NZEH MADA : A Reflection on MADA peoplle and their culture

Nzeh Mada: A Reflection On A People and Their Culture By Obed Minchakpu

The Easter period of every year has now become a significant period for the Mada people of central Nigeria. This is because in the past two years, this ethnic nationality has had to celebrate its age-long cultural festival, the Nzeh Mada Festival, that had for decades been abandoned due to intractable leadership crisis in the land. However, with the resolution of the leadership crisis by the Nasarawa State Government two years ago, the cultural festival was revived and the second edition was held in the month of April last year at Akwanga, a town in Nasarawa State. This festival attracted attendance from not only the people of Mada ethnic extraction but also from many persons of high standing from different parts of Nigeria. Among the dignitaries at the event last year were the Nasarawa State Governor, Alhaji Tanko Almakura, and other very important personalities like Mr. Labaran Maku, a former Minister of Information, Alhaji Yusuf Agabi, a former Director in one the federal ministries; Group Captain Zakka Rabo Zaggi, a former Airforce Officer, Mike Abdul, a former Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Dameshi Luka, yet another former Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State; Silas Agara, the current Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, and other dignitaries like Prof, Onje Gye-Wado, a law professor, and a also a former Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State; and, Solomon Ewuga, another former Minister. This is apart from traditional rulers from different ethnic groups within and outside Nasarawa State. Furthermore, other notable personalities who also graced the events are Prof. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, Executive Secretary, National Institute For Cultural Orientation (NICO) and many others from all strata of Nigeria's cultural spectrum. Prof. Ayakoroma, who was the Guest Speaker at the event, presented a paper titled: "Developing a Festival Brand: Towards a Blueprint for Nzeh Mada in Nasarawa State." The festival was a weeklong event which had an exhibition of Mada Cultural artifacts, a Colloquium, a Gala nite, a street carnival known as "Bwar", and a Dinner nite, that brought many Mada families together. It was very interesting that many families living in cities like Lagos, Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, etc. had time to be in Akwanga to participate in the festival. Having witnessed and participated in the festival, I deemed it appropriate to highlight some of the issues that were the focal points of the events, share my thoughts about some views expressed by some personalities during the event, and reflect on the positive aspect of the festival. In so doing, I will be contributing to the ideas that may assist the organizers of the festival by creating a festival brand that will attract not only local and national attention, but will also draw attention from across the world. I believe that the Nzeh Mada Festival has the potential of becoming a major festival brand in Nigeria's tourism industry and can meaningfully contribute to the efforts being made towards building a strong and virile national economy for our country. The first event of the festival was the exhibition that began on Tuesday, 31st March, 2015 and ended Sunday, 5th April, 2015. And as the exhibition lasted, many Mada artifacts were on display. The Curator, Dr. Solomon Manzunche of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, was at hand to interact with Guests and visitors to the exhibition. He articulately introduced the items on display and their usage in the past by Mada people. The exhibition was no doubt, Mada History and Culture on display. This is very commendable and should be sustained. Efforts should be made to carry out archeological excavation of ancient Mada settlements so that more of such artifacts can be found. These excavated sites would also, no doubt become tourist sites in the future if undertaken. More so, visits to such sites would boost the rural economy of Mada people living around such settlements. Of significance too, is the need to get the services of archeology departments in our various universities towards this direction. The purpose is not only to uncover more Mada artifacts, but to also date them so that we get to understand and appreciate the level(s) of development of our people in ancient past. One other significant event at the 2015 Nzeh Mada Festival is the Colloquium which held on Friday, 3rd April, 2015. During the Colloquium, Prof. Ayakoroma, presented a paper that dwelt on a Blueprint for developing a festival brand. His paper touched on the theme of the festival: "Festival of Reconciliation and Consolidation." Prof. Ayakoroma in his paper said, "The theme of this year's Nzeh Mada Festival, "Festival of Reconciliation and Consolidation," is very apt, considering the wave of ethnic and inter-ethnic clashes in many parts of the country." In other to do justice to the paper, the learned Professor first set out to define terms used in the paper which include: "Ethnicity, ethnic nationality or group, festivals, socio-economic development and branding." Ayakoroma, in summation, defines these terms thus: "Ethnicity is the state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition. On the other hand, an ethnic group or ethnic nationality is a section of the population, which by virtue of sharing common cultural characteristics, separate the people from others within that population. People are all acculturated or socialized into the ethnic groups they belong. In other words, it is a group of people having common language and cultural values. These common values are enhanced through continuous interaction between the people, who make up the group; and the ethnic groups are created mainly through inter-marriages, inter-mingling or assimilation." These definitions clearly set the stage for a proper appreciation of the paper. Having defined these terms, Ayakoroma went on to disclosed that there are well, "over 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, with over 500 distinct languages indigenous to the people." He was quick to however, explain that: "What one understands from all of these is that the actual number of ethnic groups in Nigeria is not definitive. Somehow, the ethnic groups are further divided into majority and minority ethnic groups." Ayakoroma lists the majority ethnic groups as: Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. His list of the minority ethnic groups include: Bini, Egbira, Ibibio, Idoma, Ijaw, Ikwerre, Jukun, Kanuri, Nupe, Tiv, and Urhobo. The Professor also while focusing on Nasarawa State, lists the Mada, Agatu, Aho, Alago, Chesu, Eggon, Gbagyi, Gwandara, Kantana, Rindre, and Migili, as also belonging to the group of minority ethnic groups in Nigeria. One issue raised in Prof. Ayakoroma's paper that I disagreed with while contributing to the discussion on his paper at the event, is his claim that a significant feature of minority ethnic groups is that they are prone to being antagonistic. Let me quote him here: "Tension and conflicts are regularly manifest amongst minority ethnic nationalities. The minority ethnic nationalities are more dangerous than the major ethnic nationalities, because the activities of the big ones can easily be monitored, while smaller ethnic minorities cannot easily be figured out; some of them are hardly known outside their domains. When such conflicts erupt, their consequences are grave and very difficult to manage," Prof. Ayakoroma said. I do not subscribe to this view, as doing so would amount to stereotyping minority ethnic nationalities. Conflicts are not the exclusive preserve of persons of minority ethnic extractions, as every human creation has the instinct of becoming violent. It is because of this that one of the commandments God gave to Moses is that: "Thou shall not kill." I will rather say that, the domineering and oppressive nature of most of the majority ethnic nationalities has been the main factor that has contributed to the violent attributes of the minority ethnic groups. In Physics, one of Newton's laws of motion states that, "For every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction." We can comfortably say here that when a people group is pushed to the wall, there is no doubt that persons from such a people group can react violently against those oppressing them. Further more, we know that the Newton's law of motion quoted above correlates with Marxist philosophy, a philosophy whose tenets are anchored on inspiring a movement of workers towards propelling them to become the vanguards of the revolution of the oppressed against capitalist bourgeoisie. The workers as the mobilizing force of the oppressed are catalysts to revolutionary changes not because of their violent nature, but because oppression has forced them to become a force that can propel such a revolution against the oppressors. While It is true that there are times minority ethnic nationalities are pitched against each other in conflict situations, but I completely disagree with Prof. Ayakoroma that this is a phenomenon that is restricted to minority ethnic groups. The fact is, majority ethnic nationalities do also have conflicts between them, and most often, drag minority ethnic groups into such conflicts. For instance, during Nigeria's first republic, the political class in northern Nigeria engaged themselves in a class struggle for political power with the political class in the south east geo-political zone, when the first military coup d'état was staged by a group of Igbo military officers led by Major Chukwuma Ezeogwu. It was this conflict between the Hausa/ Fulani and the Igbo military political classes from the two majority ethnic nationalities that brought about the outbreak of hostilities that led to the Nigerian/Biafran war. The sad thing is that ethnic minorities were dragged into the war too. Against this backdrop therefore, the attempt by Ayakoroma to isolate violence as an attribute of minority ethnic nationalities cannot be accepted as a serious treatise on cause(s) of ethno-religious violence in Nigeria. In spite of the disagreement with Ayakoroma on this vital issue raised in his paper, I still agree with him that cultural festivals have the ability to become catalysts for positive development. For instance, the Nzeh Mada festival, as earlier mentioned, can become a tool that can generate income for our people. When we have historical tourist sites, tourists who come to watch the Nzeh Mada can visit these sites and in doing so, can enrich our peasants through buying their wares like baskets, mats, pots, hoes and different items not commonly found elsewhere. Having said this, suffice it to stress that the Nzeh festival is a veritable tool for socio-economic and political development of the Mada nation. So also, the Nzeh Mada festival can also serve as an instrument of social cohesion and unity of the Mada ethnic nationality. This too, can become a tool for the rejuvenation of our dying language. And this is possible if emphasis is laid on motivating our people to speak, write, and read in the Mada language. We must all note that our language is our symbol of cultural identity, it unveils our history as a people, and binds us together as one people under the banner of God. It is against this backdrop that I want to commend the organizing committee of this festival for doing us proud as a people by sustaining it. No doubt, as we continue to stage one festival after the other in years to come, our ethnic nationality would become the envy of others and a pride to generations of our children yet unborn. Best wishes as you all celebrate our cultural identity and uniqueness as as people living under the banner of God. Bless you all! 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