Argungu festival is an annual four-day festival in Kebbi State and other northern states like Niger in the northwestern part of Northern Nigeria.
The annual festival takes place in February. It marks the end of the farming season and the start of the fishing season. Argungu fishing festival is a way of life for the people of Kebbi State. The festival preserves tradition and promotes conservation.
The festival often begins with an agricultural show, water and sport displays, traditional Kebbawa entertainments and ends with the spectacular fishing competition in the Mata Fadan River.
1. Argungu Fishing Festival is one of the major festivals celebrated annually to mark the end of the centuries-old hostility between the Sokoto caliphate region and the Kebbi kingdom in the northern part of Nigeria.
2. The festival was initiated in the year 1934 in Argungu, Kebbi State. The Argungu Fishing Festival is an annual 4 days event in Kebbi State, Nigeria. It is mostly celebrated in the month of February after the end of all farming activities.
3. The festival started initially in the form of religious rites as an informal family and communal affair. The Argungu festival has undergone several changes and modifications, making the event more stylish and developed.
4. More than 30,000 fishermen had taken part in the annual Argungu fishing festival. The festival’s main event is the fishing contest in river Mata Fada, where fishing nets and traditional gourds made with calabashes are used.
5. Before the commencement of the fishing festival, the custodian of the river, Sarkin Ruwa, ensures the river is safe by performing sacrifices to the river oracle to gain its permission. To ensure the river is safe for fishing, he dispels the crocodiles resident in the river and invites all the fish in the rivers connected to Mata Fada River.
6. Without the consent of the Sarkin Ruwa, no fish can be caught because the Sarkin Ruwa is the official custodian of the Mata Fada River.
7. The fisherman who catches the biggest fish wins a prize of $7500. In 2005, the winner caught a fish weighing 75kg, which is the biggest fish that has been caught in the festival till date.
8. The fishing festival has become an international event in which people from Africa, Europe, America and other continents would converge in the ancient town of Argungu to witness the festival every year.
9. The Kebbi State Government took over the festival because of its growing popularity and economic potential.
10. General Yakubu Gowon, together with Alhaji Diori Hammani of the Niger Republic, were the first heads of state to attend the Argungu festival in the 1970. Since then, all presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have visited the festival. Governors from different states in the country most especially the northern states governors have also been marking attendance.
11. It took a break because of rising cases of banditry and insurgency in 2009 but was newly restored in 2020.
12. Argungu festival is currently one of the most popular festivals in Nigeria which attracts tourists all over the world.
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