Ejigbo: Untold Story of Osun Community’s Migration to Cote d’Ivoire

The recent return of 127 indigenous people from Côte d’Ivoire to Osun State was seen as a negative occurence and a bad news: some of the returnees tested positive for the dreaded COVID-19 virus. But what was most intriguing was the fact that such a large number of Nigerians which are from the same state and even from the same community were on pilgrimages in the West African country before their recent decision to return.

Many may be wondering what this large number of Nigerians were doing in Ivory Coast to generate the number of people who returned to Nigeria. They say that there is no family in Ejigbo that has no relations in Côte d’Ivoire.

It is believed that a road trip from Lagos to Abidjan, capital of Côte d’Ivoire, would take no less than 24 hours, but it is said that most families in Osun state have a relative in Abidjan. So for many years these Nigerians crossed that corridor and made Ivory Coast a home.

9jatoday discoveries has revealed that the ancestors of many of the migrants had lived in Côte d’Ivoire for more than 100 years. Today, the fourth or fifth generation of these migrants is common in Côte d’Ivoire, and many of them respond to names from Côte d’Ivoire because they were born and raised there. While they are fluent in the French language, only a few of them are able to speak satisfactory English. Surprisingly, however, most of them can speak Yoruba quite fluently.

Many of them are in business, traveling between Lagos and Abidjan. They usually come to Lagos and other parts of Nigeria to buy items they transport to Abidjan to sell. Some of them also try to connect the link with their place of origin by sending their children to Nigeria to acquire an education, so that they can speak English in addition to French.

According to the research results, the first group of migrants from Ejigbo moved to Côte d’Ivoire in 1902 and came to life in Treichville, a suburb of Abidjan by the name of Marcel Treich-Laplène (1860-1890), a Frenchman who was the first explorer of the Ivory Coast and its first colonial administrator.

Even before the discovery of Côte d’Ivoire as a commercial center, historically migrants from Ejigbo first settled in the Republic of Benin, Togo and Ghana.

It was said that they sold local fabrics, such as ‘kita’ (originally used by the royal family or by notable people on special occasions), as well as agricultural products, since the main occupations of the Ejigbo people are agriculture and hunting.

Currently, there is also direct commercial bus transport from Ejigbo to many Francophone African countries. This sometimes leads to illegal trafficking in individuals from Ejigbo to Côte d’Ivoire.

The Osun State Government, established a base under the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in 2014, for the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Ejigbo so as to stem the tide of illegal human trafficking, .

The former governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola said the approval of the base was based on the constant migration of the people of the city and the need to control the non-profit migration of the people to neighboring countries, in search of greener pastures.

In 2017, NAPTIP deplored the diminishing population of the city of Ejigbo, with the agency’s director-general, Julie Okah-Donli, describing the development as unfortunate.

“It is unfortunate that the population of Ejigbo, the seat of the local government area of Ejigbo, in the state of Osun, declined compared to the population of the city in 1959, said Okah-Donli, noting that the constant migration of people from Ejigbo was having a negative impact on the city’s educational, economic and commercial activities.

Corroborating his views, the NAPTIP zone commander in the southwest, Joseph Famakin, described Ejigbo as a desolate city because of the huge migration of its inhabitants to Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and other West African countries. Schools are affected because of the low enrollment resulting from the large number of people leaving the city.

Oba Omowonuola Oyesosin, the Ogiyan of Ejigbo, and some important indigenous people of the city, including a former President of the Osun State Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam, gave an idea of the ties between Ejigbo and Côte d’Ivoire.

Oba Oyesosin said that migrants from neighboring communities in Ejigbo usually claim to be from the city when they are in Abidjan. He said that many of the migrants are from Ede, Iragberi, Iwo and other neighboring communities claim Ejigbo when they are in Côte d’Ivoire, in order to gain acceptance from the Ejigbo indigenes who already are prolific in businesses in the West African country.

He said: “We are located between the Savannah belt and the forest region. As we have no commercial harvests, our people prefer to negotiate. When they negotiate, they go from place to place. There is nothing we can do about it. Our people go to the country (Ivory Coast) to buy goods that are not produced in Nigeria.

“Until our economy changes, especially when the government or individuals establish industries that produce the things that our people are buying in Côte d’Ivoire, the migration of our people may not stop.”

Hon. Salam’s position also gave credence to the monarch’s argument. He noted that the people of Ejigbo mainly work in business and most of them were born in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and other West African countries.

He said: “Most of our staff companies are based in Côte d’Ivoire. For a long time, our people have been there and used the money they received from there to send some of us to school here in Nigeria. Côte d’Ivoire is our own abroad.

“The migration of our people to another country affects us numerically. But in terms of the resources they are bringing to the community, it contributes immensely to our development. He built our community because, with the resources provided by our people, we join those of the government to bring about development. ”

He noted that all families in the Ejigbo community have migrants in Côte d’Ivoire, because they do this to help each other grow.

Salam believes that the departure and return point for Abidjan buses is in Ejigbo, because many of the indigenous people are in the transport business. As a result, many of the people facing Abidjan, Togo and other West African countries have made Ejigbo their favorite route. He noted that buses usually depart on Sunday and return to Ejigbo the following week.

Sharing childhood memories, Salam said he used to travel to Ivory Coast for a holiday while at school.

Oyetunde Julius, another native of the community, who said he was born in Ivory Coast and lived in the country for 25 years, also shared his experience. Julius, a teacher, said he only returned home from Côte d’Ivoire for higher education in 2006, having attended primary and secondary schools in that country.

He said that parents in neighboring communities distribute their children to learn a trade with migrants who are indigenous to Ejigbo. He said some of them even asked traders in Ejigbo to take their children to Côte d’Ivoire.

Julius said: “Whenever my mother visited Nigeria, especially Ejigbo, her relatives made sure that she went to Ivory Coast with a son to learn a trade with her.

“These children, when grown up in business, should expect their relatives to send goods to them and also build another child to become a successful professional.

“Some traders buy goods in Côte d’Ivoire and sell them in Nigeria, while donating some to those who trained them, but who returned.