OBIO IBIBIO
AKWA IBOM
Akwa Ibom State is made up of a homogeneous
group of people believed to have originated from
a single ancestral stock. The languages spoken in
the state are closely related, the Annang and Ibibio
languages are mostly identical with a few dialectical
differences. The Oron language has highly distinctive
features, while Eket and Ibeno languages are more
closely related to each other than to the Ibibio and
Annang, and are only partially understandable by
speakers of these two languages.
Akwa Ibom State was created out of Cross River State
on September 23, 1987. Akwa Ibom was created by
combining the Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Eket and Abak
divisions of old Calabar province. Languages: Ibibio, Annang, Oro, Eket and Ibeno
It is located in the south-east of the country, lying
between latitudes 4°321 and 5°331 North, and
longitudes 7°251 and 8°251 East. The State is bordered
on the east by Cross River State, on the west by
Rivers State and Abia State, and on the South by the
Atlantic Ocean.
IBOM STARS
Ibibio is a language native to 1.5 to 2 million people
in the Akwa Ibom State and Cross River States of
Nigeria. It is the dominant language spoken in the
state. Other major languages in the state include
Oron, Itu mbon-uso, and Annang. Because of its
importance in trade and education in the region, many
Annang and Efik people also speak Ibibio. Ibibio is a
member of the Benue-Congo group, which forms part
of the Niger-Congo language family. It is closely
related to Efik.
The Efik people are a branch of the Ibibio, who in the
early 1600s migrated down the Cross River and founded
numerous settlements in the Creek Town-Duke Town
area (now in Cross River State, Nigeria), and across the
river in Cameroon. This area of Nigeria is now known
as Calabar and is not to be confused with Kalabari
(sometimes 'New Calabar') in the Rivers State, 160
kilometres to the west. Although their economy was
originally based on fishing, the area quickly develo
ped into a major trading centre and remained so well
into the early 1900s. Incoming
European goods were traded for slaves, palm oil and
other palm products. The Efik kings collected a trading
tax called comey from docking ships until the British
replaced it with 'comey subsidies'. The Efik were the
middle men between the white traders on the coast
and the inland tribes of the Cross river and Calabar
district. Christian missions were at work among the
Efiks beginning in the middle of the 19th century.
Even by 1900, many of the natives were well educated,
professed Christianity and dressed in European fashion.
A powerful bond of union among the Efik, and one that
gives them considerable influence over other tribes, is
the secret society known as the Egbo. In 1884 the Efik
kings and the chiefs of the Efik placed themselves under British protection. These treaties and attendant territorial economic rights, are documented in CAP 23 of Laws of Eastern Nigeria, captioned 'Comey subsidies law'. The Efik king known as Efik Monarch and Obong of Calabar still (2006) is a political power among the Efik.
References Waddell (1846)