Agenebode is a historical water-side town located by the banks of the Niger River in Edo State, South South part of Nigeria. It is the headquarters of Etsako-East local Gornment Area, The host of the local council and the traditional capital of Weppa Wanno Clan/Kingdom.[1][2]
Agenebode
Weppa Wanno Etsako East | |
|---|---|
  Agenebode Location in Nigeria | |
| Coordinates: 7°06′N 6°42′E / 7.100°N 6.700°E | |
| Country |  Nigeria |
| State | Edo |
| Climate | Aw |
Location
editAgenebode is bounded by Ivioghe, Egor, Emokweme villages, and the River Niger. Agenebode city is the ancestral home city of all Weppa and Wanno people,[3] both at home and in the diaspora. There’s a general market at the center of the city and people attend every five days to buy fresh groceries. People are friendly and content in Agenebode.[1]
Agenebode is divided into different quarters, which are called Ighaewo, Egbado, Otoukwe, Igegbode (upland). The major town are Emokweme, Egor and Ivioghe villages, Iviebua Igbagba and Agiele.
History
editAgenebode was the regional headquarters of the Royal Niger Company, a mercantile company owned by the British Colonialists and currently the headquarters of Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State.[4] The city of Agenebode is known today to be a non-Nupe town inhabited by and belonging to the Uwanno people who speak the Etsako language.[5]
Agenebode was founded by the Nupe people, inhabited and ruled by them over a century.
Afenmai an ancien town in Edo North was an administrative area of Nupe empire. The works of scholars like Professor Alan Ryder and the journal records of the earliest Europeans like Captain Hugh Clapperton shows that today’s Edo state was part and parcel of Nupeland in former times.[6]
Educational institutions
editEducational institutions at Agenebode are the College of Agriculture and Fisheries, St. Peters Grammar School, Progress Secondary School, Providence Secondary School, Army Day Secondary School, Sacred Heart College, Catholic Junior Seminary School,Omoaze Primary school, and so many other secondary and primary schools.[7] Agenebode house a Nigerian Supply and Transport barracks of the Nigerian Army, and a Division of the Nigerian Police Force. The King of the Weppa Wanno Kingdom is called the Okumagbe which is translated as the unifier, and his palace is situated at Agenebode Upland.[8] The stool of the Okumagbe is rotated among the five kinship groups. Presently (Dr) George Oshiapi Egabor, JP, PhD, OON a chartered accountant and industrialist from the Iviokpisa kinship group, is the current Okumagbe of the Weppa Wanno; his title is OMOAZE 1.[8]
Residents of Agenebode are predominantly Christians as the first catholic mission in Mid-Western Nigeria was located at Agenebode in 1882.[9] There are also Muslims and traditional worshippers.
Tourists attraction
editInteresting sites in Agenebode are the post office, built in 1930, the Colonial Court on Mission Road,[10] the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Local Council office, the Army Barracks,[11] General Hospital, Niger Valley Farms, the River Niger banks, the Notre Dam Hospital, and the Convent.
The main means of transportation in Agenebode is by motorcycles, buses and cars. Canoes, boats and ferries transport people across the River Niger to Idah in Kogi State.
Traditional occupations of the people are farming, fishing and canoe-building. Local agriculture produces maize, nuts, groundnuts, sorghum, rice, vegetables, potatoes, Cassava, Yam, fruits etc.
The local cuisine are-Corn Soup (Omi-ukpoka), peanuts soup (omi-sagwe), melon soup (okotipio), fresh fish soup (omi-esegbomi) etc.; these soup can either be eaten with pounded yam, Eba, Fufu etc.; Agenebode people drink locally made gin (ukakai) and fresh palm wine.
References
edit- ^ a b "After 70 years of agitation, Edo State government separates Weppa Clan from Uwanno". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "APDA to Honour Prince Agba". THISDAYLIVE. 2019-12-20. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "Weppa Wanno Pyramid Club » History of Weppa-Wanno Land". www.weppawannopyramid.net. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
- ^ "Royal Niger Company | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ "Agenebode the Nupe Town in Edo State - by Ndagi Abdullahi". National Sports Link. 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2023-02-01.
- ^ "Chapter Five: Descent Groups", Kinship, Descent and Alliance among the Karo Batak, University of California Press, pp. 70–96, 1975-12-31, doi:10.1525/9780520309838-011, ISBN 9780520309838, retrieved 2023-02-01
- ^ "Obaseki approves payment of 290 ex-workers of agric colleges". Vanguard News. 2018-12-13. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ a b "After 70 years of agitation, Edo State government separates Weppa Clan from Uwanno". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 2018-10-07. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
- ^ "Catholicism in Nigeria". rpl.hds.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2021-07-11.
- ^ Wall, Barbra Mann, "Changes in nursing and mission in post-colonial Nigeria", Colonial caring, Manchester University Press, pp. 188–207, doi:10.2307/j.ctt18dzrdn.15, retrieved 2023-02-01
- ^ "Obe-Agenebode road to Auchi, disaster waiting to happen—State government shifts blames". Vanguard News. 2015-01-19. Retrieved 2021-07-12.