In Awe Local Government of Nasarawa State, salt mining through local process, which has been going on for nearly 200 years, is threatened by lack of government will to develop it into a modern industry
By Sunday Orinya/ Lafia
As you approach the town, a concrete signpost made by a member of the ubiquitous NYSC welcomes you to “Awe, the Salt City”. As you move into Awe town, the headquarters of the present Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, you start feeling a sense of deceit in the message because of the absence of city trappings or any sign of a salt industry to confirm that the town deserves the name.
There are no tarred roads, no pipe-borne water, no street lights, no decent hotel to accommodate visitors and, above all, no sign of a salt or any industry for that matter. In fact, electricity is a recent development in Awe, a town that is said to be approaching its third century of existence.
Why does Awe pride itself as a city? It is a city living completely on its past glory as a centre of commercial activities. Awe was discovered by a hunter from the Jukun ethnic group because of large deposits of salt in the area before the fall of Kwararafa empire. It is now inhabited largely by Hausas called the Katsinawas, the Jukuns and the Kanuris.The Jukun hunter is believed to have been attracted to settle in the area when he found out that animals wander there to drink the salt water found in ponds in the fadama during dry season each time he came there on hunting expedition. He was later joined by the Katsinawas who came for slave trade and Islamic evangelism. Awe had a meteoric rise both as an industrial and commercial centre, in those days, owing largely to high volume of economic activities revolving round salt mining and trade. Over 95 per cent of the women population were said to be involved in salt production then.
The high demand for common salt, which is used by every household, made Awe popular as a salt producing town. It is said that people from Sokoto, Bauchi, Gombe, Maiduguri and other northern towns and beyond came with horses and donkeys to buy the legendary Awe salt. The large deposits of the substance both at the surface level on land and water ensured that the product was never in short supply. Consequently, Awe as a town, grew in prominence while its salt gained wide acceptability because of its quality.
The simple production process involves getting the salt sand from the fadama, otherwise known as the salt field, to the village where the production process takes place. The sand is mixed with salt water in a clay pot and the water is allowed to drip down the open at the bottom of the pot into a container placed underneath the basin. This water is then boiled in an open basin or pot until it dries up, leaving a shining substance that is the table salt. This rudimentary process has endured from the 17th century to date.
The salt is then packed into a basin or bag where it is moved to the market for sale. A basin of salt, according to Madam Kande Aliyu, who says she has been producing and selling salt for over 50 years, currently sells for N1500. Smaller measures sell from N20. According to Alhaji Abubakar Umar II, the Sarkin Awe and paramount ruler of Awe Local Government, salt mining takes place in Awe largely during the dry season, between December and April. This is a period when flood water from the fadama where there is large deposit of salt would have receded. The dry season is also used to stockpile sand at home for use during rainy season.
Every family in the community has a portion of land within the fadama where they exclusively mine their salt. The administration of the entire salt land is in the hands of a leader known as Sarkin Gishiri, head of salt. He plays the important role of ensuring that every family has access to the salt field and he settles disputes arising from salt issues. Alhaji Dahiru Usman, the current Sarkin Gishiri of Awe, told this magazine that he can identify each portion of land with their owners in the mine field. He estimated there are over 2000 portions belonging to families and prominent individuals like the paramount ruler and other title holders in the area.
Salt abounds everywhere in Tsoho Awe, the old settlement where salt mining is predominantly done. This is the area that the founders of the town first settled. It is an upland surrounded by the fadama that is called the salt field. There is high salinity both in water from every source and in the soil. Building foundations and metals suffer greatly from the corrosive effect of salt. In the fadama, warm salty water flows freely from the underground and a white thin layer of salt is visible at different locations. At a point, hot water gushes out in high current ceaselessly from a pipe. The pipe was planted there by an unnamed organisation which attempted to sink a borehole several years ago and abandoned it because of its high salt content. The hot water has become a tourist attraction just as has the local salt production that has endured for centuries.
There seems to be no serious attempt to go into industrial production of this mineral deposit by government and individuals. Although geological surveys have been conducted and the salt in Awe is said to be of high standard and commercial quantity, the reports are still gathering dust in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Lafia.
The World Tourism Organisation led by Mr. Jim Flannery visited the local government in April 2005 to examine how to develop the place into a tourist centre. A source at the state’s Ministry for Tourism and Culture revealed that the visitor submitted a letter to the state government under former governor Abdulahi Adamu. The UNICEF in 2002 provided the local salt producers with an iodine blending machine to ensure that the salt they produce has iodine content to prevent goitre. Although locals readily accepted the use of the machine, they said they could not get any supply of iodine to blend their salt with until the building where the machine was installed collapsed.
In spite of the high consumption of this locally refined salt which is usually believed to be lacking in iodine content, the indigines affirmed cases of goitre are hard to come by. Dr Ujah Igoche, the Medical Director in charge of General Hospital, Awe, confirmed this to TheNEWS. “Cases of goitre is very low but it could be that people are not reporting them to the hospital or the consumption of other food items rich in iodine is preventing it,” he explained. The medical officer, who has been practising in Awe for five years, however, expressed fear at the high rate of high blood pressure among all age brackets in the area. This, he said, could have been caused by high salt consumption.
In spite of the cultural attachment of the people of Awe to salt, the volume of economic activities in its production seems to be declining daily. This is due to the competition from industrial refined salts and influence of western education which has reduced the number of young ladies involved in the business. The Sarkin Awe, Alhaji Usman II, feared that salt production could become extinct if nothing is done urgently to site a modern salt industry in the area. “In the past, almost 99 per cent of women and girls in this community engaged in salt production. Now less than 10 per cent are engaged in it because the girls have to go to school and the old women can no longer do it because it is labour intensive,” he lamented.
The tradional ruler said the late Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim attempted to site a salt industry in the area in the 1960s but the project was later abandoned. Since then, there has not been any attempt by any organisation or government to exploit the mineral deposit. Alhaji Kasimu Atonyajaoh, the Awe Local Government Director of Personnel Management and acting chairman of the council, said the lack of a factory to mine the large deposit of salt in the area has been a major concern of the council. He expressed the willingness of the council to assist any organisation willing to tap the mineral deposit. Not a few observers are wondering why Nasarawa State, which prides itself as the home of solid minerals, has failed to build an industry in Awe to develop its industrial and tourism potentials. A young man told this magazine that the place has been neglected for political reasons. “When you don’t have big men in your place, nothing happens there, that is why an old local government like Awe has remained like this,” he contended.
Alhaji Mustapha Aliyu, Nasarawa State Commissioner for Information, asserted that the Alhaji Akwe Doma government is committed to tapping from the mineral deposits in the state. “Industrial development is one of the government’s 13-point agenda and you can be sure it will ensure that salt in Awe is given the attention it deserves very soon. What the governor is doing now is to lay a very solid infrastructural foundation for the industrial take-off of the state,” he said.
Comment