Eket is a city and one of the 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The name Eket or Ekid also refers to the indigenous people of the two Local Government Areas of Eket and Esit Eket who are a stock of the Ibibio people of the southern part of Ibibioland and to their dialect which is Ekid. The Eket people use the endonym Ekid for themselves and their language, but Europeans spell and pronounce the name as "Eket". The Eket in Ibibioland has no relationship with Eket in Sweden.
Apart from being a local government area in Akwa Ibom State, Eket is one of the three geopolitical zones in the state. The geopolitical zones are Uyo senatorial district, Ikot Ekpene senatorial district and Eket senatorial district.
The town itself is an industrial city that in recent years has become a conurbation joining together separate villages. The Office of the Surveyor-General of Akwa Ibom State estimates the area of the Eket Local Government Area to be approximately 176.000 square Km while the 2006 National Census gives the population of the Local Government Area as 172,856. However, the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Economic Development gives the 2013 estimated population of the Eket Local Government Area as given as 218,438 with a population density of 1,241/km2.
Major landmarks
A major landmark in the town is the Kwa Ibo River, also spelt "Qua Iboe River" which in some places frames the boundary between Eket and Onna Local Government Areas and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Contrary to popular belief, Akwa Ibom State is not named after Qua Iboe River. The name of the State has to do with "Ibom", the ancient settlement of Ibibio people before they migrated to their current locations.
In the absence of roads, Qua Iboe River was the major means of transportation from the Atlantic coast to the hinterlands. It facilitated trade and political administration in the pre-colonial and colonial periods, hence the first effort at Christian evangelization in the area was named Qua Iboe Mission and the political district was named Qua Iboe District.
Other landmarks are the Warri-Patani-Port-Harcourt-Ikot Abasi-Eket-Oron Road which forms part of the 676 Km (338 x 2) East-West Road from Warri in Delta State to Port Harcourt in Rivers State, to Ikot Abasi, Eket and Oron in Akwa Ibom State in the South-South Region of the country; Esuene Square; Mobil's Qua Iboe Terminal; Mobil Airstrip which was built in the 1970's; Qua Iboe Bridge on the East-West Road; and the Eket Sports Stadium. Part of the Stubb Creek Forest Reserve declared by the Colonial Government in 1930 is located within Eket Local Government Area.
History
Eket people belong to the Ibibio ethnic group of Akwa Ibom State who are said to be "the stock natives from whom most of the small tribes in the Qua Iboe and Calabar have sprung". Prof M.D.W. Jeffreys thought that the Phoenicians and Hanno, a Carthaginian explorer, both of whom sailed past the West African coast about 600 BC and 450 BC, respectively, must have met the Ibibios on the coast. The Ekid, an Ibibio people, have lived on the Atlantic coast from time immemorial. Jeffreys' thesis takes on more significance given that reference to Hanno's sea voyage down the coast of West African in the 5th century is referenced under the entry "Hanno: Carthaginian explorer" in the World History Encyclopaedia which also mentions other notable ancient historians who have written about Hanno's sea journeys, e.g. the Ancient Roman historian Justin, the Greek historian Herodotus, the Roman, Pliny the Elder, etc. The account of Hanno's exploration of the coasts of West Africa also mentions encounters with short hairy people thought to have been pigmies who also feature eminently in Ekid oral history which refers to them as "Nnung Amama Isim". Hano also mentioned the sighting of scary fires on a high mountain which some scholars believe must have been volcanic eruptions on Mount Cameroons. When Portuguese explorers arrived on the coast of West Africa in the late 1400s and got to Calabar, Oron, Eket and other settlements on the Atlantic Coast with which they traded, Eket people were already well settled in their current location. The Portuguese named the major river in the area "Rio de Conde" i.e. the Count's River. Later the British traders and colonisers renamed the river Kwa Ibo River (also spelled Qua Iboe), a mispronunciation and misspelling of Akwa Obio, the old name of the community at the mouth of the river. Up till today, Eket people still remember the Portuguese whom they call "Akpotoki". Next came the Dutch, the British, the French, and the Germans. It is the British who finally colonized the area now known as Nigeria of which Eket is a Local Government Area.
Some ideas about the history of the Eket people before the colonial era can be gleaned from the oral histories of the different Ekid clans which have been documented by Prof. M.D.W. Jeffreys (a colonial administrator, anthropologist and an academic who served as Assistant District Officer, ADO, of Eket District from 1919) in his Report on the Clans and Tribes of Eket District 1925 (National Archives, Enugu). According to the 1956 Jones Report, Eket people acknowledged themselves as belonging to 11 clans. Although the report did not mention the names of these 11 clans, they are Afaha (the largest clan), Etebi, Abighe, Idua, Ibeye, Uda, Aniogh, Abikpi, Nnama, Assang and Akiki. Of these 11 clans only Afaha and Idua clans have been recognized as such by the Akwa Ibom State Government while the other 9 clans have been grouped into one recognized clan – Ekid Offiong. Thus we have three recognized Ekid clans, namely Ekid Afaha, Ekid Offiong and Idua clans. The fourth clan in the Eket Local Government Area is the Okon clan. These different clans of Eket people have oral histories explaining their origin and migration to their present locations. Common among the oral histories of migration of Eket Afaha and Ekid Offiong clans is the fact that they migrated from Usak Edet (Isangele) in the present-day Cameroon through various routes to their current locations. The Idua people claim they migrated from the Cameroons to Calabar through the Northern Cross River before crossing to Esit Eket, Eket, Oniong Nung Ndem Awa (Onna) and Oron on the mainland. These oral histories seem to confirm the position of several historians such as Abasiattai (1988) and Edet Udoh (1983) that Eket and Oron people migrated through a seaward route from the Cameroons to their current locations.
Although King Jaja's commercial and political adventures in the Qua Iboe area which impacted the Ekid people have been documented in colonial records, including the 1881 Jaja-Ibeno War it seems the one singular event which brought Eket into history was the signing of the Treaty of friendship and protection between the "King" and Chiefs of Eket, Qua Iboe River and the representatives of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Britain, Ireland, India, etc. at Eket Beach, Atabong ("Esok Akungkpung" or "Esok Afia Anwe") on 8 September 1884. The signatories for Eket were given as Ackpun, Userturo, Uko, Ito and Esiet while R.W. Craigie, commander of Her Majesty's Ship "Flirt" signed for Consul E.H. Hewett, Esq). "Ackpun" was a misspelling of "Akpan", that is, Akpan Udoimuk of Nung Akpan in Atabong Village while "Userturo" was a misspelling of "Uso Etukudo" (Uso Etukudo was of Nung Uso Ekon in Usung Inyang village). The signatories for Eket were village/family heads of the surrounding villages of Atabong and Usung Inyang. The British trader, George Watts, signed as a witness. On the same day, similar treaties were signed between the British officials and the "King" and Chiefs of Ibeno at Ibeno Beach and the "King" and Chiefs of Okut (Okat) at Okat Beach. These treaties were part of the treaty drive mounted by the British in preparation for the 1884/1885 Berlin Conference. With the treaties, the British were able to convince the other European powers that these territories were firmly under their control.
The next major historical event was the arrival of the Rev. Samuel Bill at Ibeno in December 1887 at the request of Ibeno chiefs to establish a Christian Mission in the area in order to discourage the territorial and commercial ambittions of Jaja in the Qua Iboe area. Through the establishment of the Qua Iboe Mission, Christianity and western education were brought to Ibeno, Eket, Etinan and from there Christianity and education spread to other parts of Ibibio and Ibo lands and beyond.
Next came the establishment of the Qua Iboe District in 1894 with Alfred Ashmall Whitehouse as the first Vice Consul at Eket. The district was part of the Oil Rivers Protectorate declared on June 5, 1885 after the conclusion of the Berlin Conference. This Protectorate was expanded and renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate on May 12, 1893, with Sir Claude MacDonald as its first commissioner. The Qua Iboe District comprised what is today most parts of Akwa Ibom State, including Esit Eket, Onna, Ibeno, Nsit Ubium, Etinan, Abak, Etim Ekpo, Oron, Mbo, Okobo, Urue Offong/Oruko, Udung Uko, Okobo etc. between 1893 and 1899. In 1905 Eket became a district comprising present Eket, Esit Eket, Ibeno, Onna, Oron, Mbo, Urue Offong/Oruko, Udung Uko, Okobo and part of Nsit Ubium Local Government Areas. In 1922, by Government Notice No. 71 of 3 August 1922 (NC-M 135), Eket Division was created out of Calabar Division, with its headquarters at Eket. Eket Division continued to be administered as a Division under Calabar Province until the 1950s when Eket Division came under Uyo Province in the Eastern Region.
In the mid-1950s Mr Keith Arrowsmith was the Divisional Officer (DO) for Eket. In his 1991 book Bush Paths he reported on a conversation he had with the then Premier of Eastern Region, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, who informed him that the first trial of county council elections in the Eastern Region of Nigeria would be conducted in Eket in 1955.
At the creation of the defunct South Eastern State on May 27, 1967, Eket became one of the 10 Divisions of the new State before additional Divisions were created in August 1970. In the 1970 exercise, Oron Division was created while Nsit Ubim was included in the new Etinan Division. Both areas were formerly under Eket Division. Under the 1976 Local Government Reforms carried out by the Federal Government of Nigeria, Eket Division became one of the 301 Local Government Areas in the country.
During the Second Republic (October 1, 1979 – December 31, 1983), the various State Governments embarked on the creation of new local government areas. In the then Cross River State, the Government of Dr Clement Isong split Eket Local Government into five Local Government Areas, namely Eket, Uquo, Ibeno/Edor, Onnion Nung Ndem and Awa/Ikot Akpan Ntembom Local Government Areas. With the military take-over of the Federal Government of Nigeria on December 31, 1983, the newly created local government areas were abolished and Eket Local Government Area returned to what it was in 1976. The Military Government of Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Sanni Abacha created new local government areas in 1989, 1991 and 1996 and Eket was again split into Eket, Onna, Esit Eket and Ibeno Local Government Areas.
Climate Eket experiences tropical weather conditions. In Eket, there is heavy rainfall every year. The Köppen and Geiger classification for this climate is Af. According to the information available, the mean annual temperature recorded in Eket is 25.9 °C or 78.6 °F. Every year, there is about 3675 mm or 144.7 in of rainfall. Eket has a mild climate, and summers are difficult to pin down. January, February, March, April, May, November, and December are the ideal months to travel.
Economy