Nwonyo Fishing Festival: A Culture To Behold

By Nseobong Okon-Ekong & Anthony Elikene

Adamu is not the kind of person you can easily understand. He speaks to you on his own terms. To get the best out of him, it is better to allow him initiate the conversation. At once, he presents himself as an illiterate and a knowledgeable man.

His sentences are stringed together in a loose collection of rudimentary Pidgin English, there were many words he could not express in pidgin, but the next minute he would stun you by reading sign boards along the road correctly. We were travelling from Abuja, trying to get to Ibi in Taraba state to witness the Nwonyo Fishing Festival.

Flights to Yola in neighbouring Adamawa state were fully booked and going by road via Abuja was the only option. It was going to be a seven-hour journey that cost about N30,000. I was the only passenger in the Nissan saloon car. We left the Jabi park in Abuja at a few minutes after one in the afternoon. We drove through Nasarawa state.

Dusk was setting in by the time we got to Benue state. Much of the passage here was through the land of the Tivs and the Jukuns. The latter are essentially, the majority ethnic group on the other side of the border as we crossed Benue into Taraba state.

At this time of the year, the landscape is filled with bridges over dry river beds (you wonder where the water has gone). There are trees without leaves. It is evident that it has not rained here for a while. A few months ago, the scenario was different with bush burning heralding the advent of the planting season.

Yelwa-Shendam is the last major town in Benue before we make a detour. The major road into the town is known as S.O Lar Road. At a Y-forked junction, Adamu points out the roads leading to Jos and Langtang. We turn right to head for Ibi. Many times, the vehicle had screech to halt or make a dangerous swerve to avoid running into a herd of goats or stray pigs.

I had been warned before leaving Abuja that at the tail end of the journey, we would have to ride on a pontoon. But nothing prepared for what we encountered. As were neared the body of water, we left the tarred road completely and began to go round in circles. Adamu pointed at a lit settlement on the other side of the water, Ibi town! However, we had to surmount this obstacle.

It was dark already, safe for little illumination from mobile phones, the transaction was carried on in the dark. I would later learn that seafarers that lighting of any sort gets in the way of their work. “Girigi, girigi” was one of the often repeated words that caught my fancy. I was told it referred to the floating, wooden platform that ferried our vehicles and us across the water.

The pontoon could carry two cars on each trip. Each car paid N300 for the service, while each passenger had to part with N200. Our party was largely made of market women returning home from a trade expedition. The passage was supposed to be a N30-minute business, but it looked three hours, as the pontoon moved at the speed of a snail. As if to provide an unsolicited option, fireflies were everywere, covering our bodies.

Finally, we got into Ibi. By the river bank, the houses were mostly made of the light brown silt by the river. Inside Ibi town, there was no hotel worth its name. So we had to go to Wukari, the assumed capital of Jukun kingdom. It is Wukari that definitely reaps the gains of the Nwonyo festival. In the past eight years that the Nwonyo Fishing festival has been transformed from a local activity to an international event, Ibi, the town where it is held is yet to awaken to the gains that it can reap from a festival that attracts people from all over the country and the world to its domain.

The hotels in Wukari were fully booked. After some search we settled into a modest motel. It was Friday night and the only dancing bar, the Elim Graden was alive. One would have expected this type of joyous cacophony to happen at Ibi, but it did not happen. Much of the all-night carousing leading to the festival day took place in Wukari, which is about 20 minutes from Ibi. This proximity was a mutual advantage to both towns. On the festival day, transport by taxi which usually costs N200 had gone up to between N250 and N300. The drivers were making brisk business.

From the Wukari-Ibi Road, direction to the venue were adequate, a new visitor could not miss the instructions marked in fresh translucent papers. These were in addition to scores of men of the FRSC, Nigeria Police and the Civil Defense Corps on duty along the route. It is another five minutes drive on an untarred, earth road to the venue.

Expectedly, the atmosphere was that of a carnival. With throngs of people milling around, the main stand was cordoned off to protect the peace of VIP guests including Governor Danbaba Suntai and members of his cabinet seated in the area.

There were two other lavishly decorated large tents for members of the public who were comported enough to take a seat. In the main, people just moved around interacting with ubiquitous traders of sundry items all over the arena.

There was music and dance performed by members of the Taraba state cultural troupe and formations from the various local governments. There was a durbar (display on mounted horses)presentation and an entertaining session by Goge dancers from Wukari.

Yellow buntings, advertising the Nwonyo Fishing Festival main sponsor, MTN hung everywhere at and beyond the venue. MTN's regional marketing manager, Shehu Abubakar said his company's collaboration with the Taraba State government has improved the image of the festival from a local activity attended by communal chiefs to an international event witnessed by world class dignitaries.
The Nwonyo according to Abubakar is one of the 120 Nigerian festivals supported by MTN. "This is the essence of our people. This is is our life. This is our identity. This is our heritage. If we don't promote it to the world, nobody would do it for us.” MTN’s various products and services, particularly its new Pulse proposition to the youth segment, were on sale to customers.

Nigerians resident in the North East region of the country had the opportunity of participating in an SMS-based promo by MTN. They were asked to predict the biggest catch in kilograms. 

Abubakar would not say the exact extent of MTN’s financial commitment to the Nwonyo. But there is no doubt that it runs into millions of Naira taking into account its prizes for winners which include a joint donation of a Hilux vehicle along with the state government to the first prize winner. There were also motorcycles and electricity generators.

The main business of the day, the actual fishing expedition did not last up to 30 minutes. From the time Governor Danbaba left the podium to the river bank to declare it open, the audience did not have to wait for too long. In between, the scores of cultural entertainers took their turn, not spending more than five minutes for each troupe. The dances were still going on as the big catches were being assessed by members of the NYSC working with officials of the Taraba state Tourism Board.

Fishing was being done in teams. Each canoe had a team of two or three persons. There was a paddler of two and the man who threw the net. Considering this collaborative effort, it could be argued that the winning feat should not be devoted to a single person. Although, the thrower of the net is largely adjudged as the leader of the team and it could be argued that throwing the net for a catch required some skill, it is clear that if there is nobody working with him to keep an even keel, his effort would be abortive.

Mr. Yehuza Magaji, a personal assistant to the managing director, TRSB, Abdurazak Gidado Abubakar led to the team at the weigh-in point  identified the leading three catches as Nile Porch specie of fish. In Hausa, it is known as Giwa Ruwa. The biggest catch at the Nwonyo Festival 2012 was a 280kg fish caught by Hudu Yakubu who won a  Hilux Pick-up truck for his effort. Shehu Umar’s 215kg catch was second and Likiti Aboshi came third with a 214kg fish.

Dark and lanky, Hudu Yakubu looked surprised when his name was announced as the winner. As he was handed two keys to the vehicle, one of the drivers from the government team took it from him (it was clear that he could not drive). He jumped into the back of the vehicle and on the roof, then raised his hands to acknowledge cheers, perhaps the same way his forefathers who founded the Kwararafa kingdom and have continued to demonstrate courage even the in face of frequent intermittent wars with their brave neighbours, the Tivs.

The Nwonyo International Fishing Festival in Ibi, is one of the tourism products that has put Taraba State in world reckoning. It’s main tourist attraction is the tough but scenic and arable Mambilla Plateau in Gembu, Sardauna local government area.

Nwonyo closed on a promising note as Governor Danbaba Suntai hinted that the state government would ensure that the next edition hits a higher note and meets the expectations of the people as a tool for poverty alleviation.

Conscious of maintaining the right balance in the eco-system, the Taraba State governor said adequate time must be allowed for the fishes in the river to mature. He therefore, hinted on the likelihood of a bigger and better festival before the expiration of his tenure in three years time. 

"We cannot continue to do this festival every year. We must be mindful of what unregulated human activity would do to the eco-system, " he said sounding a cautions note to the federal and various state governments, Danbaba rooted for a move from promotional activities in tourism to a concentration on deliverables that would impact directly on the lives of the citizenry, particularly those domiciled within the tourist sites.

According to Danbaba, " We must have a change of direction otherwise we are yet to start the journey towards revenue generation in tourism."
He also challenged the Taraba State Tourism Development Board to come up with a blueprint that can turn the tourism potentials in the state into revenue yielding enterprises.

The Taraba State Governor also challenged dignitaries and corporate bodies present to join hands with him by donating generously towards the successful hosting of the next Nwonyo. He said only then could the festival have "a meaning to the people of the state."

Explaining why the festival was low key, he insisted that the Nwonyo has to transform to a revenue yielding activity so that government could justify the need to commit funds to invite people from all around the country and the world for an activity that touches on the lives of the people."

Guests were emptying out of the arena when a truck drove to the weigh-in podium and Hudu’s catch was lifted off the weigh-in hook and taken to the back of the truck. I would later learn that the fish would end on Governor Suntai’s dinner table as he had purchased it. The second and third prized fish were also reserved for the Deputy Governor and the Speaker of the state house of assembly.

Prizes were also distributed to winners in other competitions like diving and swimming which had been decided the previous day.

Taraba state commissioner for information, Mr. Emmanuel Bello said the government was working towards sourcing as much revenue from tourism as oil is providing for states in the Niger Delta.