The Kirike People: a brief introduction by Monibo A.

Sam, PhD This summary write-up offers a glimpse of the Kirike people and culture, hopefully wetting the readers appetite for more about them. It skims their social organization, core economic activity and hints at adaptation.

The Kirike people (also called the Wakirike people, or the Okrika people) are part of the ethnic Ijawsi in the Rivers State, Nigeria, that inhabit the southern-most part of the country, the Niger delta estuaries. Okrika clan or Kirike Se, comprised of nine towns, Okrika, Ogoloma, Ibaka, Ogbogbo, Ogu, Abuloma, Isaka, Bolo, and Ele, locates on the extreme eastern edge of the Delta, where the saltwater creeks and mangrove swamps give way to the extensive dry ground of the mainland (Williamson 1962). A number of these towns, like Okrika and Ogoloma, have satellite towns called iwo-ama (new towns). The nucleus of the clan from which the earliest settlers migrated to form the other settlements that comprise the clan is the island of Okrika which hosts Okrika, Ogoloma, Ibaka and Ogbogbo. The island settlers were themselves said to have settled first at Okochiri from where they migrated to the island. The story of the first or earliest settlers of this island, especially the Okrika portion of it, is shrouded in the local politics of kingship. Oral tradition places the first settlers arrival in the fourteenth century but archaeological excavations at Okochiri and Ogoloma place the first settlement time in the tenth or eleventh century (Ogan 1988). Like city-states elsewhere in the region, Kirike Se lost its political independence to colonialism. Thereafter, the colonial and post-colonial

governments administered the clan as part of different administrative units at different points in time. This ended in 1989 when the Se became a local government area (LGA)ii. The local government reform of 1996 created another local government area in the clan, giving it two local government areas: the Ogu/Bolo Local Government Area, and the

Wakirike Local Government Area. Thus, today, Kirike Se has two local government areas with a total population of 203,351 (National Population Commission 1991). Each town is organized into War-Canoe Houses called wari or omu-aruiii, the basic unit of social administration in Kirike Se. Originally based on the extended family, the population of the wari grew with the addition of slaves, through natural reproduction, and the absorption of new immigrants and refugees. As the name suggests, the WarCanoe House was a fighting unit capable of providing and replenishing the manpower and supplies needs of a war-canoe. A middleman role Okrika played between the

hinterland and Bonny in the trade in slaves and later palm produce transformed these combat units into trading outfits (Dike 1956; Jones 1964; Williamson 1962). As a fighting and trading corporation, the War-Canoe House was led by the Chief called Alabo or Waridaboiv. The war-canoe house remains the basic unit of social/cultural

administration in Kirike Se, although it has since lost its fighting and trading rolesv. Like other Ijaws in the region, the Kirike people are marine dwellers, fishing, river and littoral, being their primary and traditional occupation. Ancillary vocations, for instance in weaving, developed around this primary occupation, with some involvement in trading, and farming in the satellite towns. Men and women engage in fishing

although they use different methods and gears as defined by gender norms. Male fishing is a well structured endeavor with clearly defined statuses that are identified with specific locations in the canoe, the central instrument in this occupation. At the bottom of the hierarchy in this occupation is the midstream man (arubiri bo) who sits in the middle of the canoe. Next comes the steersman (dukuno bo) who occupies the rear or head of the canoe from which he steers the vessel. The bow-man (kulo bo) has the seat in the fore-

front of the canoe, at the top of this hierarchy. These constitute the role-set, the unit of fishing enterprise in Kirike Se. Using duration as the criterion, fishing in Kirike Se is differentiated into three typesvi: tidal, short-term and long-term. All fishing is essentially tidal: parties depart and return with the tide typically leaving with an ebbing tide and returning with a flowing or full tide, each trip lasting approximately six hours, with the duration varying by the proximity/distance of the fishing spot. The town is the point of departure in this

classification: whether unit members return to their families on the same day (tidal), or they stay away for lengths of time (short/long-term). Short or long-term trips are

differentiated by length of stay in the fishing port/settlement (borokiri), the threshold being about one month beyond which the perception of a long-term expedition (bolo bori) sets in. Short/long-term fishing trips led to the establishment of fishing

ports/settlements. A number of the ancient fishing settlements of the Kirike people have developed into major modern towns/cities. Notable among these is Port Harcourt, a national commercial and industrial nerve center that also serves as the seat of power of the Rivers State. Male children were introduced to fishing via an elaborate system of tutelage nestled in the intricate network of kinship material and emotional exchanges, obligations and reciprocities called yekoma. Yekoma placed the male child, early in life, in the nexus of kinship transactions, establishing a place for him in the group, and cultivating the material and social goodwill and support to nurture him to adulthood and forge a productive life for him as an adult member of the group. Taken under his wings by his father or attached to a kinsman as a mentor, the male child commenced the training at the

bottom of the occupational hierarchy as aru biribo, graduated with age and competence to be dukuno bo, becoming kulo bo when his mentor set him up with the requisite tools of the occupation, a process called kulo pakama and acquires a wife for him. Later, as an accomplished fisherman or father, he would be called upon to mentor young males, placing him at the other end of the yekoma relationship. Thus, in contrast to its literal meaning servitude, yekoma, as an institutionalized process of economic socialization for male children, was rooted in the value of reciprocity, governed by norms regarding expectations for those involved, sanctions for defaulters and remedies for the aggrieved, provisions that safeguard against the blatant exploitation implied in its literal translationvii. The Kirike people have no comparable system of economic socialization for girls who are raised by their mothers and other women in the lineage. There is, however, an elaborate and colorful rite of passage for girls, the famous iria ceremony, which has been well documentedviii. Besides its festive and colorful external trappings, maidens are actually given instructions on their roles as mother and wife by adult/older women during the period of seclusion jukuru so. Contact with the West, as is the case elsewhere, has wrought significant changes in the culture of the Kirike people from governance to how to eke out a living. The warcanoe house remains the fundamental pillar of the socio-cultural organization of the people but authoritative decisions about them, issues of law and order in their daily lives, are made by the modern state. With the demise of the traditional economy, Kirike

parents have embraced the modern school system, rather than yekoma, to impart to their children, the values, skills, and knowledge needed for productive adult life. Unlike their

forebears who reserved schooling as a privilege for their male children, todays parents send their children, male or female, to school. Overall, the Kirike culture is dynamic, adapting to meet the challenges and needs of the people and time, while retaining its distinctiveness. This is as true of the war-canoe house arrangement as it is of the iria ritual which has morphed into variants (like Tamuno-iria) to suit the sensibilities of the time.

Sources cited Awoala, E.B.A.P. (1983) Culture of a People. Port Harcourt: Rivers State Newspaper Corporation. Dike, K. O. (1956). Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta, 1830-1885. Jones, G. I. (1963). The Trading States of the Oil Rivers. London: Oxford University Press. Ogan, Charles. (1988). Unity of a People: Search for Peace in Okrika, Rivers State, Nigeria. Port Harcourt: Georjek (Nig) Ltd. Opuogulaya, E. D. W. (1975). The Cultural Heritage of the Wakirike (The Okrika People). Port Harcourt: Rivers State Council of Arts and Culture. Williamson, Kay. (1962). Changes in the marriage system of the Okrika Ijo. Africa: Journal of International African Institute, Vol. 32, No. 1: 53-60.
End-Notes
i

This name is sometimes spelt Ijo, or Izon.

ii

The equivalence of county. It was called Wakirike LGA (WALGA). Wakirike is a self-descriptive term used to refer to the collective, stressing sameness or unity, literally translating we are not different. Okrika is the anglicized term for Okirike meaning you (plural) are not different or he is not different, respectively expressing recognition of the groups unity by others, and identification of an individuals bond with the group.
iii

Literally, wari means house and omu-aru means warship. In this usage, wari does not refer to a physical residential structure but a group of people who could trace themselves to a common ancestor (biological or social) and who could man and supply a war-canoe. The manpower need of the war-canoe is set at between forty and fifty fighters (Awoala 1983; Opuogulaya 1975). A number of wari combine to form wards called biri, a number of which make the town. Within the biri, a number of wari in a contiguous space make polo.

iv

Literally, alabo means wealthy person, and waridabo means leader of the house. The former seems to have evolved when wealthy persons, typically men, emerged who could equip a war-canoe having accumulated wealth, slaves and materials, as conduits through whom trade with Europeans passed.
v

The war-canoe house is the basic unit of social-cultural administration in contemporary Kirike Se. This is recognized by modern institutions of government like the police and the courts in the settlement of disputes whether these are over land ownership or marriage enacted outside the legal system.
vi

The fishing trip/expedition is called ko-on. Yekoma served the male child from yaa or iyaa marriage. A parallel practice to which the male child from igwa marriage was subjected has no name in the Kirike language but which Awoala (1983) called wardship is often mistaken for yekoma (Williamson 1962). The igwa child belonged in his mothers family, and her brother or lineage head had charge over him. He could take him under his wings and the practice, in all appearances, looks like yekoma except that the childs maternal uncle or lineage head had no equivalent obligations regarding his economic independence or marital status in adulthood.
vii viii

The video Mondays Girls by Lloyd Gardner (1993) documents one girls protest of this ritual.