Ebira people

The Ebira (also spelt Igbira or Igbirra) are an ethno-linguistic group of Nigeria. Many Ebira people are from Kogi State, Kwara State, Nasarawa State, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and Edo State. Okene is said to be the administrative centre of the Ebira-speaking people in Kogi state, not far from the Niger-Benue confluence.Traditional Marriage in Ebira(Igbirra) LandEbira people, mostly living along the River Benue plain down and beyond the River Niger, are a tribe found in Kogi state in Okene, Okehi, Adavi and Ajaokuta local government areas and in some parts of Nassarawa and Edo states.

The word Ebira means behaviour when translated literally with ethics and hospitality as compliments. The unique features of the Ebira culture with its ethnic aestheticism, are appreciated most in the event of traditional marriages.

Victoria Mayaki sheds more light on this. When a man sees a lady he intends to marry, he discusses his intentions with her, who, if interested, tells him to bring his people to express his intentions to her parents.

In respect to the Ebira tradition, the man does not walk to the parents of the woman to disclose his intentions; his parents or elders mostly the women do this by going to the lady’s parents to introduce themselves and also to inform them of their reason for coming to the house.

After this is done, the parents of the lady then conduct a thorough investigation on the upbringing, background, family history and so on, of the intending groom to unravel...
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