Akwete town is the headquarters of

Ukwa East Ukwa East is a Local Government Area located in Abia State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in the town of Akwete. Ukwa East is bordered by Akwa Ibom State and Rivers States. It has an area of 280 km and a population of 58,865 at the 2006 census. It ...

local government area of

Abia state Abia State ( ig, Ȯha Abia) is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, it is bordered to the north and northeast by the states of Enugu, and Ebonyi, Imo State to the west, Cross River State to the east, Akwa Ibom State to the ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Akwete is located 18 Kilometers northeast of the oil-rich city of Port Harcourt and 18 Kilometers southeast of the commercial city of Aba. Akwete is an important community of the Ndoki and Igbo people in general, they belong to the Umuihueze II clan. Akwete is known in West Africa for its unique weaving. In the early 19th-century Akwete was one of the main destinations of Aro slave traders and they brought Igbo and other people they had enslaved or purchased from other enslavers to the coast. One of the people who was brought to Akwete by this trade was

Jaja of Opobo King Jaja of Opobo (full name: Jubo Jubogha; 1821–1891) was the first king (amanyanabo) of Opobo. He was also the founder of Opobo city-state in present day Rivers State of Nigeria. Born in Umuduruoha Amaigbo in present-day Imo State, his act ...

who later became the king of the city-state of

Opobo Opobo is a community in Rivers State, in the South South region of Nigeria. The kingdom was founded in 1870 by Jubo Jubogha, popularly known as JaJa, an Igbo man who owned slaves. The native language of Opobo is the Ibani language that is spoken ...

. Akwete was also involved in the

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

trade, and when Jaja was brought there while enslaved in about 1830 the palm oil trade had become the main export trade of Akwete.

Etymology

The origin of the name Akwete has over the years been a subject of controversy. In the typical

Edo language Edo (with diacritics, ), colloquially called Bini (Benin), is a language spoken in Edo State, Nigeria. It is the native language of the Edo people and was the primary language of the Benin Empire and its predecessor, Igodomigodo. Distribution ...

, Akwete means thunder. However the Edo Version of Akwete does not in any way convey the same meaning because in the Ndoki dialect of Igbo language,

Amadioha Amadioha is the Arusi or Agbara of thunder and lightning of the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria. He is amongst the most popular of Igbo deities and in some parts of Igboland, he is referred to as Amadiora, Kamalu (which is short for ''Kalu ...

or Egbeligwe is the word for thunder. There is a version that asserts that the name Akwete emanated or originated from 'Aku-Ete'. This version is of the opinion that the name Akwete was derived from the rope palm tree cutters use in climbing the trees known as Ete. Another popular opinion is that the word emanates from the Ndoki Weaving Technology which Akwete women are famous for.

References

Populated places in Abia State {{AbiaNG-geo-stub