, Aladim. There is also the the Okpe and Ogoja Ndem markets. Markets such as Ishibori and Ogboja operate daily. Items such as garri, beans, yams, maize and vegetables are all sold here. There are several super markets at Igli and Abakpa as well as several provision stores in all the communities.

In addition Ogoja is well blessed with highly tropical climate, well marked by wet and dry seasons. The area is also blessed with food crops and very rich trees of different species. The area is also blessed with large quarry rich with by-product which could be used for industrial and commercial activities. -Ogoja history






DAN NAIJERIA