Ejagham Obang

Obang is one of the three Ejagham clusters in Cameroon that make up part of the Ejagham nation in the world. The other two are Ngunaya and Njemaya.

Out of the 66 officially documented villages in this part of the Ejagham nation, 15 belong to the Obang Cluster.

The villages are Bayenti, Bayip Assibong, Etinkem, Akak, Bakogo, Mbinda Taboh and Okoroba. As well as Bayip Ossing, Osselle, Mgbegati, Abat, Bajo, Basu, Bakut, and Ekogate.

Alongside the other two, the Ejagham in Cameroon are politically lumped together in what is today, Eyumojock Sub Division, of Manyu Division, in the South West Region of the country.

Colonial trading routes from the interior of Cameroon and Nigeria all bypassed Obang villages living the entire territory without any modern motorable road up till today.

But the government has tried to make seasonal roads that are used mainly during the dry season, but mostly by motor bikes when heavy rains are around.

And being in the heart of the tropical rain forest, the rains are predominantly heavy and last for as many as eight months of the year.

So, Obang can only be penetrated on seasonal earth roads with one running from the Kumba-Mamfe highway at Nguti and Manyemen villages. From Ossing and Ayayukndeb villages in Ejagham Ngunaya there are earth roads leading to Obang villages.

From Ejagham Njemaya, one can penetrate right to Obang from Ndebaya village, on the Mamfe-Ekok road, through Inokun to Babong village, before reaching Bakogo, an Obang village.

Apart from these, there is no other means of getting to any Obang village from the Cameroon side of the border, apart from the many traditional foot paths. Like from Nkame in Nigeria, through Ekoneman Awa, to Araru, Okurikang and Babong to Bakogo.

Economic activities

Obang communities, like other forest zones in other parts of Cameroon, are gradually doing away with hunting and gathering, to settle for cash crop agriculture. They cultivate cocoa as a major cash crop, though food crop farming is gradually becoming important as the demand from nearby population centres like Kumba increases.

Like many other hinterland communities in the country, Obang suffers from serious rural exodus, as many young people abandon agriculture and move into towns to take up more economically rewarding activities.

Consequently, there is a noticeable concentration of Obang people in Fako Division, which is home to vast plantations of the Cameroon Development Corporation, CDC.

Apart from working for the CDC, some buy land and engage in farming around Fako villages, which have easy access to major national market centres like Douala, the country´s economic capital.

In this town, and Yaounde, many Obang indigenes are engaged in well-paid white-collar jobs, both in the private and public sectors of national economy.

Obang´s Ecotourism potentials

Obang is home to the Ejagham forest reserve that forms part of the Korup National Park in Cameroon. This year, the Korup National Park was declared a UNESCO world heritage site, meaning that it is now more protected and is being preserved for future generations.

Actually, the Korup National Park is but the eastern portion of the Cross River Gorilla Sanctuary, that covers Oban, Ikpai, and parts of Ojuk Clans, in Akamkpa Local Government Area of the Cross River State of Nigeria.

The ecotourism potentials of Obang are enormous, if they are developed. But presently, lack of all-season roads constitutes a major impediment. Also, there is lack of awareness among the natives of the benefits of this type of income earning activity, so they do not promote it nor do they mount pressure on government to open up the area for ecotourism business.

Those who have not moved out of the area still earn their livelihood from nature; with the varied species of animals, fish, tubers, leaves, fruits, nuts etc., that they collect or gather from the forests, constituting their sources of food and income. Tropical Wildlife is threatened to a point where, presently many animal species out of the protected area are extinct, not only in this part of Cameroon but across many other communities in the country.

So, the designation of this area as a world heritage site, could open a new chapter of life for Obang people, as Cameroon expects the world to design projects for the natives and provide jobs for them in order to keep farmers and hunters away from the protected heritage site.

By Cyprian Ntiamba Obi Ntui in Yaounde

Towns and Villages in Ejagham Obang Cluster

Bakogo Court Area

1. 1. 1. Abat
      2. Akak
      3. Bajo
      4. Bakogo
      5. Bakut
      6. Basu
      7. Bayenti
      8. Bayip-Arsibong
      9. Bayip-Ossing
      10. Ekugate
      11. Etinkem
      12. Mbinda-Taboh
      13. Mgbegati
      14. Okoroba
      15. Osselle