Overview
The Nwonyo Fishing Festival is a communal fishing competition held on the Nwonyo Lake near Ibi in Taraba State, drawing fishermen and spectators from across the region for a day of open-water fishing contests, boat displays and cultural entertainment. Rooted in the fishing traditions of communities along the Benue River system, the festival has grown into a wider cultural and tourism event, with cash prizes for the largest catches and performances by traditional dance and masquerade groups from the area.
History and origin
Nwonyo Lake has long been an important fishing ground for communities living along the Benue River near Ibi, and the festival grew out of local customs of communal fishing that marked particular points in the agricultural and fishing calendar. Traditional and local government authorities in the area formalised the event into an annual festival to celebrate the lake's role in local livelihoods and to showcase the fishing skills of the surrounding communities. It has since attracted support from Taraba State's tourism authorities as a means of promoting the state's cultural heritage and natural attractions to a wider audience.
What happens
On the day of the festival, fishermen from communities around Nwonyo Lake enter the water together at a signal, competing to catch the largest fish using traditional methods such as nets, traps and bare hands, while spectators gather along the banks to watch. Prizes are awarded to those who land the biggest or most notable catches, presented by traditional rulers or local government officials. Alongside the fishing competition, cultural troupes perform traditional dances and music, and canoe and boat displays take place on the lake. The event draws visitors from across Taraba and neighbouring states, and stalls selling food and local crafts operate around the festival grounds throughout the day.
When it takes place
during the dry season, on a date set by the local organising committee each year
Where a date is set by a traditional council, a lunar calendar or the harvest, it changes from year to year. Confirm locally before making plans around it.
Where to see it
Nwonyo Lake, near Ibi, Taraba State
The people behind it
JukunThe Jukun live mainly in Taraba State, particularly around Wukari, Takum and the Benue valley, with related communities in Gombe, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Plateau States. They are widely associated with the historic Kwararafa confederacy, a powerful political and military presence in the middle Benue region between roughly the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, though historians dispute how centralised or how extensive Kwararafa actually was, and how directly today's Jukun institutions descend from it. The most prominent surviving Jukun political institution is the Wukari Federation, headed by the Aku Uka, whose court retains considerable ceremonial and cultural authority. Jukun communities have traditionally combined farming, fishing along the Benue and Katsina-Ala rivers, and trade. Religious affiliation today spans Christianity, Islam and traditional practice, and the Aku Uka's court continues to be associated with masquerade and royal ritual even where individual Jukun have converted to other faiths. Jukun relations with neighbouring groups, notably the Tiv, have at times been marked by land and political tension, particularly around Wukari and Taraba more broadly.Spotted something wrong? Tell us.