In Awe, plenty smoked fish go for little money

Awe Local Government Area, located in the  southern senatorial district of Nasarawa State, is gradually becoming a household name in Nigeria for two reasons. One, it is home to the 30,000-hectare Dangote Sugar Estate, which has already commenced production at Tunga. Secondly, the local government headquarters, Awe town, hosted the deposed Emir of Kano, Malam […]

Awe Local Government Area, located in the  southern senatorial district of Nasarawa State, is gradually becoming a household name in Nigeria for two reasons.

One, it is home to the 30,000-hectare Dangote Sugar Estate, which has already commenced production at Tunga. Secondly, the local government headquarters, Awe town, hosted the deposed Emir of Kano, Malam Sanusi Lamindo Sanusi II for three days before the court granted him freedom.

But there are few things about this ancient city that many did not know until recently.

It has a huge salt deposit mined by women using primitive methods. It is also home to plenty of locally grown fish harvested from some rivers, including River Benue and its tributaries.

Our findings revealed that on Awe market day, N800, N1000, or N1,500 could buy you plenty of smoked fish, particularly catfish.

If you don’t eat cat fish, there are other species like tilapia, which cost even less.

Those who don’t like smoked fish can also have fresh ones of different species and sizes. Whatever amount of money you have can afford some quantities of either smoked or fresh fish.

One of my guides, Abubakar Galadima said Awe was founded by fishermen, hunters and salt miners.