₦airaland Forum

Read all about it: http://zikistmovement.igbodefender.com/whoever-you-are-take-note-of-this-little-known-toilet-danger/

The Nigeria Football Federation has terminated the appointment of Stephen Keshi. They should reemploy Bonfere Jo, that man that led us to Olympic football gold in Atlanta 96. I wonder why they haven’t all this while.

The current traffic gridlock strangling Apapa, the busiest port area in Nigeria is a serious threat to the socioeconomic wellbeing of Nigeria. It is a worm that has slowed down distribution of goods nationwide, increased crime in the port area, and eaten deep into the manhours of staff in many maritime-dependent businesses.

So serious is the situation that industry sources estimate the amount of revenue lost each day to the gridlock to be in the billions. Even a big organization like Customs is not left out of the groaning as various sources connected with it have said that Customs is not going to meet its target for the year as a result of a slump in ports activities this year.

For people who work in Apapa, getting to work has become a daily ordeal. Commuters that own cars now have no choice but to park their cars outside Apapa and trek in to the area; or if the distance to their workplace is still far, they are forced to board the dangerous commercial motorcycles popularly known as Okada. Those that stick to their principles of not patronizing that very very unsafe mode of transport have reported that they face an increased risk of losing their jobs as they sometimes find that they have arrived their place of work several hours after resumption time, which brings them into job-threatening conflict with their bosses. So, daily they are faced with a risk of losing limb onboard Okada or livelihood as a result severe lateness.

Expectant mothers also face their own risks as a result of the worsening gridlock, especially if the hospital where they’re registered to give birth in is not in their most immediate vicinity.

These days, people who have businesses to transact in Apapa find themselves strategically procrastinating about going there, as movement there can be super stressful.

But the funny thing, or rather the sad thing is that in spite of the efforts taken so far to tackle it, the gridlock shows no sign of loosening its severe chokehold on Apapa and is beginning to take the shape of a permanent feature of life in Apapa – and you know, if paralysis of the nation’s busiest maritime area becomes permanent, then… hmm.

Causes

First of all, you have the issue of extremely poor state of the access roads to the ports. The roads leading to the ports, like Wharf Road are in a very poor state, and hardly a day goes by without one tanker or truck or another falling on its side and bringing traffic to a standstill until the towing trucks manage to navigate their way through the gridlock already caused to rescue the cause of the gridlock itself. The roads get much worse after heavy rainfall as all vehicles are forced to use only the none-flooded portions of the roads.

But by far the more serious cause of gridlock in the Apapa area is the presence of over 58 crude petroleum product tank-farms in the port area. Since Nigeria began to import fuel in a bid to ameliorate the effects of our comatose government-owned refineries, tank farms have blossomed in Apapa. Now that is not a bad thing in itself, but when you have such huge concentration of them in an area that was originally meant just for ports, you begin to have serious problems. So, in addition to the trucks ferrying goods from the ports, you have thousands of petrol tankers gathering at tiny Apapa from all parts of the country to ferry fuel.

As a result of the hiccups in fuel importation, with marketers unwilling to stuff these tankers with fuel until they are paid the money they are being owed by the government, the tankers have to wait. And since the tanker drivers cannot carry the tankers in their heads, where do they wait? The tanker park currently allocated to them is too far from the tank-farms, so the drivers convert the port area bridges and roads into temporary (or rather permanent) parks.(And those bridges were not built to take the weight of parked heavy duty vehicles for too long.)

Now this is what leads to serious gridlock. The cars and other vehicles have no way to pass if say, one tanker parks wrongly and blocks a bridge, so what Lagosians call go-slow begins to develop. Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode has even waded into the matter, taking a tour of some of the affected areas. He has asked the tankers to leave the access roads, and he has called for a permanent solution to the issue.

For gridlock caused by tank-farms to disappear, the Federal Government has to stop charging exorbitant fees for giving operational licenses to businesses that want to establish private refineries in Nigeria. I like what Former Deputy President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Eddy Ossai said recently on the matter. He said;” Government should not give license for building of refineries; what government should give is permit to people that want to build refineries that is based on environmental impact assessment, technical capabilities and financial resources. Those that should evaluate the claims and award should be tender boards constituted for that purpose.”

A lot of private businesses that initially wanted to establish refineries lost interest in large part due to the fact that they have to pay several exorbitant fees that to their pockets would have been a strain. But if the Federal Government were to lessen or totally remove these fees, and reduce the red tape involved in getting approval, the private refineries that will crop up all over the country will make the tank-farms quickly leave Apapa or otherwise become redundant. The day private refineries are given cheaper fees and better conditions to enable them freely establish in any part of the country, Apapa gridlock as we know it would become a thing of the past. The Federal Government should loosen its hold.
Source: http://shipsandports.com.ng/still-on-the-perennial-apapa-gridlock/

Use black herbal soap like Dudu Osun or the more local variety. Thank me later.

The other day I fell asleep and dreamt that I woke up in 2027 Nigeria and saw so many beautiful things. The things I saw there were so beautiful that even in the dream I took my journalist’s pen and paper and began to record the things I had seen.This report below chronicles it. Enjoy…

It’s 2027, and Nigeria is really flourishing, to the consternation of those experts that called Nigeria a failed state, predicting that it would destroy itself in 2015. All their predictions seemed at first to be coming to reality until the April 28, 2015 presidential elections; when the statesmanlike decision of then president Goodluck Jonathan to concede victory to the victorious opposition leader, General Muhammadu Buhari turned what would have ended in bloodshed into a picture of peace and possibility that eventually gave Nigeria the fillip she needed to begin fulfilling her destiny.

Nigeria, now a more united bloc since 2015, suddenly threw away political immaturity, and this enabled an astronomic economic rise that caught everybody by surprise. As a result of this, Nigeria became known as ‘the African economic tiger’, becoming the most successful and competitive knowledge-based economy in the African continent and one of the very best beyond it.

Our universities now attract students from all over the world, even the so-called G7 nations. We are blazing trails in software, biotech, law, finance and the audio-visual sector. We now have a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council representing Africa and with veto power. The struggle with South Africa for the seat was fierce but eventually we prevailed.

The world now sees Nigeria as being synonymous with a can-do energy, call it the Nigerian dream or Equianoism if you wish. ‘Proudly Nigerian’ and ‘Aba Made’ are now seen as badges of high quality that people from every country in the world are proud to display in the commodities and gadgets they purchase.

And crucially, in pursuing cooperation in the Global South, we have finally broken the jinx – as Nigeria’s biggest trading partners are African countries. We now export shoes, bags, cement, herbal soap, meat products and even computers and cars to all these countries and have displaced the Global West as the biggest trading partners of several African nations. Woah!

Part of our success rests on the bilateral free-trade agreements we signed with other African countries, as we really began to live the saying that Africa is the centrepiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy and really began to behave like the giant of Africa we have always been.

As a result, several Nigerian multinational companies have emerged, spanning the fields of oil and gas, trade, technology, steel, real estate, finance and manufacturing with operations spanning several continents. Once we embraced the West African Common External Tariff, Nigeria swiftly signed a slew of free-trade agreements with West, Central, Southern and North African countries that enhanced free movement of goods, services and capital between us and those countries. Our companies embraced a strategy of segmentation as a way to sell high quality products at affordable prices in countries where the populace would otherwise not have been able to pay.

As a result our ports, which hitherto were mainly import focused have entered a golden age of export.Traffic gridlock and congestion in Apapa ports is a thing of the past as the Badagry Port and many other seaports; inland ports, dry ports and cargo airports are operating across the country at optimum capacity. And the successful implementation of the Cabotage Act has turned Nigeria’s inland waterways into a world class tourist and sport destination.

The financial sector has been boosted by more efficient implementation of Nigeria’s tax policy. There is increased confidence in the nation’s capital market buoyed by the Security and Exchange Commission’s increased vigilance in protecting shareholder rights; and waves of young expat financiers have brought their talents from financial capitals of the world like Frankfurt, Paris and Milan to Lagos, reflecting Nigeria’s increased importance in global finance.

Nigeria,which no longer has a dependence on oil and, is once more the world’s leading exporter of palm oil and a leading exporter of cocoa, groundnuts and cotton.Our youths now see the value in the hard work of agriculture and a lot of them are comfortable doingcommercial farming in the rural areas.

Our fisheries are once more a grand renewable resource. Nigeria no longer spends billions importing fishes, instead our coastlines are filled with local trawlers supplying fish to the country.

Nigeria now has coal fired power plants everywhere and since coal supply is very stable,constant power supply is the norm.

Nigeria has now become a destination of choice for affluent foreigners who no longer see her as just a place to go and drill oil, but also as a place to raise their kids, educate them and enjoy themselves.

Innoson now exports cars, with the EU, the United States and China as some of its biggest markets. People who frowned at using anything manufactured by the black man now have to give him their grudging respect.

Gas flaring in the Niger Delta is now...http://shipsandports.com.ng/a-dream-about-nigeria-in-the-future/

Nigeria's anti-corruption agency has arrested six senior central bank officials over an alleged $30m (£20m) currency fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also held 16 private bank workers for the "mega scam".
The suspects stole "tonnes of defaced naira notes", which were meant to be destroyed, it said on its website.
Newly-installed Nigerian President Muhammudu Buhari has pledged to make tackling corruption a priority.
The suspects allegedly filled boxes supposed to contain damaged currency with bits of newspaper cut into the shape of naira notes, before sending them to branches of the Central Bank of Nigeria for destruction, according to the EFCC.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32958635

amakaobiemeka:
God if u be God let gej soul root in hades! In jesus name amen. May God pour his anger on gej like he did to sodom and gomorrah. May his barren life become desert amen

Wow, that's deep. Could this be the way millions of Nigerians feel about Jonathan?

Let me begin this edition of my column by hailing my fellow editor Femi Adesina of the Daily Sun for his new appointment as an aide to incoming president MuhammaduBuhari. Na your time, Egbon. Twale to you.

Okay, all due protocols observed, welcome to this week’s edition of Spyglass, where we are observing a countdown to the Buhari era. As you know, President Jonathan’s era will end in a few days, and what has been described as the Buhari restoration will begin. During New Year’s Day celebrations people normally pray that the incoming year will be better than the previous one, no matter how good that previous year was. So we wish that, no matter how good the Jonathan era has been the Buhari era will be even better. I’m sure President Jonathan himself will say a big amen to that prayer.

Okay: so what is one thing we would like the incoming president to look into? For me I think there is an urgent need for the incoming administration to look at creating economic opportunities for our youth and publicizing the ones already in existence. I believe that if Buhari can look into these, the crime rate in our country will go down drastically together with reports of disgraceful actions of our countrymen abroad.

We should ask ourselves why high numbers of Nigerians are languishing in prisons abroad.

Government so far has neglected its role of providing employment opportunities and easier access to ready capital for the vast majority of the youth. Even when government has provided avenues, they have turned out to be tiny drops in the ocean.

A case in point is the government-funded Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWIN) project: Even though the selection process has been widely accredited as being largely free and fair, handing out capital to only 1,500 youths every year in a country of 170 million is like fetching water with a spoon instead of with a pail. It doesn't go even near enough to address the youthful problems of unemployment and lack of capital.

The incoming Buhari Administration is hereby charged to take youth empowerment through provision of employment opportunities and easy access to capital as its primary priority.

YouWIN should not be scrapped but the number of awardees should be increased to at least 50,000 per year. The budgetary allocation for YouWIN should be adjusted to accommodate this number of awardees, and funds cut off from several of the elephant projects that litter the polity.

Another thing is that the Buhari administration needs to publicize the other incentives that the Federal Government has like the cheap government farmlands available for lease in the agricultural sector.

I know of a certain youth called African Farmer Mogajji (real not nicknames) who has made it through large scale commercial farming – he has hectares of farm making him real money even though he hardly owns any of the land.

How does he do it? He leases farmland at ridiculously low rates from the Federal Government. This is not because of special connections with people in power, but is one of the least known incentive packages the Federal Government has made available that our youth can key into.

The great percentage of youth in this country do not know that in the River Basins of Nigeria, under the care of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, there are thousands and thousands of hectares of farmland lying fallow that the Federal Government is willing to lease to anyone at very cheap rates (we are talking of N2500 for every 2.5 hectares for a renewable period of about eight months).

All you need to do to get the 1,2, 3 or more hectares of land you need for farming business if you cannot buy them is is to go to one of the River Basin Development Authorities near you and tell them you would like to lease farmland from them.

They will take you to hectares upon hectares of Federal Government owned farmland and all you need to do is to choose your site and payfor it and make sure you begin to farm on it, and it is yours for a number of months, complete with Federal Government irrigation facilities for your crops.

If entrepreneurial opportunities for our youth are improved upon and adequately publicized, it will win great political laurels for the incoming Buhari Administration. If the youth are not urgently empowered, we may continue to hear stories of Nigerians youths being incarcerated and executed in foreign shores, even in a Buhari administration.

The other day I came back home from work to find that PHCN had cut my electricity line, despite the fact that I was not owing them a kobo, having paid my bill in full. Rolling to their office the next day, I told my marketer of the problem and he apologised profusely, asking me to please make a photocopy of the bill and hand to him, so that he can hand it to his boys and ask them toreconnect me. One thing Inoticed in the PHCN office was that they themselves had no light.

So I went to a nearby business centre to make the photocopy. There I found out from the photocopy operator that the situation is so bad that the PHCN staff actually troop to his shop in droves to charge their phone batteries with power from his generator, due to the fact that their office often does not have light. Someone I know has this funny saying that encapsulates the situation: When those in charge of rationing water begin to die of thirst, then there’s a big problem.

As I drove off from PHCN office, I began to think deeply about Nigeria’s power problem.

I remember a few years ago when Barth Nnaji was Minister for Power, and electricity supply suddenly became stable everywhere. In those days, I used to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Then came the time when Mr Nnaji was pushed off the ministerial post; then the epileptic power supply bounced back in full force. (Some people say some dark forces that have sworn that this nation shall never know stable power came after him to stop his work of bringing uninterrupted power to the country. But hey, who knows?)

Anyway, in a quest to discover what lay behind the improvement, I asked a PHCN official what Mr Nnaji’s secret was that enabled him to provide most of Nigeria with uninterrupted power for several months. He told me that Mr Nnaji had made an arrangement with several major gas producing companies in the country to supply PHCN with gas on credit (most of our power stations are gas-powered). But the moment these companies had more profitable commitments, the agreement crumbled and darkness came flying back. Some say because oil and gas majors cut off gas supply owing to debts by PHCN that refuse to stop pilling up. So I came to the conclusion that gas (due to instability in its supply) is not the answer to our electricity problem in Nigeria.

So I asked myself: “Does it mean that in all my years of sojourn in this life I will never experience continuous uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria?

I also asked myself what I would say if incoming president Muhammadu Buhari should call me and ask: Charlie, how can we hope to get stable electricity supply in this country? I think I would say, “Stop relying only on gas.” But what alternative source of energy would I propose? Let’s look at some possibilities.

Nuclear energy: Some folks have said we should adopt nuclear energy because it is clean and efficient. The government has even flirted with going that route severally. I hope they are joking. Nuclear energy is not something we should contemplate not now not ever. Why?

Do you know what can happen if there is a simple accident in a nuclear power plant? No be only those wey dey inside go dey affected. I fear nuclear power plants because if there is an accident inside it, the radioactive cloud and deposits may spread thyroid cancer to a lot of people even far away. Go ask the people of Chernobyl, Ukraine. In fact, square kilometers of green forest trees suddenly turned red and died. No, nuclear power is not for Nigeria.

Solar power: My quarrel (for now) with this source of power is that it is still very expensive, in fact three times as costly as producing power through gas turbines. So no no fro me.

Hydro power: Yes, it doesn't require the burning of gas, but its results are not always predictable. Take Uganda for instance, that built a hydro scheme on the River Nile some time ago.The dam under-performed. They built a second dam and the result was a dangerous fall in the water levels of Lake Victoria, the source of livelihood and fish for 20 million East Africans. So I say no for now.

Coal power: This is the most logical solution to the power problem in our country. You ask me why I say so.Simply because coal is so abundant in Nigeria, I wonder why we aren't using it for electricity.

You need to go look at the abandoned coal mines in Enugu. Coal is still there in large quantities and has even been discovered in other parts of Nigeria. But why has the Federal Government shied away from using coal to try put an end to our power problem? This cold feet on the part of the Federal Government is a national scandal,considering the fact that coal currently supplies 40 percent of the world’s electricity needs!

Look, coal supplies 39% of U.S electricity; 80 percent of China’s electricity; 45% of Germany’s electricity… and I can go on and on.

It is sad that Nigeria,which has extreme problems supplying gas to its gas stations has a stubborn policy of relying only on natural gas for electricity.

I hope if President Buhari were to call me for my advice and I gave him the suggestion to diversify into coal he would latch unto it and not disregard it.
http://shipsandports.com.ng/how-long-shall-we-continue-in-darkness/

The shocking quote below shows how the fellow ChinenyeN views the Igbo race. Can we trust the imputs of such a person that thinks so lowly of our ethnic group? See the abominable post below.

ChinenyeN: "Igbo" is the product of European conceptualization.

Source: [url]https://www.nairaland.com/1083307/igbo-tribe-nation
[/url]

ChinenyeN: Well, the discussion doesn't seem particularly geared toward history. If we were discussing history though, then I would agree. "Igbo" is the product of European conceptualization. Regardless of the history, what seems evident right now is that irrespective of how an individual or a community may feel, the "Igbo" classification has become an established ethnic group.

How dare you call my ethnic group a product of European conceptualization?

@ ladionline
You and Macof seem to be running an intellectual marathon battle/debate across several threads. I'm munching my pop corn as I watch and learn from two scholars.

ladionline: ^^^@Belltwelve, thanks so much for the positive insight, our destinies are intertwined. You have stated "the sacred fact", all that go on here will continue forever, but your single post above hold the truth. Mind you, I don't pray that this stops, or that people should take to your 'ultimate secret', it is more of competition here than anything else. It is the Arena, Every gladiator is scheming to win the issue at stake for personal believe system. I don't think we are looking for anything other to 'win', nobody want to be a loser and all cannot win. The winner must present the 'ultimate secret'. You are sort of a winner, are you me?

Wow! well what can I say? ladionline has cemented his spot as one of the main in-house authorities on Yoruba history which he views mainly from an etymological perspective.
@ topic: Igbos and Yorubas have many similarities that should be studied to enhance cooperation. Scientia cum art vincit tenebras.

I'm not Yoruba, but I'm enjoying this deep intellectual discourse.@ ladionline, kudos for your thought provoking series of threads.

My own 2 cents is that if the Yoruba can decipher the meaning of the name Oduduwa, then they have the key to their origins; and that move to decipher this mystery should transcend Nigeria.

It should be a look towards the Maghribian and Middle Eastern cultural regions. A look to times long past.

If the participants of this thread continue with energy, they may find something.

@ ladionline
The truth is that the town of Ife today is culturally rich in a way that few African cities/kingdoms are, and that is because of the rich history of the town and the way the Oonis and the people (the Yoruba of Ife) have defended Yoruba love for culture by recognizing Ife itself as a cultural artefact that should be constantly polished and displayed to the world without unimportant digressions.

None can contend the fact that Ife resembles Rome in embracing culture.

To them, culture is for celebration. No wonder the Osun-Oshogbo Festival became a World Heritage Site, and was embraced the great European mind, Susan Wenger. The Ife people don't have time for looking at the small picture? Once they see culture they champion it. That is civilization.

That is why Ife itself cannot be ignored.

You said are not from Ife. Susan Wenger was a white lady, but she was so engrossed with Ife history and culture that the Yorubas of Ife adopted her as one of them. So we can not only choose to study Ife, we can also replicate what the Ife people are doing today in their area led by Ooni in our our own areas.

@ ladionline
My brother you are a true intellectual; one that is unafraid of intellectual meeting of minds and debates. That is the sign of a scientifically inclined mind.

ifyalways: I actually wanted to take the thread serious until I read that IGBO's were the original inhabitants of Ile Ife.

Mischief makers.

Who are the Yoruba? Source: http://www.yorubaalliance.org/Newsletter/newsletter74.htm

As published by National Association of Yoruba Descendants in North America



The first obvious answer to this question is that the Yoruba are a nationality, numbering over 25 million, the majority of whom live in the South Western part of Nigeria in West Africa. Obvious as this answer is, it is not wholly explanatory, and certainly, it is not without its own controversy.

The Yoruba are a black people, of Negro stock and they speak a common language, Yoruba, which belongs to the Kwa group of the Niger-Congo language family. Yoruba is a dialect continuum, i.e. it has many dialects, and the dialect at one end of the continuum is not intelligible to speakers at another end of the continuum, which is why the Ondo dialect is not immediately understandable by someone from say, Lagos or Oyo. If you travel from one part of Yoruba land to another, you will notice slight differences in accent, word for items, etc. The Yoruba are a well urbanized group with genius in arts as symbolized in the famous “Ife Bronzes”. The Yoruba people are also found in neighboring Togo, Benin Republic. Because of the slave trade, the Yoruba can also be found in other parts of the world, including Brazil, Cuba, Trinidad, and the United States.

What makes the Yoruba a nationality, or a nation, not a tribe or clan, and how does one then mark a distinction between Yorubaland and Nigeria? To this last question, there is no better answer than the one provided by Obafemi Awolowo in 1947, to which a later section of this presentation will return. For now, it is necessary to answer the question: “Who are the Yoruba?” by focussing on some critical moments in Yoruba history and thought. Let us address these and other issues by focussing on some critical moments in Yoruba history.

The Oduduwa Dynasty and the Founding of the Nation.

Oduduwa is the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba. There are two variants of the story of how he achieved this feat. The first is cosmogonic, the second, political. The cosmogonic version also has two variants. According to the first variant of the cosmogonic myth, Orisanla (Obatala) was the arch-divinity who was chosen by Olodumare, the supreme deity to create a solid land out of the primordial waters that constituted the earth and of populating the land with human beings. He descended from heaven on a chain, carrying a small snail shell full of earth, palm kernels and a five-toed chicken. He was to empty the content of the snail shell on the water after placing some pieces of iron on it, and then to place the chicken on the earth to spread it over the primordial water. According to the first version of the story, Obatala completed this task to the satisfaction of Olodumare. After creating land, he planted the palm kernels, growing a palm tree with sixteen branches - the original sixteen kings of Yoruba land. Obatala was then given the task of making the physical body of human beings after which Olodumare would give them the breath of life. He also completed this task and this is why he has the title of “obarisa” the king of the orisa. When he completed the task of creating land, he called it “Ile Ife” “This wide / large land”. In this version of the story, Ile Ife is claimed as the ancestral home of the Yoruba.

The other variant of the cosmogonic myth does not credit Obatala with the completion of the task. While it concedes that Obatala was given the task, it avers that Obatala got drunk even before he got to the earth and he was unable to do the job. Olodumare got worried when he did not return on time, and he had to send Oduduwa to find out what was going on. When Oduduwa found Obatala drunk, he simply took over the task and completed it. He created land. The spot on which he landed from heaven and which he redeemed from water to become land is called Ile-Ife and is now considered the sacred and spiritual home of the Yoruba. Obatala was embarrassed when he woke up and, due to this experience, he made it a taboo for any of his devotees to drink palm wine. Olodumare forgave him and gave him the responsibility of molding the physical bodies of human beings. The making of land is a symbolic reference to the founding of the Yoruba kingdoms, and this is why Oduduwa is credited with that achievement (Idowu, 1962).

According to the second version of the myth, there was a pre-existing civilization at Ile-Ife prior to its invasion by a group led by Oduduwa. This group came from the east, where Oduduwa and his group had been persecuted on the basis of religious differences. They came to Ile-Ife and fought and conquered the pre-existing Igbo (unrelated to the present Igbo) inhabitants led by Oreluere (Obatala). Obviously, there is a connection between the two versions of the story. The political one may be the authentic story of the founding of Ife kingdom through conquest. However, the myth of creation lends it a legitimacy that is denied by the conquest story; just as it appears that it is lent some credence by the fact that, as a result of the embarrassment it caused their deity, the followers of Obatala are forbidden from taking palm wine. Indeed the second version of the cosmogonic myth also appears to foreshadow the political variant. The claim that Obatala got drunk and the task of creation had to be performed by Oduduwa already has some political coloration which is now explicit in the political version of the tradition.

What is crucial in both variants of the story is the role of Oduduwa as the founder of the Yoruba nation which is why the name cannot be forgotten. Oduduwa is the symbol of the nation, the rallying point for all those who subscribe to the Yoruba identity. The name Yoruba itself, according to historians Smith, Atanda and others, was fixed on us by our northern neighbors and later popularized by colonial publications. Before then, “Anago”, was used to refer to most of the people called Yoruba today. “Anago” also the name by which some Yoruba in the present Benin Republic and others in the new world still use to refer to themselves, A common origin and language, as well as common political and religious cultures made the Yoruba a nation long before any contact with Europeans and the advent of colonialism.

Moremi ‘s Patriotism and the Survival of the Nation

Upon the death of Oduduwa, there was a dispersal of his children from Ife to found other kingdoms. These original founders of the Yoruba nation included Olowu of Owu (son of Oduduwa’s daughter), Alaketu of Ketu (son of a princess), Oba of Benin, Oragun of Ila, Onisabe of Sabe, Olupopo of Popo, and Oranyan of Oyo. Each of them made a mark in the subsequent urbanization and consolidation of Yoruba confederacy of kingdoms, with each kingdom tracing its origin to Ile-Ife.

[b]After the dispersal, the aborigines, the Igbo, became difficult, and constituted a serious threat to the survival of Ife. Thought to be survivors of the old occupants of the land before the arrival of Oduduwa, these people now turned themselves into marauders. They would come to town in costumes made of raffia with terrible and fearsome appearances, and the Ife people would flee. Then the Igbo would burn down houses and loot the markets. Then came Moremi on the scene - like Deborah of the Old Testament. When no man could dare the Igbos, Moremi asked the Esinminrin river for help and promised to give offerings if she could save her people. The orisa told her to allow herself to be captured and to understudy the Igbo people. She did, and discovered that these were not spirits; only people with raffia for dress. She escaped, and taught her people the trick. The next time that Igbo people came to sack the town, the townspeople set fire on their raffia costumes, and they were roundly defeated. Moremi then had to go back to Esinminrin to thank the gods. Every offering she offered was refused. On divination, she was told that she had to give Oluorogbo, her only son. She did. The lesson of Moremi is the lesson of patriotism and selflessness. The reward may not be reaped in one’s life time. Moremi passed on and became a member of the Yoruba pantheon . The Edi festival celebrates the defeat of the Igbo and the sacrifice of Oluorogbo till today. [/b]

Synopsis: Ok. The first thing as I said earlier is to be elected Mogajji of your compound. Then you enter the most junior post/title or step called Jagun.

The steps to take are simply to wait as higher chiefs join there ancestors, which is akin to a crown prince waiting for his dad mum to pass on, so that he can become monarch .

As that happens you climb the higher steps. Averagely it takes about 35 years to complete the 23 steps (not 10(my bad).

For instance, it took the present Olubadan, Oba Odunalan 35 years to rise from the 'humble' step-title of Jagun to the eminent position of Olubadan . The 23rd and last step before you become Olubadan is Balogun, who is the Olubadan in waiting. This is after step 22 (Otun Olubadan or Otun Balogun).

Advice: politics is a very short route to becoming Olubadan: former governors Rashid Ladoja is currently Ashipa , which means he is in step 20 (wow), just 3 steps to the royal crown. Former strongman of Ibadan politics, Lamidi Adedibu died as Akerun or Ekarun- step 18.

For more details read this article click http://okebadan..com/2007/08/olubadan-oba-samuel-odulana-dr-his.html. It contains the 23 steps or titles on table 1.

Gimmie sometime. I have a book on the issue. Will find it and give you the titles, but it may not contain too much detail on the steps. Will see if I can find an Ibadan person to consult.

To become Olubadan, you first have to be to be elected by your extended family compound to represent them in the council of Ibadan High Chiefs.

There are two groups in the Council of High Chiefs: either you join the Balogun group or you join the Otun group. Each group has about 10 chiefs. From there you begin to climb the ladder.

With luck it may one day be your turn to become Olubadan . But the first step is to win the respect of your family compound in order to be elected by them, and to do that you have to be of high moral, economic, etc., standards. Hope this helps.

Post source: http://www.igbodefender.com/2013/11/18/the-oluyares-the-igbo-aborigines-of-ife-who-still-live-there/
@ ladionline

Were these people the early inhabitants of Ife? Yes they were the aborigines of Ife.

Where did they come from, and why were they send away? These Igbos came from Igboland in the old times, after the amicable resolution of a long lasting quarel in Eri's royal household.

Were they the folks that gave us Yoruba language? No, but every language including Igbo is the result of a cross fertilization with other languages. For instance, in Olukumi which is spoken in Aniocha in Anioma, 'market' is called 'oza'.. In Yoruba it is 'oja'. Olukumi is the ancient language of these peoples even though a lot of them wont be able to speak it today.

Are you insinuating that Igbos are the rightful owners of Yorubaland? No, the Yorubas are now the owners of the land, hence Yorubaland, as a result of Oduduwa's conquest and Moremi's contribution. But Igbos were the aboriginal (meaning original) owners before that conquest. Read Yoruba history on Moremi, a Yoruba heroine in those times.

Did the Yoruba language also belong to the Igbo? No, Yoruba language is Yoruba language. Igbo language is Igbo language. They may be related but none belongs to the other.

Were these Ife Igbos the same as today Igbos in the east? Yes, as I told you earlier,deep in the Igbo part of Delta State today there are some people that speak Olukumi, a language that has so many similarities with Yoruba language because of the historical contacts (trade and wars) these Igbos had with the Yorubas during the Oduduwa and Moremi eras.

Today these Oluyares complete the historical tapestry of the people of today's Ife, one of the most interesting cities in the world because of its 'never dull' history, and cultural focus.

...or you are plotting eastern Igbo in the midst of Yoruba historical hub? The past will always remain the past but cannot be brought back. So relax, nobody is 'plotting eastern Igbo in the midst of Yoruba historical hub' as you put it and to the best of my knowledge.

So thank you for your intellectual challenge and lets discuss this history further, and challenge any assumptions with cogent facts.

Unknown to many, not all the Igbo aborigines of Ife followed Prince Chima, later Eze Chima out to their Anioma/Benin axis/ was sold into slavery to make up today’s Lucumi of the Americas/ assimilated into the culture of the Yorubas.

Some remain today in Ife, and are known as Iwinrin, Oluyare or Igare.

Kudos to the Yorubas who have encouraged peaceful coexistence with the Oluyare Igbos.

These Igbos live around Iwinrin, which has been described by Yoruba elders as Igbo town, and their chief is called Obawinrin.

They still play a very important role in Ife culture today, including in the famous Itapa Festival.

The Obawinrin is appointed by the Ooni of Ife.

Remember we have told you a lot about the Olukumis who followed Prince Chima, and we have also told you about the ones that were sold by their conquerors into slavery. We have told you that some of them remained and assimilated into the Yoruba race. These Oluyares are the ones that still maintain a presense in Ife till today.

OP should stop stereotyping because every tribe has both polite and ill-mannered people.

Haiti as a great country.

This is a country that liberated a whole continent from slavery and doubled the size of the United States as a legacy of their independence war.

Bravo Haiti, you are great.

The government, Nairalanders and Nigerians should immortalize this 27 year old unmarried man that gave his life for such a noble cause. A young 27 year old man who died from wounds he got saving a baby from fire. RIP. See new [url]igbodefender.com[/url] blog name.

Congrats to Anichebe.

According to Equianoism (see Igbodefender.com) Eri Ben Gad the founder of the Igbo race named the race he formed with Nubian chieftains Heebo, after his original people, the Hebrews. If others called the Igbos by this name, it is because of ancient interactions between them and the Igbos, for example the Yorubas in the time of Moremi.

According to Igbodefender.com,the Aniomas are the Igbos whom the Yorubas say were pre-existing in Ile Ife when they first came there. The Aniomas are Igbos.

Wow! this is great news. http://www.igbodefender.com/blog/2013/05/24/janet-jackson-now-a-billionaire/

Greetings Igbodefenders:
We are to observe a moment of silence for the late Guardian of the Igbo Truth, Chinualumogu Albert Achebe, by 12 minutes past 12 pm, on Monday, March 25, 2013, wherever we are in the world. Please don't forget.

@ Kabiyessiii
History clearly states that the Igbos were the Aborigines of Ile Ife - FACT - so stop trying to rewrite history here.