Ancho: Mada’s old and new Fountain of Life

By Hir Joseph, Lafia | Publish Date: May 24 2015 4:01AM
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The snaky, dirt road takes off from Andaha, off the Akwanga-Fadan Karshi-Jos Road, and runs just few kilometres to Ancho, at the foot of the famous Mada Hills in Akwanga Local Government Area.
Four sleepy villages and adjoining hamlets of between two and four compounds line up there, but the popular ones are Numa village, which is neatly tucked in-between one of the famous mountains, and a flatland that enables visibility to as far as kilometres; and Anji village, from where rooftops of Ancho could be sighted by the visitor when the weather is clear.
The rocks keep appearing and disappearing along a journey that should not last half an hour if the government of Nasarawa State did not abandon the multi-million naira road construction project that was initiated in 2010. The mountains and the flatland appear like they are inviting visitors to these areas, independent of the inhabitants, whose welcoming disposition has the ability of compelling the first time visitor to stop at every turn for pleasantries. The sight of livestock running into the dirt roads from the usually large compounds of thatched huts, and women, some of them with children strapped to their backs and loads on their heads found along footpaths leading to the farms; as well as men on bicycles conveying farm produce, or kegs of freshly tapped palm wine tell much about the simple dwelling that is the people of Ningha’an.

Seven clans make up Ningha’an. They are Ancho, Arum, Anji, Pampam, Numa, and Nidam, according to the people. Ningha’an is just a part of Mada, one of the major ethnicities in a state with over 24 different ethnic groups. They are the original inhabitants of Akwanga Local Government, north of the state, but they are also found in large numbers in other local government areas, including Keffi, Kokona, Karu; just as they are found in large numbers in the neighbouring Kaduna State.
 This people, who belong to the Niger-Congo family, according to Professor Emmanuel Samu Dandaura, and Amin Zaigi Ngharen, whose 142-page book “Mada People and Culture” traces the migration of the people, are also found in large numbers in certain locations in western Cameroon on the border with Nigeria.
The road through some of the communities that make up the clans of Ningha’an appear at every turn like a close, with what looks like an end at the foot of every mountain. But as the journey continues, the visitor finds oneself on a road that will only snake round to leave the mountains behind. To get to Ancho, at the end of the long stretch of clans, three of these mountains will have to be put behind to complete the journey on a road that will eventually put Ancho behind too, to take the visitor to the neighbouring Kaduna State.
There is hardly government presence in these parts of the state. There is a block of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)-funded health clinic along the road; just as there is a Government Secondary School (GSS), and a Local Government-run primary school, but the existence of these facilities are at the mercy of politics. The clinic, especially, has not seen patients in years because the health facility itself is sick. It lacks drugs and personnel, according to two staff spoken to during our visit.
“People don’t come here. They can’t get treatment where there are no drugs. The personnel hardly report to work because there is no work to do,” one of the health workers there said.
The only secondary school in the area is a four-block building with  six classrooms but much of that  is said to be the communal efforts of the community and philanthropy from Dr. John Michael Abdul, a prominent figure in the state, who hails from Ancho.
At certain turns, the visitor will run into construction vehicles abandoned during the earth work on the road in 2010. They are the relics of that abandoned project.   
The primary school, called RCM (Roman Catholic Missionary) Primary School has eight classrooms in two functional blocks, and is doing well, according to the villagers. The two blocks were provided by Dr. Abdul, who is a product of the school.
Only the block which made up RCM Primary School, at establishment in 1950 to remain there, just besides the two functional blocks. His personal secretary,
The school was taken over by the government during the military rule and is run by Akwanga Local Government Council.                  
Eighty-eight year-old Mama Blessing Gambo recalled her days as a maiden in Ancho. Telling the story of her childhood felt like been transported back in time, some decades ago. She said was among the many children of the community who climbed two kilometres up a mountain, to fetch water from a natural spring. Today, her grandchildren drink from the same water source, but at their doorsteps, as the spring water has been harvested and piped down to Ancho from the mountain top.
Piping the natural spring water about two kilometres down the foot of the Ancho Mountain required ingenuity. No electricity is involved in this project as Ancho and the many surrounding communities do not have such luxury. But the people and their neighbours now enjoy uninterrupted supply of clean water to the envy of urban centres including Lafia, Akwanga and Keffi; even Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In Ancho, the people have water taken right to their door-steps through a gravity system that does not require electricity.
It took days to lay the pipes, this reporter learnt from villagers during a recent visit. The project has clocked two years, and Ancho people have not recorded a day without water since the execution. The community has had only one experience since the execution of the project: Nomads herded their cattle across the pipelines, trampling and breaking the pipelines in the process.
“One afternoon, water suddenly stopped running. We traced the pipelines to discover it was broken at a point not too far from the source,” said Mr. Sunday Gambo, the village head as he led this reporter to the top of the mountain where the spring water cascades.
The spring water has three sources within metres of each other. The community’s women used to climb the mountain to this point to fetch.
“But Dr. John Michael Abdul told us one day that ‘look, I have an idea; our wives and mothers and daughters will not climb the mountain again to fetch water. God has blessed me with an idea which will take this water to the community,” the community leader said.
He pointed at a construction and said: “That is the point where the spring water was harvested, and piped down to us at the foot of the mountain.”
Two of the three sources were harvested, leaving the third to run for the consumption of animals, including cattle as those mountains form part of the greenbelt cherished by grazers.
The construction is a large chamber which the village leaders said was dug almost 10 feet down, and about six feet wide, enough to harvest good quantity of the spring water and channel the content through the two-kilometre long pipeline, down into two large overhead tanks placed at the village square. The overhead tanks, serving as reservoirs, were placed on a construction that had raised them to roof-heights, such that it became easy for the content to flow naturally through another stretch of pipes, to a platform provided with four outlets to serve community members without them having to queue. There is also another stretch of pipes from the reservoirs drawing down the water to another platform provided for washing.
This reporter observed that the reservoirs were overflowing with water all through the period the visit lasted in the village. Ancho community youth leader, Gando cut in with explanations: “We have no control of the natural abundance of the water from the spring source. It flows from the ground all year round, without stopping. And the reservoirs cannot collect all of the water coming from the source, even if thousands are provided. So they overflow with excess water.”
He said periodically, the community empties the reservoirs and clean them up in the chain of maintenance that goes with the supply.
The youth leader, whose team of youths are saddled with the responsibility of supervising the utilization of the project for the purpose of reporting to the village head, said the community protects the project with zeal which has made Ancho an envy of Nigeria’s big cities.
Mama Blessing, the octogenarian who happens to be the oldest member of the community alive to give the narrative of Ancho’s earlier days, said she has not much to say. “I have lived this long to tell this story. Our people could not move far from these mountains because of that water source you just visited,” Mama Blessing said. “We never thought it is possible for us to get water without climbing the mountains. Today, that is possible because we have a son that cares. He has our blessings to go places.”
The journey through Ningha’an clans is like the journey through history. It is like a contact with the ancestry of a proud people.
There are no dates mentioned as the narrative depends wholly on oral tradition. But the people of these areas hold strong reasons to believe that those mountains are the ancestral roots of the Mada.
Two major traditions are held among the people, but with questions from scholars. The first holds that the people migrated from Medina in the present day Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The second is that they migrated from Madawa, in Camaroon, to settle where they are presently.
“These traditions lack sufficient details about their reasons, causes, routes and experiences of the migrating group on their way to the final place of abode,”  Amin Zaigi Ngharen said in a feature article published in Nzeh, a Mada magazine. Titled: “Historical Perspective of the Mada People and the Concept of Unity,” the article from the co-author of “Mada People and Culture” says there are ample evidences to suggest that the Mada may be the direct descendants of the makers of the Nok civilization.
Mr. Sunday Gambo, the village head of Ancho told this reporter that the Mada mountains where Ancho is a key location, served as a fortress against invasions because of the thick forests there, and the height of the rocks.
He believes that the Mada finally settled in this area, from their migration from Cameroon after surviving several enemies.
“The search for fertile land brought our ancestors to this place,” he said. “The Mada are a peaceful people; they chose these mountains to shield them from hostilities, since they were not prepared to fight with anybody. The rocks and the thick forest shielded them from attacks. They stayed here together, and expanded on to other places.”
He said: “The Othman Danfodio men came attacking. But these mountains served as a shield for us.” He was referring to the Fulani Islamic scholar, who started a jihad in 1801.
Amin Zaigi Ngharen’s article corroborates the village head’s later account of the security measure. “The Mada found security in forests as a result of conflicts with other competitors and enemies.”
The writer says “The Chun - forest (protector) therefore became a binding force among them.”