The Illicit Production and Consumption of Ògógóró in Coastal Yorùbáland and the Niger Delta

Abstract

This article interrogates the production and sale of illicit gin variously called Káí-káí, Ro`ḅ ì`ṛobì, Bàbá èrìn, Etonto, Wuru, Push-me-I-push-you, Saepele water, Craze-man-for-bottle, Ògógóró, and Pàrágà in many places including the coastal Yorùbá areas. The places in which it is produced within our area of study include Ikoya, Okitipupa, and Ìrèlè in Ikale land. Other areas in Ìlàjẹ and Apoiland include Mahintedo, Ugbón´lá, Igbégunrín, and Ìgbòbíní. The analysis in the article is based on the theory of the political economy and criminality. It is the assumption of this work that as the capitalist mode of production and distribution intensifies, crimes, insecurity and other related issues deepen. The article adopts the use of sources which include oral interviews with resource persons, police information and intelligence reports, newspaper publications and archival documents from the colonial period deposited in the National Archives, Ibadan. As illicitly brewed gin is linked to social deviancy in different ways, and as it can affect peoples’ health dramatically, the author argues that the lives of the people should be protected by establishing effective regulatory bodies that stamp out the production of unrated gin.