the history and state of the monkeys’ colony as the Minister for Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy Hannatu Musa Musawa plans to visit Mbaise for 2025 IRIJI MBAISE Cultural Festival. Writes CHRISTIAN NWOKOCHA
Lagwa community in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State is Located about 46 kilometres from Owerri, the state capital.
The community admitted that they were just told not to kill or eat monkeys by their great ground fathers centuries ago.
But the history of how monkeys came into the area varies.
While a section in Lagwa believed that monkeys came with a man and his family named Nwaimo and was the Chief Priest of Ishi Asa juju, others believed that these monkeys were already in Lagwa community before the existence of the people of the area.
However, the history that appears to be widely believed is that of the monkeys’ relationship with the man named “Agwa” in Lagwa community.
Story had it that a man called Agwa came into the area with his wife who was pregnant. The man was said to have gone to farm, while monkeys visited his compound from the forest to drop fruits for his wife. When the farmer, Agwa returned from work, the wife told him of how the visiting monkeys dropped fruits for her. For these gestures by monkeys in his absence, Agwa vowed even as a hunter not to kill monkeys and handed down instructions to his children not to kill and eat monkeys.
Though it is a family and community decisions to protect monkeys, laws of the Federation chapter 108 of 1990 makes it mandatory in Nigeria for the protection of monkeys. The law prohibits the killing and selling of monkeys in Nigeria.
When this author visited the area, these monkeys were not as many as they used to be many years ago, apparently due to intensified efforts of the community to deforest the monkeys’ village.
People of the area testified that these monkeys in protest have resorted to coming out at nights or during hot weathers, eating both cooked foods and fruits belonging to members of the community.
The Chief Priest of Arukwu (juju) Chief Echibe Okere was not happy that his shrine was destroyed by some Christian fanatics before he died in 1986. Prior to his death, he observed all traditional rights of all Lagwa people on issues relating to monkeys and natives.
Monkeys in the area are peculiar and they are called sclaters or cercopithecus sclater. These species are found in Imo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Enugu and Akwa–Ibom states in Nigeria.
It has been reported severally that these monkeys are becoming wild and destructive, soon after the people started farming close to their forest and destroyed the community shrine where the monkeys meet and feast regularly.
As destructive as the monkeys were portrayed by members of the Lagwa community, the monkeys resorted to drinking of palm wine on the trees before palm wine tapers arrive early mornings.
At nights, monkeys climb on house roofs and make loud noise, eat women’s food in the kitchen and will never allow maize, banana, or any kind of fruit to survive planting seasons.
The food to which monkeys cannot find in their deforested areas, were found at homes of community members.
As worrisome as monkey activities look, these monkeys cannot be killed, eating or sold by members of the Lagwa community for destroying their fruits, crops and foods.
To ensure further protection of these monkeys and prevent same from being destructive, Pastor Austine Williams Onuegbu called on government or tourism developers to come to their rescue.
The monkeys he said needs their forest reinstated and more trees planted in the area.
This he said will make these monkeys remain in the planned forest and desist from visiting Lagwa community homes.
Members of the community he said need to be educated on how to live with these monkeys.
However, the people of Lagwa community have witnessed tourists from all works of life. Hardly would any tourist developer visit Imo State without stepping his feet on Lagwa soil to freely witness fun by monkeys.
These monkeys are clever and can be playful too. Kids enjoy monkey dramas, but if nothing urgent takes place just to stop the deforestation of the monkeys’ feasting areas and introduce civilised means and ways to which people can live with these monkeys, then the people may be compelled to disregard their ancestral laws and laws of the federation over the killing of monkeys particularly if they continue to be destructive at homes.
The implications remain that tourists would not see monkeys to watch and kids will begin to lose some sense of history and the fun in playing with monkeys
–CHRISTIAN NWOKOCHA IS THE HEAD OF NEWS AND ONLINE MEDIA MANAGER, DARLING FM OWERRI AND THE HEAD OF MEDIA & PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT OF EZURUEZU MBAISE.
