My home town

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Dear Steemians, here's my home town at a glance, it's culture and the peculiar characteristics of the people.

It's my pleasure writing about my community, Lude Ahiara, Ahiazu Mbaise Local Government Area, Imo State.

A serene and beautiful abode of about 50,000 people in population and uniquely hospitable. The community was granted autonomous status in the mid nineties.

The first traditional Ruler of the community was the late Eze Jude Sunday Anyamele (Ude 1 of Lude). Prior to her autonomous status, it was part and parcel of Oru/Lude/Nnarambia autonomous community until December 7, 1997.

Lude is one of the ten villages that make up the great Ahiara clan (Ahiara Ofor Iri). According to oral history, during the colonial period, a helicopter was used to conduct aerial survey of the entire space of Mbaise, and this community was found to be the heart and trigger of Mbaise.

Recall, the original Douglas Road to the famous court Uzoaku where cases were adjudicated passed through the community.

The common language spoken here is Igbo (Intelligent Generation, Blessed Originators) with slight dialectical variation as obtained in other clans within and around Mbaise.

Our main dishes and delicacies are mainly the sumptuous ugu mmanu (prepared with a particular specie of cocoa yam leaf) in addition to dry fish, craw fish, meat and reasonable quantity of fresh res palm oil. It could be devoured with cassava fufu, semovita, wheat or garri.

In some hamlets, it is only prepared occassionally e g during the New Yam festival (Ji Mbaise) celebrated August 15 Annually, traditional marriage ceremony, Chieftaincy installation or Priestly Ordination.

When one hears that Mbaise is the Ireland of Africa, that is they have large number of Catholic Priests, Lude has a fair share of that as almost every family or homestead has either had one or about raising one. Some families have both ordained priest and professed religious sister.

Every member of my community understands and appreciates the role education plays in the life of a people, especially in human capacity and community development , hence, there is that competitive disposition by all to give the best education could offer to their children and wards.

Among the over 200 Professors that are of Mbaise origin in Nigeria and the diaspora, six Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), and six University Vice Chancellors, Lude produced it's own share.

The major land mark structures that marks the community out for easy identification, even for first time visitors from distant lands are St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Community Primary School Lude, Ahiazu Comprehensive Secondary School Lude, Lude Community Health Centre and Nkwo Lude Daily Market.

In Lude Autonomous community could be found Pa Phillip Obilor's upstair building erected alongside that of Eze Onyekwere of Nnarambia Ahiara in the year 1917 as well as the one of Chief DD Okpuruka, built in the year 1955.

Another highlight worthy of note about modern Lude is the widely acknowledged exploits of the younger generation in commerce, industry and international trade. Any encounter with ten Mbaise indigenes in any part of the globe making progress in any field of endeavour, one of them must be an indigene of Lude.

They could be identified in Gabon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Malawi, Lesotho, Cameroon, Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and other continents of the world.

LAND SPACE CHALLENGE IN LUDE

The invest at home mantra of Lude people, both at home and in the diaspora has led to several land acquisition for projects like Housing Estate, Plantation (Palm or plantation), Agro Allied industries, hospitality industry among others.It has got to the extent that a plot of land in Lude sales between three to four million naira, depending on site.

Recently, developers and investors brought an institution (Lumina University, Mbaise Nigeria) from the University of New Jersey, USA, to be sited in a land space spanning Lude community and Obeama Nguru village in neighbouring Aboh Mbaise LGA.

According to them, they found the land space and topography appropriate for what they had in mind and went about lobbying and meeting family heads, youths and titled men in Lude community to help facilitate the project.

In unison, Lude indigenes turned down the offer including mouth watering inducements. In response, they were of the view that the huge number of their children, grand children and great grand children outside the shores of the village would eventually need a convenient space in their ancestral home.

That is a common characteristic of the people when it comes to principle. Even agents were sent to them severally with mouth watering carrots individually, in kindreds and families, yet to no avail. Among these rural folks were not only retirees, but peasant farmers, petty traders, palm wine tappers etc.REVIVAL OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE

With the recent installation and inauguration of the young traditional Ruler if the community HRH Eze Cyril Uwaoma PhD, Ude 2 and Ohazurumee of Lude, mechanism has been put in motion to revive the age long wrestlling contest among the eight kindreds that make up the community. Nkwo Lude market has witnessed new and modern structures and made a daily market.

An educationist and serving secondary school principal, Eze Cyril Uwaoma holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management and matters of education are given priority attention. Also given a new lease of life are the annual inter village sports competition, school quiz, debate and Essay competition that kept the young lads busy all year round and meaningfully too.

Anti social behaviour is much abhored in Lude Autonomous community. The punishment to any identified offender extends to the nuclear family too for raising and pushing out to the community a nuisance. This measure has no doubt helped to keep people on their toes and vigilant as well.

In Lude, successful merchants and professionals are encouraged to ignore whatever prejudices beclouding their minds and mentor, tutor or train whoever one could lay hands on in the community and leave the reward for God our creator who gives back double fold.

                   SECURITY

Lude community has in place a Vigilante Outfit. Trained by the personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence, these young men and women are deployed to all border spots with neighbouring villages, and kindreds both day and night to keep watch and maintain order. Working in collaboration with the regular security agencies, smarting out in their combatant uniform, armed with pump action riffle, identification name tags on their breast pocket, their welfare are well taken care of.

There is a common fund where indigenes living abroad pay in their monthly levies and free will donations alongside taxable adults in the community to ensure seamless operation.

Extra resources are also raised through the annual palm tree closure, after which it is harvested and sold to the women at pocket friendly rates to empower them economically.

Brand New Motor Cycles were purchased in bulk and handed to them alongside other gadgets for effective service delivery.

A notable event that has refused to fizzle out is the generous donation of various types of food stuff during the Corinna virus Covid 19 pandemic. It came in handy during the kick down between 2020 and early part if 2022.

For three consecutive times, donations received from Umu Lude abroad, especially those in African countries amounted to over five million naira. By the time it was shared, each family had to look for truck to ferry materials shared out to them.

As Lude indigenes are found in every corner of the globe, so do they find their missing ribs over there. The community and her people do not raise any objections to this as our own daughters marry outside too.

One good thing is that these foreign women married into the community testify that they would not have wished for less. Incidentally, my own sibbling Anacletus Anyanwu who resides in Botswana married a lady Ruth Tomaida Anyanwu, Nee Nyongani, a damsel from Central Kabwe Zambia, South African sub region.

Our own sister Ogechi while studying Nursing in England married to a man from Lesotho. The husband is the Speaker of the Parliament of the country.

This is the extent our reach as a people and forwarding looking community. Making her a community to reckon with.