OGURUGU INFORMATION AND EMPOWERMENT BLOG
OGURUGU EMPOWERMENT BLOG
Ogurugu Empowerment Blog is an avenue for reaching out to Ogurugu people, home and abroad, and provide information to foreigners or researchers who will want to know more about Ogurugu. Indigenes can join us on our Facebook page:
Ogurugu Youths Empowerment Forum Facebook Group
This avenue is meant to serve as a means of relating the happenings in Ogurugu to Ogurugu people everywhere and to inform outsiders who might be interested in getting some information about Ogurugu.
OGURUGU WAS MORE PROSPEROUS THAN NSUKKA BEFORE 1960:
One cannot but lament at the situation of Ogurugu after reading this, as I did when I read in a scholarly research paper. According to the paper, I quote: "Before 1960, Nsukka was a relatively unknown town, overshadowed by the then more prosperous Ogurugu, which became a major exporting centre (on account of its location along the River Niger coast) and Ibagwa, which had a flourishing horse market. After 1960, all these changed with the establishment of the University of Nigeria..." (Okoye, 1978 cited in Nweze, 2002 ). In: "SOCIAL CAPITAL (PILOT) SURVEY IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA BY NOBLE J. NWEZE, Centre for Rural Development and Cooperatives, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. To confirm this fact, click on this link and read pages 3 and 4 that talks about Nsukka: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/…/EnuguStatePilotRpt-Sho…
A PRAYER FOR OGURUGU:
May the sun shine on you oh beautiful land of green. May the showers descend and wet the fields for our crops to blossom and our barns to overflow with abundance. May our heart long for your good, though in far away shores we abide. May our people flourish like the palm tree in all their endeavours. May we be willing to sacrifice our time, treasures and talents for the advancement of your glorious course. May our elders' grey hair mean nothing but wisdom. May our youths be prosperous in all their undertakings, be successful and strong. May we sing the great redemption song on your beautiful hills. You shall receive pardon for all your sins from the Lord your Saviour. Your children are now grown, it is time for you to reap the fruit of your labour. We shall rejoice in you and sing "blessed is that land whose God is the LORD".
God bless Ogurugu!
A CLARION CALL:
Ogurugu youths have the potential to bring about a sustainable transformation in our land. We must find means of investing in our youths because they are the leaders of tomorrow. Many people who are rich today and have not impacted on any youth's lives in Ogurugu will be surprise that they will regret for not investing their money in our youths. I suggest the following pathways which will help make Ogurugu as a whole to benefit from the youth:
1. Train up the children with the right value system and the fear of God.
2. Give the youth sufficient education that will enable them to be useful to themselves and the community.
3. Encourage the youth to acquire a vocational skill that will make them employable or employers of labour.
4. They should be made to love Ogurugu and contribute to its development.
5. There is need to create a youth friendly environment that will make the youth not to run away from home and also attract the homecoming of our youths especially during season periods.
6. People who God has blessed in Ogurugu should extend their help to encourage our youths by rewarding hardworking students, giving scholarships, awards, prices, developing schools, building Libraries, Laboratories etc...
So help us God!
By: Obiechina Ekene Moses,
DEVELOPMENT NEED
Comments of Ogurugu indigenes on facebook, twitter, WhatsApp and other social network for some times has made it clear that most of the people are of the view that the things that is of paramount importance to the community at the moment is steady and meaningful development. Some few others will rather differ from this view on the issue of development as it concerns Ogurugu and blame the major problem on leadership issues. These few are of the opinion that development in this context is not only improvement in infrastructures such as good road, electricity, pipeborne water and other social amenities. Although, to a reasonable extent, these are indices of determining development but the more important is the issue of quality leadership. This has been the bane of our society and Ogurugu is not an exception. While other less populated communities in Uzo-Uwani LGA are doing the best they can to bring their community to international limelight.
Take for instance, unlike some other less populated communities in the Uzo-Uwani Local Government who are enjoying quality leadership from their traditional institutions, Ogurugu has suffered different conflicts and disunity. For many years, all efforts to conduct elections into the some traditional offices failed until recently. The office of Igwe Ugomela of Ogurugu Inoko Kingdom was unoccuppied for a long until it was finally occupied by the present Igwe. It is an aberation that Ogurugu, the giant of Uzo-Uwani LGA, in terms of population and natural resources still battles with leadership challenge. It is not possible to achieve success when evil men and enemies of progress are having their way and trying to disorganized the traditional institutions.
As brothers and sisters who drink from the same Ega Itayi, Ega Ogboku, Mabolo and Isi rivers betrayal of our collective trust is detrimental to our sustainable development. Posterity will taken note of betrayal, unfaithfulness and total abuse of collective intelligence.
Another aspect that is seen as an important move is the effort to bring government presence to Ogurugu. Every rainy season, Ogurugu is always cut off from other communities because the deplorable condition of Isi bridge which connect Ogurugu with Adani, Iga and Ojo.
Stop weeping oh dearest Mother land!
"At a time like this and the near future, your children shall take care of thee OH desolate and forgotten town. You have suffered humiliation and negligence too long, but your children have grown of age, so stop weeping for darkness, bad roads, lack of portable water, good health care, lack of education, intense poverty in your chills, non-representation and internal marginalization from your first children. Stop weeping oh dearest Mother land for your second children have come of age to wipe your tears."
By: Cletus Ukwubile to Ogurugu, Uzo-Uwani LGA, Enugu State,
The Fulani cattle rearers are some times a challenge to Ogurugu farmers. They go around eating our crops, defecating on the main roads.
A CALL TO PRAYER
"Ogurugu is blessed land right from the onset but today sentiment have give room to some damages, but prayer changes things. Let every one of us continue praying. The best is coming ahead if you can do this any place you are based, whether two or three people.Even though you are alone just organise yourself in set and a day in a mouth and pray for our land Ogurugu. Please never you ignore this message" By: Ajodo Obiedo John
"Ogurugu is for Christ and with prayers the dry bones shall rise again!. O ye great people of Ogurugu Inoko Kingdom, with one voice to the throne of the Almighty, the lost glory of our great blessed land Ogurugu shall be restore in full! God bless you all, amen." By: Esther Chizoba,
Ogurugu Empowerment Blog is an avenue for reaching out to Ogurugu people, home and abroad, and provide information to foreigners or researchers who will want to know more about Ogurugu. Indigenes can join us on our Facebook page:
Ogurugu Youths Empowerment Forum Facebook Group
This avenue is meant to serve as a means of relating the happenings in Ogurugu to Ogurugu people everywhere and to inform outsiders who might be interested in getting some information about Ogurugu.
ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE PAST
Gone are those days in Ogurugu before the coming of internet and social media. In the full moon. When it is shinning with it brightest radiance. Every born and bred child of Ogurugu will remember their sweet childhood days in Ogurugu. Those good old days, the children usually gather in a village square or meeting points in the nights after evening meals for socialization. The children participated in a hide and seek game called "okubele". Prior to this time parents or elderly ones would have narrated some "osala" (stories) to the children. At this children meetings some of the children would retell these stories. Some of the stories were so frightful to extent that some fearful children would be afraid to sleep in the dark for fear of "ojiji" (fear monsters).The stories are in forms of legends, fables, fairy tales and folklores passed down to the children by forefathers of Ogurugu. These stories were full of wisdom and moral lessons which help the ancients as moral guide in the society. Notable in the story are characters like "egubi"(a monster), "ayibo" (a waterfly) "aneleje" (tortoise), a wicked stepmother, a disobedient child, a hero of ignoble but good background etc. The rhetorics, rymes, songs, languages, choruses and figurative expressions among other literary styles of these stories show their origin and transmissions. These stories, though in different versions, show to some extents, the intellectual capacity of the Ogurugu people. The stories are also pointers to the belief system, societal structure and moral worldviews of past history. I think there is need to document these stories for posterity and for literary and academic purpose. These stories, if well written with good story lines, forgroundings and other literary devices, can be good literary works, interesting pieces. Some can also be acted as films and dramas.
Gone are those days in Ogurugu before the coming of internet and social media. In the full moon. When it is shinning with it brightest radiance. Every born and bred child of Ogurugu will remember their sweet childhood days in Ogurugu. Those good old days, the children usually gather in a village square or meeting points in the nights after evening meals for socialization. The children participated in a hide and seek game called "okubele". Prior to this time parents or elderly ones would have narrated some "osala" (stories) to the children. At this children meetings some of the children would retell these stories. Some of the stories were so frightful to extent that some fearful children would be afraid to sleep in the dark for fear of "ojiji" (fear monsters).The stories are in forms of legends, fables, fairy tales and folklores passed down to the children by forefathers of Ogurugu. These stories were full of wisdom and moral lessons which help the ancients as moral guide in the society. Notable in the story are characters like "egubi"(a monster), "ayibo" (a waterfly) "aneleje" (tortoise), a wicked stepmother, a disobedient child, a hero of ignoble but good background etc. The rhetorics, rymes, songs, languages, choruses and figurative expressions among other literary styles of these stories show their origin and transmissions. These stories, though in different versions, show to some extents, the intellectual capacity of the Ogurugu people. The stories are also pointers to the belief system, societal structure and moral worldviews of past history. I think there is need to document these stories for posterity and for literary and academic purpose. These stories, if well written with good story lines, forgroundings and other literary devices, can be good literary works, interesting pieces. Some can also be acted as films and dramas.
OGURUGU WAS MORE PROSPEROUS THAN NSUKKA BEFORE 1960:
One cannot but lament at the situation of Ogurugu after reading this, as I did when I read in a scholarly research paper. According to the paper, I quote: "Before 1960, Nsukka was a relatively unknown town, overshadowed by the then more prosperous Ogurugu, which became a major exporting centre (on account of its location along the River Niger coast) and Ibagwa, which had a flourishing horse market. After 1960, all these changed with the establishment of the University of Nigeria..." (Okoye, 1978 cited in Nweze, 2002 ). In: "SOCIAL CAPITAL (PILOT) SURVEY IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA BY NOBLE J. NWEZE, Centre for Rural Development and Cooperatives, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. To confirm this fact, click on this link and read pages 3 and 4 that talks about Nsukka: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/…/EnuguStatePilotRpt-Sho…
A PRAYER FOR OGURUGU:
May the sun shine on you oh beautiful land of green. May the showers descend and wet the fields for our crops to blossom and our barns to overflow with abundance. May our heart long for your good, though in far away shores we abide. May our people flourish like the palm tree in all their endeavours. May we be willing to sacrifice our time, treasures and talents for the advancement of your glorious course. May our elders' grey hair mean nothing but wisdom. May our youths be prosperous in all their undertakings, be successful and strong. May we sing the great redemption song on your beautiful hills. You shall receive pardon for all your sins from the Lord your Saviour. Your children are now grown, it is time for you to reap the fruit of your labour. We shall rejoice in you and sing "blessed is that land whose God is the LORD".
God bless Ogurugu!
A CLARION CALL:
Ogurugu youths have the potential to bring about a sustainable transformation in our land. We must find means of investing in our youths because they are the leaders of tomorrow. Many people who are rich today and have not impacted on any youth's lives in Ogurugu will be surprise that they will regret for not investing their money in our youths. I suggest the following pathways which will help make Ogurugu as a whole to benefit from the youth:
1. Train up the children with the right value system and the fear of God.
2. Give the youth sufficient education that will enable them to be useful to themselves and the community.
3. Encourage the youth to acquire a vocational skill that will make them employable or employers of labour.
4. They should be made to love Ogurugu and contribute to its development.
5. There is need to create a youth friendly environment that will make the youth not to run away from home and also attract the homecoming of our youths especially during season periods.
6. People who God has blessed in Ogurugu should extend their help to encourage our youths by rewarding hardworking students, giving scholarships, awards, prices, developing schools, building Libraries, Laboratories etc...
So help us God!
By: Obiechina Ekene Moses,
DEVELOPMENT NEED
Comments of Ogurugu indigenes on facebook, twitter, WhatsApp and other social network for some times has made it clear that most of the people are of the view that the things that is of paramount importance to the community at the moment is steady and meaningful development. Some few others will rather differ from this view on the issue of development as it concerns Ogurugu and blame the major problem on leadership issues. These few are of the opinion that development in this context is not only improvement in infrastructures such as good road, electricity, pipeborne water and other social amenities. Although, to a reasonable extent, these are indices of determining development but the more important is the issue of quality leadership. This has been the bane of our society and Ogurugu is not an exception. While other less populated communities in Uzo-Uwani LGA are doing the best they can to bring their community to international limelight.
Take for instance, unlike some other less populated communities in the Uzo-Uwani Local Government who are enjoying quality leadership from their traditional institutions, Ogurugu has suffered different conflicts and disunity. For many years, all efforts to conduct elections into the some traditional offices failed until recently. The office of Igwe Ugomela of Ogurugu Inoko Kingdom was unoccuppied for a long until it was finally occupied by the present Igwe. It is an aberation that Ogurugu, the giant of Uzo-Uwani LGA, in terms of population and natural resources still battles with leadership challenge. It is not possible to achieve success when evil men and enemies of progress are having their way and trying to disorganized the traditional institutions.
As brothers and sisters who drink from the same Ega Itayi, Ega Ogboku, Mabolo and Isi rivers betrayal of our collective trust is detrimental to our sustainable development. Posterity will taken note of betrayal, unfaithfulness and total abuse of collective intelligence.
Another aspect that is seen as an important move is the effort to bring government presence to Ogurugu. Every rainy season, Ogurugu is always cut off from other communities because the deplorable condition of Isi bridge which connect Ogurugu with Adani, Iga and Ojo.
Stop weeping oh dearest Mother land!
"At a time like this and the near future, your children shall take care of thee OH desolate and forgotten town. You have suffered humiliation and negligence too long, but your children have grown of age, so stop weeping for darkness, bad roads, lack of portable water, good health care, lack of education, intense poverty in your chills, non-representation and internal marginalization from your first children. Stop weeping oh dearest Mother land for your second children have come of age to wipe your tears."
By: Cletus Ukwubile to Ogurugu, Uzo-Uwani LGA, Enugu State,
The Fulani cattle rearers are some times a challenge to Ogurugu farmers. They go around eating our crops, defecating on the main roads.
A CALL TO PRAYER
"Ogurugu is blessed land right from the onset but today sentiment have give room to some damages, but prayer changes things. Let every one of us continue praying. The best is coming ahead if you can do this any place you are based, whether two or three people.Even though you are alone just organise yourself in set and a day in a mouth and pray for our land Ogurugu. Please never you ignore this message" By: Ajodo Obiedo John
"Ogurugu is for Christ and with prayers the dry bones shall rise again!. O ye great people of Ogurugu Inoko Kingdom, with one voice to the throne of the Almighty, the lost glory of our great blessed land Ogurugu shall be restore in full! God bless you all, amen." By: Esther Chizoba,
Ogurugu people are majorly farmers. Historically, the ancients of Ogurugu were so good in agriculture that they use the product to build edifices that would be regarded as one of the best in their time. Some of those buildings survive until today. Ogurugu's farm products include such crops as rice, cassava, cocoyam, yam, beans, groundnut, palm tree, banana, plantain, corn, mango, orange, millet, etc. They are also hunters and fishers in Ogurugu who bring their fishes and animals to the Central Market that opens every two days, or to as far as Nsukka, Onitsha and other parts of South-Eastern Nigeria. some people come from far distances to purchase agricultural products like bags of rice, cassava/akpu, garri, red oil, smoked fishes and meats. These commodities are of high demand. If the Government can provide good roads networks and other agricultural infrastructure and inputs, the people will have economic respites and development that will encourage productivity.
For instance, in the whole of Enugu state, Ogurugu's akpu is unique amongst others. At the Old park of Ogige Market, Nsukka, wrapped akpu is sold as cheap as N30 or two N50. Retail resellers and restaurants owners buy it in quality and resell it N50 each or serve a plate of it for N150, N200, N250 etc depending on the absence, presence, quantity, and quality of the meat in the soup. Ogurugu's rice is very popular in the whole of southeastern Nigeria. In fact a very high percentage of most of what is referred to as Adani local rice in various communities in Enugu are Ogurugu rice, especially Ada rice.
Ogurugu town,which is located on the shores of the anambra river,a tributary of the niger river,has the potential to be the onitsha of enugu state,on account of it's unique geographical location and maritime assets.Thus,it behoves of the enugu state government in partnership with the organised private sector,to maximize it's economic potentials,via building an industrial city,within the vicinity of the jetty,so as to boost economic activities.Besides,the moribund aerodrome in the town,should be revived so as to compliment the jetty.Thus,ogurugu,would ascend to it's once famed status,as an economic hub in the west and central african region
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