Divided at Home, United Abroad: Assessing the Bases and Impact of Intra-Mbum Integration in the Mambilla Plateau of Nigeria
- October 1, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: History, IJRISS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue IX, September 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Richard Tanto Talla1, Reymond Njingti Budi2
1Associate Professor of History and Archeology, The University of Bamenda, Cameroon
2PhD Candidate, Department of History and Archaeology, The University of Bamenda, Cameroon
Abstract: This paper focuses on analyzing life in Mbum communities in the Mambilla Plateau of Taraba State in Nigeria particularly in the towns of Gembu, Nguroje, Maisamari, Jalingo, Kakara, Furmi, Yerrmaru and Mayo Ndaga. In spite of their background of ethnic disintegration at home (in the Nkambe Plateau of Cameroon), the Mbum in the Mambilla Plateau, Taraba State, Nigeria, have forged a strong sense of ethnic integration and constituted themselves into a unit. With the aid of a wide range of source materials including written, oral and field observations, the paper launches an inquest into integration among the Mbum in the Mambilla Plateau. It submits that a number of factors conspired to knit the Mbum in the Mambilla Plateau into an ethnic bond and this significantly influenced their interactions.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Mbum occupy part of the present-day Donga-Mantung (formerly the Nkambe Division) of the North West Region of Taraba state was created out of the former Gongola State on 27 August 1991, by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida. This saw the split of Gongola State into Taraba and Adamawa States. Taraba State consists of sixteen (16) Local Government Areas (or LGAs). They are governed by elected chairmen. They include: Ardo Kola, Bali, Donga, Gashaka, Gassol, Ibi, Jalingo (headquaters), Karim Lamido, Kurmi, Lau, Sardauna, Takum, Ussa, Wukari, Yorro and Zing. Taraba also played host to significant numbers of Mbum indigenous people. The geography of the state contributed greatly to this phenomenon. Taraba State is bounded to the west by Nasarawa and Benue States, to the northwest by Plateau State, to the north by Bauchi and Gombe States, to the northeast by Adamawa State, and to the east and south by Donga-Mantung Division of Cameroon. As the most proximate Nigerian State to the Nkambe Plateau, Taraba also distinguishes itself as one of the largest states in Nigeria (third out of thirty-six states) in terms of surface area. With agriculture being its main activity, there is no doubt that the state served as host to significant Mbum settlements. These settlements included predominantly: Gembu, Nguroje, Maisamari, Jalingo, Kakara, Furmi, Yerrmaru, and Mayo Ndaga. See Toyin Falola and Ann Genova, “Historical Dictionary of Nigeria”. Jon Woronoff (Ed.), Historical Dictionaries of Africa No. 111. (Lanham, Maryland, Toronto, Plymouth, UK, 2009), 337.
