EGWU OGBA FESTIVAL (THE EGI NEW YAM FESTIVAL)

The Announcement of Egi New Yam Festival, in commensuration of the date fixing the Paramount Ruler of the Erema Community HRH Eze Azubuike Georgewill JP, The Eze Ali Erema Ukwu, Paramount Ruler Ancient Kingdom in conjunction with Eze Amala and HRM King Prof. U A Nwokoma, Eze Ogba Ukwu III today in Erema Central playground (Anama Orji) announced the Egwu Ogba new yam festival to hold on the 12th August 2019. The Eze Ali Erema Ukwu as usual promised to host all Rivers State stakeholders at his palace come 12th August 2019

The AMA-Ali

The Egi new-yam festival is a longtime practice of the Egi ancient kingdom to showcase her rich cultural heritage to promote unity , peace and cleansing without the involvement of human sacrifice.


This New yam festival it’s known for showcasing of foods and farm produce, where visitors across visit to witness the historic event every August in every year.
The festival is marked by the cleaning fire called Njo-oje, Njo-otua which commonly translates the eradication of evil practices such as witchcraft, stealing, prostitution. Etc by the fire.

HRM King, Prof. A.U Nwokoma

The Egi group comprises about seventeen communities with a history of natural resources. The Erema , Ogbogu , Akabuka , Obagi , Oboburu , Obite , Ede, Egita , Akabuta , Obiyebe, Obukegi, Obiozinini , Ohahi-elu , Itu , Ibewa, Communities etc is famous for the production of natural crude for oil and gas and ceramic wares
because of the vast deposit of natural clay

Women group on preparation display

Ali-Egi in Ogbaland speak the Ogba language, a dialect of mixed Igbo language, consisting of the Egi and Igburu Sections.

The Egi’ speaks one dialect with no difference with each other, having a combine population of about 282,000 people. It is located in the central Orashi-Sombreiro plains of Rivers State, Nigeria. It is one of the major producers of the OIL that powers Nigeria’s economic development in recent decades. According to current oil company records, no local government in Nigeria produces as much crude oil and gas as the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni (ONELGA) local government


BRIEF DETAIL OF OGBA

Ogba, also called the Ogbah,is a tribe in Northern Rivers state. They speak Ogba an Igboid language, situated in the extreme south-west of Igboland, in the modern Rivers State of Nigeria. The Ogba people comprise fourteen extended families divided into clans, and occupy an area of about 600 km² in the Niger flood plain.

Aligu-Alinso okanu is an Ogba clan. The Egi group comprises seventeen communities with a history of natural resources. Oboburu community is famous for the production of pottery and ceramic wares  because of the vast deposit of natural clay. A study conducted in Ogbogu located in one of the largest oil producing regions of Nigeria has utilized two plant species to clean up spills. The first stage of cleanup involves Hibiscus cannabinus.

As a result of the oil industry, Ali-Ogba(Ogba Kingdom) has undergone significant political, social, economic and environmental changes during the past several decades. However, despite its image as one of the main contributors to the wealth of Nigeria, there is a lot of poverty in many communities resulting from unemployment, under-employment, low wage jobs and deterioration of the natural resource base.

At the same time that Ali-Ogba makes very significant contributions to the country's economy, this oil producing area has remained economically marginalized and left in the backwaters of the country's socio-economic and political development. This poses dilemmas for Ali-Ogba people. For example, while the oil industry in Ali-Ogba creates jobs and wealth, these benefits are not equally accessible to many Ogba people and many other Rivers state communities, compared to other Nigerians. This state of affairs in the oil producing communities of Rivers state prompted the Governor, Dr. Odili to speak out this past February urging oil firms to stop giving employment to non-natives at the expense of the indigenes of the areas of their operation. In the Governor's own words.