The Olukwumi people are people with Yoruba ancestry. A subgroup of the Anioma people of the Aniocha North area of the Delta State,

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. The Olukwumi occupy eight communities

west West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of the

Niger river The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

, and are together known today as the Odiani Clan in Aniomaland. Ukwu Nzu ( Eko Efun) town is the historical headquarters of the Olukwumi people and is traditionally headed by the Obi of Ukwu Nzu, Agbogidi. The present Obi is H.R.M. Obi Ogoh 1. Olukwumi villages select leaders through the Okpala Obi system, which is the Okpala (gerontocracy) of the Igbo. The Anioma people are the Igbo subgroup from Aniocha (Enuani and Olukwumi), Ndokwa (Ukwuani), Ika, and Oshimili areas of Delta State.

Geography

The Olukwumi are native to an area just

of the Niger River's right bank. The area is rich in

Chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

and

Kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

deposits which is known as "Nzu" in

Igbo language Igbo ( , ; Igbo: ''Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò'' ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, a meta-ethnicity from Southeastern Nigeria. The number of Igboid languages depends on how one classifies a language versus a dialect, so ...

and "Efun" in

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

, which has been traditionally mined and used by the people of the area for various cultural purposes.

Etymology

Road sign of some Olukumi villages, Aniocha North, Delta State

The word ''Olukumi'' is said by some to mean "My confidant" or "My friend" in

History

According to Olukwumi oral tradition, Olukwumi are is a blend of aboriginal Igbos and migrants from the Owo,

Akure Akure is a city in south-western Nigeria. It is the capital and largest city of Ondo State. The city had a population of 403,000 as at the 2006 population census. History Pre 1914 Rock engravings dating back to the Mesolithic period, ha ...

or the Akoko, depending on the Olukwumi town in question. Due to the subsequent blend and proximity of their settlements with Enuani speakers, they today speak both the Olukwumi and

Enuani dialect Enuani is an Igbo dialect spoken in Nigeria by the Igbo people of Delta State, Onitsha, Obosi and Ogbaru in Anambra State, Mgbidi in Imo State, Ndoni in Rivers State and some parts of Ibaji in Delta state. The Enuani dialect is generally similar ...

dialects of Igbo language. Prayers and recitals in their native dialect are also being encouraged, while making conscious efforts to speak the language to their children and in their communities as a whole. Of the towns in the Odiani clan, only Ugbodu and Ukwu-Nzu are bilingual; the rest are solely Enuani-speaking. According to a report in the ''Sunday Tribune'' of October 24, 2010, they have also started to organize

recitation A recitation in a general sense is the act of reciting from memory, or a formal reading of verse or other writing before an audience. Public recitation is the act of reciting a work of writing before an audience. Academic recitation In a ...

and oratory quizzes and competitions in Olukwumi to preserve the dialect. Linguists are also documenting the language. For 40 years, Chief G B Nkemnacho, a lawyer of Olukwumi origin has documented his people's history as told by its elders as life experiences and oral tradition.

Olukumi towns and communities

Non-Olukumi villages

Language

Notable Olukwumi People

* Nduka Ugbade - (Former Nigerian football star and coach) *Helen Anyamelune - (1958' Miss Nigeria) * Chinedum Mordi - (First Professor from Ugbodu, lectured at

Delta State University, Abraka The Delta State University, Abraka - popularly known as DELSU - is a State government-owned university in Nigeria with the main campus located at Abraka, Delta State and it's sub campus at Oleh. The Oleh campus was established with the 1995 ...

References

External links

Olukwumi dictionary
{{authority control Ethnic groups in Africa Ethnic groups in Nigeria Delta State History of Igboland