Rep Igariwey New Yam Lecture: A rendezvous of culture, knowledge and food security

The member representing Afikpo/Edda Federal Constituency of Ebonyi state, Iduma Enwo Igariwey has continued to effectively utilize his several established platforms to positively impact the lives of his constituents.

 

One of those platforms is his Annual New yam (Ikeji) festival and lecture series.

 

In his belief that the quest for elimination of hunger in Nigeria should be taken beyond immediate paltry palliatives distribution by some politicians, to laying a strong foundation for sustainable food sufficiency, he has chosen the 2024 edition of the event to massively empower his constituents with Agricultural inputs.

 

The event held Sunday, August 25 in his Mgbom Afikpo country home, Ebonyi State.

 

Okpudo (Peace Maker) as he is fondly called by his constituents distributed over 200 full bags of hybrid rice seeds with corresponding number of bags of fertilizers and agro chemicals.

 

As a grassroots people’s representative, Igariwey, the Deputy Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, did not stop at that. He backed up the inputs with cash grants to enable the farmers defray some labour costs.

 

Igariwey said: “You have seen that we are here today to celebrate the product of the farm.

 

“I wish to encourage everyone to begin to tow the line of farming.

 

“So doing, we can nail the prevalent hunger in the land, at least to a level of attaining full subsistence status

 

“So, today, we want to start a pilot Agric project with rice farmers because of its current high cost.

 

“We have compiled a list of rice farmers from communities in our constituency and even beyond, and today we are going to share to 200 persons these 200 bags of rice seeds for cultivation in the next season.

 

“This is a pilot scheme I introduced to help our people.

 

“More names are still being collated, and we still have more than these 200 to be distributed.

 

Indeed, for the past 4 years, the representative has continued to further cement the bond of love and unity existing between the Edda and the Afikpo peoples through this annual lecture tagged “Okpudo Ikeji Annual Lecture. It has remained a rendezvous of intellectual, cultural and economic empowerment for the constituents, scaling party and religious boundaries.

 

Speaking on his motivation for instituting the New yam lecture series, Igariwey who is also the Leader, Southeast caucus of the House of Representatives, stated: “Our culture as far as I’m concerned, represents who we are as a people.

 

“A people without a culture is like salt without taste.

 

“So, I think it’s very important that it be preserved.

 

“In the lecture series I have tried to present to my people; to the global audience and my constituents all over the world, I have tried to reinforce that core values of our tradition which has passed through the crucible of Western Civilization.

 

“Yes, Western Civilization is good, but it is good to the extent that it does not extinguish our culture, our values and our ethos.

 

“Most times we don’t tell our own story.

 

“When you allow the Whiteman to define you, he will define your culture as being repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.

 

“So, it is for us to show that our culture is dynamic, always evolving, and those ones that are not fit for purpose, we keep aside.

 

“But those positive ones, we must continue to project.”

 

In his lecture which hinged on the theme for the year’s celebration: “The Ikeji (New yam) Festival in Afikpo and Edda: Food, Culture, Lifestyle and Health”, the guest lecturer, a Professor of Medicine, Public Health and Nutrition, Dr. Henry Uro-chukwu went down memory lane to establish the reason behind the special honour given to yam in Igbo culture.

 

He maintained that New yam celebration marks the end of the old year and the beginning of a new year, thereby signifying the advent of fresh hopes, aspirations and socio-economic advancement in most Igbo Communities.

 

He enjoined the people to revive the cultivation and consumption of certain highly nutritious traditional crops, domestic and wild vegetables which have continued to diminish and facing threat of extinction.

 

While regretting the unbridled appetite for fast and synthetic foods, especially by the young generation of the people, Uro-Chukwu made a strong case for a return to natural foods which he maintained, were both nutritious and medicinal.

 

Setting the tone for the event, the Planning Committee chairman, Arua Oko, bemoaned the gradually eroding social, environmental and food culture in most parts of Igbo land blaming it on what he described as “the collapse of the ecosystem and the controversial notion of modernity.”

 

He said: “Modernity has pushed our people towards food culture homogenization, thereby rendering some food sources primitive and disgusting.

 

“Consequently, good food sources such as plants and animals that had been valued through the history of our existence have either been destroyed or abandoned.”

 

Oko commended what he described as visionary leadership of Igariwey which has birthed greater progress in the constituency, adding that the first celebration in 2021 inspired a research that gave birth to a book titled, The Bond: A Study of Intergroup Relations between Afikpo and Edda.

 

“This is the fourth year we have celebrated the New yam Festival as a constituency, and we have achieved a lot through the progressive and visionary leadership of Hon. Idu Igariwey, Oko emphasized.

 

Across political divides and varying ideological inclinations, the constituents, obviously pleased with their representative, were all united in thanks to him for the cultural renaissance and value strengthening birthed by the initiative.

 

Speaking to newsmen, the Chairman of Edda local government area, Chima Ekumankama; the incoming Chairman of Afikpo Local Government area, Timothy Nwachi and the member representing Afikpo North East Constituency in the State House of Assembly, Oluchukwu Ukie Ezeali, took turns to eulogize their federal law maker variously as a bridge builder, a passionate cultural revivalist and a man of the people.

 

Ekumankama summed: “I am from a royal home, and I know what a people’s culture and traditions stand for.

 

“And I thank God for the person of Okpudo (Igariwey), who understands the place of culture in uniting and bonding a people.

 

“So, I’m excited over what I’ve seen here today.”

 

For his countless constituents who benefited from the Agricultural inputs, Tubers of new yam and cash gifts generously distributed by the Representative, the gesture has rekindled hope of defeating hunger in Nigeria in the coming years, if all political leaders and representatives of the people should tow the path of Igariwey.

 

The event featured a generous display of the rich cultural music, folk songs and dances of Afikpo and Edda people.

 

It also featured the unveiling of a book edited by two scholars, Ikenna Unya and Chris Kwaja in honour of Igariwey.

 

The book is titled ‘Contending Issues in Nigeria’s Democracy and Development: Essays in Honour of Rt. Hon. Igariwey Iduma Enwo.’