Igbide

Igbide is an Isoko clan located in the Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria.^[1]

The predominant occupation of the Igbide is fishing. This is done mainly in the Urie lake, Owodokpokpo. In the first week of February the clan holds a festival on the Urie marking the start of the fishing season.^[2] Cultivation, mainly of cassava and groundnuts, is also undertaken by the Igbide.

While popular folklore has it that the Igbide people originated from Mgbidi in the Eastern (Igbo) part of Nigeria, some more recent writers attribute their origins to Awka in present day Anambra state with a blend of later immigrants from Uvwie (Effurun) in Delta State .^[3] This affiliation to the Igbos can be observed in the dress and costume codes of the Igbides in festivals like ABAME.,^[4] and the salutation sequence and chants as well as the mercantile nature of a typical Igbide man. The Igbide people took early to Christianity.^[5] Owodokpokpo, a community in Igbide clan, is regarded as one of the main entry points of Christianity into Isoko land.^[6]

Igbide is also an oil producing community and host to Shell's Oroni oilfield.

References

1. "Delta Clans: Local Government Councils, Clans, Ethnic Groups and Titles of Their Traditional Rulers". Delta State Government. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
2. "Urie Fishing Festival of Igbide". Delta State Government. Retrieved 2009-01-17.
3. Nowamagbe Omoigui, M.D. "Reply to Peter Ekeh on Benin-Urhobo Relationships".
4. "Abame festival of the Igbide people of Isoko South L.G.A of Delta State, Nigeria".
6. Erivwo, Samuel U. "History of Christianity In Nigeria The Urhobo, the Isoko, and the Itsekiri Chapter Three C.M.S. Administration". Retrieved 2009-01-17.