Ota, Ogun State

Ota ( ; alternatively spelled Otta and also named Sango-Ota) is a city in Ogun State, Nigeria with an estimated 163,783 residents. Ota is the capital of the Ado–Odo/Ota Local Government Area and is part of Metropolitan Lagos. The traditional leader of Ota is the Olota of Ota, Oba Adeyemi AbdulKabir Obalanlege. Historically, Ota is the capital of the Awori Yoruba tribe. As of 1999, Sango-Ota has the third largest concentration of industries in Nigeria. It also possesses a large market and an important road junction, found just north of the tollgate on the Lagos – Abeokuta Expressway. Ota is well known because it is home to Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited belonging to the former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo. Otta is known as the home of some Yoruba ancient deities and festivals. Festivals usually celebrated in Otta includes Egungun festival, Iganmode Cultural Festival, Gelede Festival, etc.

Ota ( ; alternatively spelled Otta and also named Sango-Ota) is a city in Ogun State, Nigeria with an estimated 163,783 residents. Ota is the capital of the Ado–Odo/Ota Local Government Area and is part of Metropolitan Lagos. The traditional leader of Ota is the Olota of Ota, Oba Adeyemi AbdulKabir Obalanlege. Historically, Ota is the capital of the Awori Yoruba tribe. As of 1999, Sango-Ota has the third largest concentration of industries in Nigeria. It also possesses a large market and an important road junction, found just north of the tollgate on the Lagos – Abeokuta Expressway. Ota is well known because it is home to Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited belonging to the former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo. Otta is known as the home of some Yoruba ancient deities and festivals. Festivals usually celebrated in Otta includes Egungun festival, Iganmode Cultural Festival, Gelede Festival, etc. ==History== Awori people, a subgroup of Yoruba people, are the first settlers of Ota. In Awori and other Yoruba traditions, the kingdom of Ota is several millennia old and the oldest in Awori land, and in some Yoruba traditions, it is one of the oldest kingdoms in Yoruba land. Ota's existence dates back to at least the period of Orunmila (a contemporaneous with the Orunmila) as an established and organized human habitation or community with Obaship institution that no one could ascribe any specific date thus since the BC era. There were very few settlements then what is known as Yorubaland today. Apart from Ile-ife, the first place or source, Ota is a very, very ancient city ranking behind Ile-Ife only that Orunmila first visited. Other few places Orunmila visited after Ota, for one reason or the other, included Ado-Ekiti, Irun Akoko, Ilawe and Ifon. No doubt, Orunmila visited Ota at least on three occasions as confirmed by Ifa-Irete Olota (Owonrin) Corpus and Odu Osa Meji (Odu Eleye). There had been Awori before Awori, and Ota stood first long before the arrival or emergence of Ogunfunminire and his group between the 15th and 17th centuries. Aworis are many; not all the Aworis are children or descendants of Ogunfunminire or Olofin of Iseri Olofin. We had Olofins in Ota whose periods of migration to Ota from Ife predated Iseri Olofin and others. The earliest Ota people set a fetish bowl according to Ifa divination on a then river or stream, and it sank in a river at Ota when others had not existed, including Ogunfunminire, the progenitor of the Isheri people but not the entirety of Aworiland, because some Aworis vehemently deny the suggestion that their ancestors got to Isheri before moving to their present settlements. Nonetheless, Aworis are culturally linked despite the differences in their mode or waves of migratory movements to what is known as Aworiland. Apart from Ota, there are other Awori towns whose ancestors bear the name Olofin, not of Isheri; such towns include Iworo, Imeke, and Ado-odo. John Thabiti Willis in 2018 further adduced that the oral traditions known as Irete Olota (Owonrin) and Osa Meji in (Odu Eleye), IFA, offer alternative accounts of the originality and founding of Otta by the Terrestrial mothers commonly known as witches-Eleye or Iyami Osoronga; and have since domiciled Otta from antiquity, offering strong support for the fact that a human community or existence preceded the migrations to Otta by Ife Oodaye and related people. These traditions, however, chronicle the historical journey of Orunmila to Ota, the revered settlement of the renowned witches, Ilu Aje (or Ilu Olori Eleye Osoronga), typically translated as the city of "Terrestrial mothers". Furthermore, to corroborate the above assertion on the tradition's origin and founding of Otta, “The Archive of sound and vision, institute of African studies, University of Ibadan, the guiding and preservation of Irete Olota (Owonrin) Ota today has grown from the ancient settlement founded by the Terrestrial mothers commonly known as witches-Eleye or Iyami Osoronga into a thriving economic hub in Ogun State and Nigeria. Ota began to grow into the industrial city it is today due to the economic development planning and lobbying by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and Chief Bisi Onabanjo, former governor of Ogun State. This led to the official designation of Ota as an industrial town, and the state government began to encourage industries to locate in and around the city. ==Education== Traditionally, Ota only had a few schools, and all were sponsored by various Christian religious organizations. The Muslim community responded by forming a school operated by the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society. State schools began to be formed in the late 1970s, and there are now several private schools in the area. Iganmode Grammar School is the oldest, founded in 1960¹. Other notable schools include Ansar-Ud-deen Comprehensive College, Bells Comprehensive Secondary School and Faith Academy Secondary School. There are also two universities in Sango-Ota: Covenant University and Bells University of Technology. And a private polytechnic, Allover Central Polytechnic. The Nigerian Navy's School of Music is also located in Sango-Ota. ==Economy== Sections of the town are dominated by industries including Lagos - Abeokuta road and Idi-iroko road. Beginning in the early 1970s, many businesses began building factories in Ota partly because it was less congested than the industrial estates in Lagos. Businesses with facilities in Ota include: Farmex Meyer Limited Nigerian Breweries De United Foods Industries Limited Unique Pharmaceuticals Intercontinental Distillers Limited. Honda Manufacturing (Nigeria), Ltd Veepee Industries Limited Second Storey Building in Nigeria buit in 1842¹(St James Anglican Church Cathedral Vicarage Ipate Oyinbo, Osi Ota.jpg | Second Storey Building in Nigeria built in 1842(St James Anglican Church Cathedral Vicarage Ipate Oyinbo, Osi Ota Ijamido stream.jpg | ijamido stream Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther translated the Bible from English to Yoruba Language here.jpg | Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther translated the Bible from English to Yoruba Language here in Ota St James Cathedral first established 1842.jpg | St James Cathedral first established 1842 St James Primary School established in 1843 one of the first schools in Nigeria.jpg | St James Primary School established in 1843 one of the first schools in Nigeria Okemale mosque first mosque in ota.jpg | Okemale mosque first mosque in ota Old Olota Palace.jpg | Old Olota Palace The New Palace of Olota of Ota.jpg | The New Palace of Olota of Ota Canaan land , Faith tabernacle largest church auditorium in west africa.jpg | Canaanland, largest church auditorium in West Africa Egungun Alagbada Ota Awori.jpg | Egungun Alagbada Ota Awori Egungun Ota Awori.jpg | Egungun Ota Awori Egungun with Olota of Ota Awori Kingdom.jpg | Egungun with Olota of Ota Awori Kingdom ==See also== Ota Traditional Chiefs ==References==

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