One-Man Village: The irony in a name

It is called One-man village, but houses more than a million people. This is an irony. Chris Onokpegu takes a look at reason behind the name.

The bad portion of the road in One-Man village

It is called “One-man Village,” but today it has a population of hundreds of thousands of people. What an irony!

The village, which is located along Abuja-Keffi road, was believed to have been founded by one Micah Fuma, who built his house along the road. Fuma had an orange plantation, which attracted buyers from Keffi and other surrounding towns. His house was the only one along the road.

According to an indigene of the village, it was orange buyers who attempted to name the village after Fuma. But because they could not remember his name, they ended up telling drivers to drop them where “one man is staying.” The village therefore ended up being known as “One-Man Village.”  
Fuma’s lone house was later demolished during the dualisation of the Abuja-Keffi road.

The Mai-Angwa of Kuruduma, Taimako S. Kninya said he could not say when people began living in the village.

“We grew up here, married and also gave birth to our children,” said Kninya who believed the village might be over 50 years old.

But there was a mix up in Kninya’s explanation. According to him, it was Kugbo that was nicknamed One-man village. Kugbo indigenes in One-man village in Nasarawa State who are Gbagyis were relocated from Abuja when the area was made Nigeria’s federal capital.

Kninya further noted that the area was known as Kugbo-Kuruduma village but when the Mai-Angwa, chief of Kuruduma who is a businessman started selling plots of land to people, he used Kuruduma as the address; that was how Kuruduma also overshadowed Kugbo. The people are however, not comfortable with the name.

He disclosed that they tried to change the name but because the nickname had overshadowed the real name, it became impossible. A resident who spoke to Hotline News anonymously said though they feel embarrassed giving their address as One-Man village, there is nothing they can do to change the name because it is was what they met on ground.

At the palace of the Mai-Angwa of Kuruduma

One-man Village is yet to attract government’s presence. Except for dilapidated primary and secondary school structures, a telecommunications company, MTN, also built an estate there.

During our visit, we saw students of the schools sitting on the bare floor to receive lectures.

Kninya further revealed that the schools were built through communal effort. “Even the transformers and cables that supply electricity to the village were bought from money contributed by the people.” He said they have not felt governments’ presence.

One-Man village is located in Karu local government area of Nasarawa State. The director of personnel management, Karu local government declined comment when Hotline News visited the council.