Why Hasn't Ibusa Mapped Its Community for Public Use?

 Why Hasn't Ibusa Mapped Its Community for Public Use?

By Emeka Esogbue

As I embark on another authorship project, "The Nigerian Civil War: An Ibusa Perspective," I find myself asking a question that many local historians confront when documenting their communities:

"Why hasn't Ibusa produced a comprehensive map of its community for public use?"

It is a legitimate question and one that many researchers, historians, and heritage enthusiasts have pondered. Given the number of accomplished academics, geographers, surveyors, engineers, and planners the Ibusa community has produced over the years, one might expect that a definitive, publicly accessible map of the community would already exist.

The more intriguing question is this: "Why has a comprehensive, community-led cartographic project never been completed or widely made available to the public?"

From my observation, it is not that cartographic work on Ibusa has never been undertaken; rather, much of it remains inaccessible. Surveyors and geographers from the community, as well as researchers from institutions such as Delta State University, University of Benin and the Federal Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, have undoubtedly produced maps relating to Ibusa's hydrology, topography, transportation network, and land use. These often appear in Ph.D. dissertations, master's theses, academic journal articles, consultancy reports, or internal government planning documents. Unfortunately, very little of this work finds its way into the public domain in the form of clear, high-resolution maps that can serve educational, historical, or cultural purposes. Not even even the Delta State Library, Ibusa can boast of an Ibusa atlas.

There are several possible reasons for this.

First, much of Ibusa's geographical knowledge was traditionally transmitted orally. The locations of quarters, streams, shrines, farmlands, footpaths, and community boundaries were passed from one generation to another through lived experience rather than through detailed cartographic records. People knew where places were because they grew up within the landscape, and there was little perceived need to document what everyone already understood. Frequently, there have been some disagreements over land boundaries among the Idumu or Ogbe (quarters) of the community (ikpe ani).

Second, colonial mapping served different objectives. British surveyors generally produced maps for administration, taxation, road construction, and land management. As a result, they often overlooked features that are invaluable to community historians, such as traditional quarter boundaries, sacred groves, age-grade meeting places, customary footpaths, and other aspects of indigenous spatial organization. These were simply outside the scope of official colonial cartography. No one ever saw a British-made atlas showing the Ibusa features such as rivers, roads, shrines etc.

Third, community organisations have understandably prioritised development projects such as roads, schools, scholarships, healthcare, electricity, and other infrastructure. They achieve these with fundraising or philanthropies. Historical cartography and heritage documentation have rarely featured among those priorities.

Today, however, circumstances have changed. There is an increasing need to preserve and document Ibusa's historical geography for future generations. At a minimum, the community should have a modern physical map showing its rivers, streams, roads, settlements, and neighbouring communities. Beyond that, there is a need for a traditional map illustrating the three Otu divisions, the ten traditional quarters, important cultural landmarks, and historically significant sites. Such maps would be invaluable to historians, students, researchers, tourists, policymakers, and members of the Ibusa community both at home and in the diaspora. The maps will prove to reduce land disputes.

Admittedly, producing such maps is neither simple nor inexpensive. Professional cartography is a multidisciplinary undertaking that requires expertise in surveying, geography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, historical research, and graphic design. Without sponsorship from the Ibusa Development Union, cultural foundations, private benefactors, or government agencies, few individuals have the resources to finance the extensive fieldwork, data collection, and map production required.

There are also technical challenges. While platforms such as Google Maps provide reliable road networks and satellite imagery, they do not capture many of the features that define Ibusa's historical landscape. Tracing river systems such as the Oboshi and Atakpo, identifying seasonal streams, documenting traditional boundaries, and locating cultural landmarks require detailed field surveys supported by modern GIS technology, drone imagery, or high-resolution satellite data.

None of these challenges, however, makes the task impossible.

Ibusa possesses an extraordinary wealth of intellectual capital. The community includes accomplished surveyors, engineers, geographers, architects, historians, environmental scientists, and information technology professionals whose combined expertise could make such a project entirely achievable. What is required is coordination, institutional support, and a shared commitment to preserving the community's geographical heritage.

A community-wide mapping initiative, bringing together experienced surveyors with younger GIS specialists and historians could produce the first comprehensive, open-access atlas of Ibusa. Such an atlas could document the community's physical geography, hydrology, traditional settlements, historical landmarks, and cultural landscape. More importantly, it would preserve an essential part of Ibusa's heritage for future generations and provide an authoritative reference for education, research, planning, and historical scholarship. Since modern Ibusa community was founded on educational growth, the present generation should never discard the bedrock.

As work continues on "The Nigerian Civil War: An Ibusa Perspective," the absence of such a map becomes even more apparent. Understanding the geography of a community is fundamental to understanding its history. Perhaps the time has come for Ibusa to undertake the task of mapping itself not merely as an exercise in cartography, but as an investment in preserving its identity, history, and collective memory.

Emeka Esogbue, an award-winning historian and writer, writes from Lagos State