Mayah Yesterday

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MAYA YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

Keynote Address Delivered By Prof. Joel P. Dada (NHSN)

University of Maiduguri, Nigeria

Represented By

James Edward Pamni

@

First Maya Peoples Assembly

Held @ Cortland Garden, Abuja, Nigeria

On Saturday 10th November, 2007.


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INTRODUCTIONI must begin this Keynote address by thanking those who

nominated me as a Keynote Speaker at this Unique and

historic event. I do not know their reasons for nominating me

as a Keynote Speaker. However, whatever their reasons for

nominating me, I consider the invitation as a privilege. The

organizers of the Anniversary Ceremony have asked me to

speak on the topic Maya Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. In

treating this topic, I assume that the framers want me to talk

above Maya as a nation or people.

THE MAYA YESTERDAY

To start with the word Maya is used to refer to Bali,

Kpasham and Yotti who speak Congo-Ubanpi language as

classified by Blench and others. Presently, the Maya arelocated in Demsa, Mayo Belwa Local Government areas of

Adamawa State and Lau Local Government area of Taraba

State. Majority of the people are agriculturalist, though there

are traders, herdsmen and civil servants among them.

Like any other ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Maya claim

that they entered the Nigeria region from the east. The Bali,for example claim that they entered the Nigerian region from

the Republic of Congo and through a gradual process, they

came and settled in their present geographical location. The

Yotti claim that they came into the Nigerian region from

Egypt. The Kpasham and Bomni denied any knowledge of


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distance movement. They claim that they came from Bachama

land, probably from Lamurde to the area they are now

occupying. However, linguistics evidence suggests that the

people are of Bantu origin. The evidence points to Republic of

Congo as their original homeland.

It is not known when the people left their original

settlement. Probably, the people must have left their original

settlement in the 17th Century by which time there was

population movement in the whole of the West, East and

Central Africa as a result of famine, fratricidal wars ad

chieftaincy tussle. The Maya might have formed part of thepopulation that migrated to the Lake chad basin area and, later

to the Upper Benue Valley. Before the declaration of the Jihad

in Fombina, in 1809, Maya had already settled in their various

communities and have developed village governments or

better still, community governments, independent of each

other.

Apart from these community governments set up by the

Maya, the people also had a well defined social and economic

system which rendered their societies stable. For example, one

aspect of the social life of the people is that the Maya had

great respect for life. In fact, the spilling of human blood was

seen as offensive to Kpan Biswi (Kpan Luh or Luwe, among

the Yotti and Kpasham respectively). Most Maya believed that

it was Kpan Biswi that guide and sustain their livelihood. To

the Maya, therefore, life was very sacred. The birth of a child

was greeted with joy not only by the parents but also by the

community as a whole. The growth and development of such a


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child was watched carefully by the entire community. He was

trained not only by his parents and relatives alone but by the

community as a whole. This made Maya child useful member

of his society.

Similarly, the death of a member was mourned by all

and was seen as a great loss to the entire Maya Community. In

short, there was social cohesion among the Maya people

before the advert of Colonialism. For instance, an attack on

any of the Maya Village by the enemy was seen as an attack

on all. Besides, individual farmers or other hunters assisted

their colleagues in time of need, especially through communalwork (Gaya in Hausa). To put it in another way, during pre-

colonial period, Maya Society was quite peaceful and people

were hard-working. Their quarrels were settled among them

peacefully, although on rare occasions, they resort to

skirmishes.

During the first decade of the 19th Century, Maya Landstarted to experience some political, economic and social

disequilibrium. The declaration of the Jihad in Fombina in

1809 by, Modibbo Adama affected not only the Maya but the

whole of the Upper Benue Region. The Jihadists attempted to

overrun the whole of Maya land but without success.

However, one devastating impact of this Jihad on the people

is that there was a population movement throughout Maya

land. In the process, many of the Maya lost their children,

their relatives, friends and possessions to the Jihadists. Even

before the declaration of the Jihad by Modibbo Lawan on


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Maya people, Mayaland had been under constant threats from

Fulani and Bachama slave raiders.

The threats posed to the Maya by the slave raiders and

the menace of the Jihadists, led to restriction of Maya social,

economic and political activities. Consequently, poverty

gradually started to gain inroad into the society. A missionary,

Ernest Engskor who visited Bali village in the early 1930S had

this to bay: Bali appeared to us to be one of the most

wretched, primitive and poverty stricken of African villages,

enslaved as the people were by ancient tradition and fear of

evil spirit. Our had been on exceptional and unique experiencefor it was almost as though these people had awakened from

their sleeping beauty enchantment to discover the great world

beyond their isolated society (Enskor, 1983:179). The Maya

was gradually tackling the problems of slave raiders and Fulbe

Jihadists, when British colonial masters extended their

activities to Maya land. Eventually the people were conquered

and brought under the British colonial administration in 1903.

1903 to 1912, the whole area South of Numan Town

was regarded as closed territory. It was not until after 1912

that Maya land, including those living in Mayo-Belwa and

Lau was opened to Christian missionaries. By 1940S,

colonialism and Christianity were deeply noted in Mayavillages. Indeed, while the Christian missions, especially the

United Sudan Mission (SUM) were busy softening the minds

of the people they saw as uncivilized, the British Colonial

Masters were taking their resources away for the development

of their home countries. The result is that Maya were left to


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face acute starvation and hanger. In this [1] way, colonialism

continued to destroy Maya economic, technology and self-

reliant development just as the slave raiders and Jihadists had

done. This was how the whole of Mayaland became a British

possession at the beginning of the 20th Century like any other

ethnic nationality in Nigeria. Indeed, slave trade and

colonialism were the major forces that set back Maya

development. The slave raiders dominated Maya homeland

and the British exploited Maya homeland and the British

exploited Maya resources.

Throughout colonial period, the Maya struggled to freehimself from colonial domination. In 1913, for example, one

of the Maya men short and wounded a British Touring Officer

who had gone to Bali for head account. In reprisal, Bali village

was attached and destroyed by the British punitive expedition.

It took the people years to build their village. But this did not

stop the people from opposing the British actively or

passively. On 1st October 1960, however, the Maya peopletogether with the rest of the ethnic groups in the country

gained political independence from Britain.

MAYA TODAY

Maya land today is a shadow of its pre-colonial setting.Both the settlements and the traditional institutions have lost

their glory. It will appear that Maya became famous on

account of its preeminence in farming and military powers.

The existence of fertile soil, abundant rainfall and iron ore

enabled the people of Maya lands to produce more food crops


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and military equipment than the neighboring Yandang,

Bwatye and, possibly, many other inhabitants of the

surrounding area. But this fame for food crops production and

military powers was completely lost by the beginning of the

20th century with the result that today not only is military

powers no longer displayed by the people but even the

agriculture which is the mainstay of the economy of the

people has declined greatly.

Nevertheless, the Kpaneship is still in existence. But

even then, the Kpane (District and village heads) no longer

performs traditional functions which are largely spiritual innature. These include directing religious festivals of Tamtale

among the Maya and Pille among the Yotti, held in November

and Yale held between October and December. These festivals

hitherto served as unifying factors where the young people in

the society come to meet and make friends with each other.

Not only that, it was during Tamtale (pille) that the age-grade

system among the people was perfected. These socialgatherings have virtually vanished without any attempt to

revive them, thereby reducing the people into inconsequential

elements in Adamawa and Taraba States.

One would have taught that what Maya may have lost in

the colonial period they have more than made up for in the

postcolonial Nigeria. But on the contrary, the people did not

make for anything they lost during colonial period. In spite of

the fact that the Maya were given opportunities by other ethnic

nationalities to make up for by electing and appointing them

as Chairmen of Local Government Councils, Vice-Chairmen


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members of the State Assemblies, Directors in States and

Federal Ministries, they could not make up for what they lost

during the colonial period. The people wasted the

opportunities and are now at the mercy of hunger, starvation

prevalence of diseases like HIV/AIDS and Malaria. A people

faced with these myriad of problems are bound to be indolent

and reserved. This make the people to become like a mud fish

always eating its tail during dry season when it is severed from

water and food. Thus, a man from Bali will prefer to vote a

non-Maya into the elected position than to vote for his brother

from Yotti, Dem and so on. Those who are interested in the

backwardness and lack of progress of the Maya people havealways used this disunity among the Maya for their own

advantage. No one among the Maya seems to understand this

dangerous trend.

Worse still, respect for elders in the Maya society has

since become a thing of the past. Instead, indiscipline among

the youths is the order of the day. There is no doubt that thesociety is seriously dislocated socially. Perhaps, we need

another set of Danish missionaries or missionaries from Israel

or elsewhere to assist these youth to locate their bearings in

the scheme of things in Maya society. But that is a wishful

thinking. We must wake up ourselves.

MAYA TOMORROW

In spite of the fact that Maya society is at the cross road

of total decay and collapse, this situation can be reversed for


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the better in the years ahead. The Maya leaders should as a

matter of urgency adopt what we may call grave-yard strategy

in tackling their socially political and economic problems.

The grave-yard strategy entails giving the sense of

direction and purpose through the provision of basic social

amenities. This will take the form of portable water supply,

electricity, network of roads, fertilizer, functional educational

system, especially vocational education. This will then call for

intensive lobbying of the stakeholders in the education

industry, economic sector and political endeavor. The Maya

personalities both in Yotti, Kpasham and Bali etc should puttheir contacts and diplomacy to play in order to secure some

share of states (Adamawa and Taraba) and Federal

Government facilities for the entire Maya society. The

personalities that are better placed to do this job include

politicians, academics, soldiers, polite, seasoned Maya

administrators, religious dignitaries and women folk.

But meeting the basic needs of the people in terms of

water supply, good roads, schools etc is not enough. The

people, especially the youths should be empowered politically

and economically. As regards to economic empowerment, one

would advocate for Maya Economic Summit It is during the

summit that economic problems facing the Maya nation willbe discussed. This summit should be followed by education

summit where the issue of vocational and technical education

will feature prominently. This forum will also discuss the

ways and means through which Maya culture will be

reviewed. The destiny and future of Maya society lies in the


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hands of its citizens. The Maya society will be for better if we

discourage disunity among ourselves. United we stand, divided

we fall says on English adage.

In conclusion, we have seen how Maya as a people

started their journey in Nigeria, the intrigues and hassles they

passed and are still passing through. In the process of their

journey into the Nigerian troubled waters, they have acquired

a lot of experiences whether bad or good, the Maya society

will be for the better in the years to come if they take their

destiny and future into their own heads. Ladies and gentlemen

thank you for listening and God in His infinite mercy bless allof us. I wish you fruitful deliberations during the subsequent

presentations.

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[1]Earnest, Engskor (1983). Adamawa Province: Reflections and Gongola State

London: Rooting Publicly Company. P. 179.

Documents

Mayah Yesterday