EKID PEOPLE OF AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Ekid people are a part of the Ibibio ethnic group who are believed to have settled in their current location a long time ago.

Ekid people are said to have migrated from the Usak Edet (Isangele) area in present-day Cameroon as part of a larger Bantu movement which brought them to the mouth of the Cross River and then along the coast to their current location in the Qua Iboe River area.

According to Professor M.D.W. Jeffreys, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginian explorer Hanno who sailed down the coast of West Africa in the 5th century BC might have encountered the ancestors of the Ekid on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Prof. M.D.W. Jeffreys was a South African anthropologist and linguistic scholar who worked for many years as a colonial officer in Eastern Nigeria and South West Cameroons. He thought the short hairy people whom Hanno and his men encountered on his expedition might have been the pigmies whom the Ekid call “Nnung Amam Isim” in their oral history. Furthermore, scholars believe the “Chariot of the Gods”, a high mountain on top of which fire blazed which was reported by Hanno could be Mount Cameroons during a volcanic eruption. As volcanic eruptions from Mount Cameroons can be sighted from the Atlantic Ocean near Eket and Ekid oral history also mentions encounters with short hairy people, Jeffrey’s theory is not far-fetched.

Next came Portuguese explorers who were sponsored by the famous Prince Henry the Navigator to explore the world, especially Africa, to promote trade. They arrived on the West African coast in the late 1400s and traded with the coastal people of the Niger Delta, including Ekid people, who were already well settled on the Atlantic coast. The Portuguese named the major river in the area “Rio de Conde” (the Count’s River) which was later renamed by the British as Kwa Iboe River, “Kwa Iboe” being a mispronunciation of Akwa Obio, the original name of the community at the river’s mouth.

After the Portuguese, the Dutch, French and Germans came to the West African Coast to trade in slaves. After the abolition of slavery in Britain in 1807, the foreign traders engaged in legitimate trade. A pivotal historical event in Eket in the late 19th century was the signing of a treaty on September 8, 1884, between the “King” and Chiefs of Eket and the representatives of the government of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. The signing of the treaty took place at Eket Beach, Atabong, marking the commencement of formal British colonial interactions with Ekid people. Treaties were also signed with other communities in the Niger Delta and these treaties were used by the British at the 1884/1885 Berlin Conference to establish colonial claims over the Niger Delta, including Ekid.

Before British colonial rule, Ekid was a sedentary society just like other Ibibio societies. The social structure was well-established and organised, demonstrating a sophisticated indigenous governance system. Some of the institutions which regulated social, cultural, political and religious activities were Ekpenim-Isong, Ekpo Nyoho, Ekpe, Inam, Ekong (for men), Iban Isong and Ebre (for women). Others were Idiong (divination cult), Ibok (traditional medicine cult), Ikaan (cult of ancestors and ancestor worship), Ndem (deities), Mbopo (maiden grooming institution wrongly referred to as Fattening House), age groups, etc. The Chief Priest of the community or clan directed religious and cultural life of the community while warriors led by members of the Ekong cult were responsible for the defence of the community against jealous neighbours.

A clan is made of villages which trace their origin to one ancestor. Usually, all the villages in the clan worship the same deity(ies). The head of the Clan is the Clan Head who also doubled as the Chief Priest. Ekid people traditionally acknowledge 11 clans, with Afaha being the largest. Over time, these clans have been grouped into three recognised clans by the Akwa Ibom State Government: Ekid Afaha, Ekid Offiong, and Idua. The clans have their oral histories which explain their origins and migrations, reinforcing their cultural identity. Clans were essentially the highest political and religious groupings in Ekidland as in other Ibibio communities.

With the influx of British merchants into West Africa to seek for raw materials to boost the industrial revolution in England, King Jaja of Opobo saw an opportunity to establish a trading hegemony over the coastal people in the Niger Delta, including Ekid and the Ibibio, Annang and Igbo people in the hinterland. King Jaja’s maneuverings was to the detriment of Ekid people and the Ibibios generally hence there were frequent skirmishes and misunderstanding with King Jaja’s men. The 1881 Jaja-Ibeno War was a direct consequence of the resistance of the people against Jaja’s hegemonic designs. It happened because the Ibeno people defied King Jaja by allowing the British merchant, George Watt, to establish a factory at Ibeno and trading with him. During the war not only was Watt’s factory destroyed by Jaja’s men, Ibeno villages were burnt and many Ibeno people were seized and murdered at Bonny. Many Ibibio people who had been living in and carrying out legitimate business in Ibeno fled back to their villages. Some Ibeno people also fled Ibeno. One fallout of Jaja’s hostilities towards Ibeno was the request by Ibeno chiefs to the missionaries at Calabar for foreign missionaries to be sent to Ibeno because they had been advised that the presence of white missionaries at Ibeno would be a strong deterrent to King Jaja’s designs on their community. This request led to the coming of the Rev Samuel Bill to Ibeno. However, before the arrival of Rev Bill at Ibeno in December 1887, King Jaja of Opobo had been removed from power in September 1887, sent to Ghana to face trial and eventually exiled to the West Indies. He didn’t return to Opobo alive.

In 1887, Rev. Samuel Alexander Bill (whom Ekid people referred to as “Etubum Ibeno”) arrived at Upenekang (then a fishing settlement in Eket) and established the Qua Iboe Church of Nigeria. This marked the beginning of Christianity among the Ekid people and the onset of significant cultural changes. The Rev. Bill’s settlement at Nditia in Afaha Eket was short-lived. He retreated to Upenekang after his buildings and the printing press were burnt down. From Upenekang he traversed the course of the Kwa Iboe River to spread Christianity and education into Ekid, Ibibio, Annang and Igbo areas.

With the advent of Christianity, western education was introduced into Eket as the Rev Samuel Bill organized classes at Ibeno to teach reading and writing. With government support, in 1894, he established a trade school at Ibeno which attracted government subvention of 200 British pounds in 1897. This school trained many people in various trades, e.g. carpentry, building, etc. The Gace Bill Memorial Institute for girls was established at Afaha Eket in 1916 which became the Qua Iboe Teacher Training College, Afaha Eket. The Church also established the Qua Iboe Church Boys’ Institute at Okat in 1891. This school was the pre-cursor of Etinan Institute, which later relocated to several places and finally to Etinan in 1915. With the exception of Government School, Hospital Road, Eket, Qua Iboe Church and other missions established primary schools in the whole of Eket, Annang and Ibibio land in the first quarter of the 20th century.

With the signing of the 1884 Treaty of Friendship and Protection and the concession to the British at the Berlin Conference of the area which later became known as Nigeria, the British commenced the process of establishing political control over Eket, Ibibioland and other parts of Ibibioland. The first process was the establishment of the Oil Rivers Protectorate in 1885 which was later renamed the Niger Coast Protectorate in 1893. The territory was administered commercially through the Royal Niger Company with only British consular involvement. The Qua Iboe District was established in 1894 under the supervision of a Vice Consul located at Eket, the headquarters of the district. Kwa Iboe District was a unit of the Niger Coast Protectorate with headquarters at Calabar. Most of present-day Akwa Ibom state (excluding Opobo/Ikot Abasi District) formed part of the Kwa Iboe District. Despite this development, Ekid people did not give up their independence without a struggle. In the process of resistance Ekid people fought several battles against the British, e.g. at Afaha Eket, Efoi, Ikpa, Ikot Udoma, Iko Ibio, Ikot Uso Ekong, etc. On January 1, 1900 the British government took over direct administration of the Niger Coast Protectorate together with all the territories of the RNC. Thus, Kwa Iboe District became Eket District within the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.

By the late 19th century, European trading companies such as the Royal Niger Company, Paterson Zochonis (PZ), and GB Olivant (GBO), along with French Company (CFAO), German Company and others, had established trading posts in Eket and its environs. The area became a hub for trade in palm oil, palm kernels, piassava, and other goods, linking the Ekid people to global commerce. The foreign trading companies brought in manufactured goods which were sold to Ekid and other indigenous people. Many indigenes of Eket worked for these foreign trading companies while some became produce buying agents and coopers (makers and repairers of casks and barrels for transporting palm oil abroad). These companies closed shop in Eket in the late 1950’s. Today Seplat (formerly Mobil Producing Nigeria), Frontier Oil, and a host of Oil Services companies form the backbone of economic activities in Eket. They are supported by ancillary services including hotels, banks, retail trading organizations, construction, entertainment and a host of other businesses undertakings. The Qua Steel Products Ltd, Seastate Seafoods Ltd, Dr Pepper Bottle, Grandi Lavori Nig Ltd, etc thrived from the 1970s to the 1990 and contributed greatly in boosting economic activities in Eket.