ABOUT
Igede culture, values and language are things on earth that Igede people have full ownership. We owe a responsibility for their development, preservation and presentation in a best possible form to future generations. Myekeemedia is on a mission to contribute her own quota in a bid to save and preserve them through encouragement of relevant stakeholders to relate with these correctly.We bring and store relevant historical information and other related general facts about the Igede land and the people. We perceived the need to place Igede and her rich heritage in a public domain and we hope to pursue it with an unwavering passion, openness and best channel of creativity.
Values
We believe in consistently performing our duties with the highest integrity and ethics. Training our key players to become the best and always in best form by applying the appropriate standard across all our actions; and serving all stakeholders by nurturing genuine partnership and networking
Vision
To be the leading integrated world class platform recognized for its excellence on facts about Igede land, the language and the people
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE CALLED AND KNOWN AS THE “IGEDES”?
Armstrong (1995) define Igede as land, people and their language, hence it could be mentioned as Igede land, Igede people and Igede language. Igede language is known as “Igede” or “Myekee” meaning “I speak” (A Frampton, 1935:58).
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Igede is situated in Benue State in the North Central part of Nigeria. Igede land has boundaries with the Tiv people to the North and North East. Idoma people of Otukpo, Akpa, Ufia and Izigbang in the Northwest and West respectively. The area also shared common boundaries with Igbo of Ebonyi State to the South and Yala and Ukele people of Cross River State to the Southeast. Igedeland comprising majorly Oju and Obi which was part of the defunct Idoma division during the colonial era and later Oturkpo division during the post-colonial era. In February 1976, it attained its own divisional status following the Local Government reforms.
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Igede was made up of three main district: Igede Central, Ito and Uwokwu districts. In 1996, when Obi was created out of Oju, it became the second Local Government predominantly inhabited by the Igede people. Igede people are found in relatively large numbers within Benue State in Gwer West Local Governments- Akpachayi, Ugboba, Ajinmole of Oju clan as well as Ugbogwu and Ugboba of Ainu clan. Konshisha Local Government –Ochoro of Ainu clan and Ononwu of Ibila clan. In Cross River State, apart from the Igabu and Itakpa, that were administratively severe from their kinsmen following the division of the national boundaries between the Northern and the Southern provinces, there are various other Igede people in relatively large number predominantly from Ibilla, Ukpa and Iyeche clans which today constitute the majority of the population of the North of Yala Local Government of Cross River State. They occupy Gabu and Igede Edii out of the present Yala Local Government of Cross River; with Okpoma council ward being the third that is predominantly Igede people- comprising Iyeche, Anyikaha, Akiraba, Ebonda, Ayikwo, Omodomu, Adoka, and Iren village settlement. Igede people live characteristically in villages and communities and exhibit communal life. Some other basic traits of the language include its tonal and descriptive nature which involves indirectly going round and round to explain what one has to say.
Duryll Forde (1970:141) had suggested that Igede language belongs to the “Kwa group” of African languages and closely associated with Idoma and Igbo languages as well as Yala in Cross River State and more or less a resemblance of Yoruba as part of the larger “Kwa Family”. What appear to have distinguished Igede language from the rest of the ‘Kwa family’ is that the neighboring groups exhibits three tonal levels while Igede has four and not tied to any syntactical construction or phonetic environment. According to Forde, Igede also has “a host of plural nouns distinguished by vowel prefixes from the singular”.
IGEDE MYEKEE, IHYOO!!!