A Century Later, A New Beginning
The ongoing Idoma Centenary celebration is proving to be far more than a remembrance of a colonial administrative arrangement. It is emerging as a historic moment of reconciliation, inclusion, and historical correction for the many peoples brought together under the old Idoma Division, especially the Akweya, Ufia, and Igede communities.
For decades, many minority groups within the former Idoma Division quietly carried the burden of misrepresentation, exclusion, and misnaming. The Ufia people were often incorrectly referred to as "Utonkon", a label many Ufia intellectuals and cultural advocates reject because it reduces an entire ethnic identity to a geographic association. Similarly, the Akweya people were repeatedly called "Akpa", a nomenclature outsiders popularised but which many Akweya people do not use to describe themselves. These seemingly small naming issues carried deeper implications about voice, recognition, and dignity.
That is why the current centenary celebration feels different.
The Role of a History Professor
Under the leadership of Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, the Idoma Centenary celebration has become a platform for historical honesty rather than ethnic triumphalism. Ochefu, a respected professor of economic history and development studies, has consistently clarified that the celebration does not mean the Idoma people are merely 100 years old. Rather, Idoma Centenary celebration commemorates the creation of the Idoma administrative division by British colonial authorities in the early 1920s, an arrangement that brought together numerous culturally connected but distinct peoples under one structure.
[The Centenary celebration] opens the possibility of a future where every group can proudly preserve its language, oral traditions, ancestry, and cultural memory while still contributing to a broader regional unity.
That distinction matters profoundly.
By openly acknowledging that the old Idoma Division included non-Idoma-speaking groups such as the Igede, Ufia, and Akweya, the centenary committee is quietly rewriting the political culture of the region. It signals that belonging does not require erasing identity.
The Idoma Centenary celebration is therefore becoming an opportunity to correct inherited colonial and postcolonial distortions. Instead of forcing everyone into a single cultural narrative, the centenary is embracing plurality within shared history. That alone marks a turning point.
Different Administrations Coming Under One
Equally important is the intellectual seriousness guiding the process. Ochefu’s historical explanations have grounded public discussions in scholarship rather than sentiment. He has carefully explained how communities across today’s Benue South were previously administered under different colonial provinces before being merged into the Idoma Division after ethnographic surveys commissioned in 1919. His intervention has helped many younger people understand that “Idoma” was not originally a rigid ethnic label but also an administrative and linguistic framework.
For Akweya, Ufia, and Igede communities, this will create a new space for participation without surrendering identity. It opens the possibility of a future where every group can proudly preserve its language, oral traditions, ancestry, and cultural memory while still contributing to a broader regional unity.
In many ways, this may become the greatest achievement of the Idoma Centenary celebration: not merely celebrating the past but finally creating room for all the peoples of the former Idoma Division to see themselves fully reflected in the story.
