The Epie and Atissa are two Nations that live along Epie Creek, northeast of

Yenagoa Yenagoa is a Local Government Area and capital city of Bayelsa State, southern Nigeria. It is located at the southern part of the country at coordinates . The LGA has an area of 706 km² and a population of 352,285 at the 2006 census. Th ...

Bayelsa State Bayelsa is one of the states in the South-South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta region. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. Yena ...

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 ...

. Together, they are commonly known as the Epie-Atissa. The influx of the Engenni migrants to the present location of Epie-Atissa led to its expansion. The

Engenni people The Engenni people live in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. They are considered to be Edoid based on linguistic grounds. They live in close proximity with Ijaw people. They primarily live in Ahoada west local government area of Rivers state, Nige ...

belong to the Edoid group who share cultural similarity with the

Ijaw Ijaw may refer to: *Ijaw people The Izon people or Izon Otu, otherwise known as the Ijaw people due to the historic mispronunciation of the name ''Izon'', are an ethnic group majorly found in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, with significant populatio ...

and the Engenni. Epie-Atissa settlements include: Agudama-epie, Akenpai, Okutukutu, Onopa, Igbogene, Kpansia, Ogu, Edepie, Yenaka, Opolo, Swali, Ikolo, Akenfa, Yenagoa, and Biogbolo. They speak the

Epie language Epie (or Epie-Atissa) is a language spoken in Nigeria by the Epie-Atissa people. Phonology The language has a partially reduced system, compared to proto-Edoid, of eight vowels; these form two harmonic sets, and . Epie has only one clearly ph ...

History

The Epie and Atissa remain two separate Nations. The Epie have villages that run from Igbogene to Amarata; namely, Igbogene, Yenegwe, Akenfa, Agudama Epie, Akenpai, Edepie, Okutukutu, Opolo, Biogbolo, Yenizue Gene, Kpansia, Yenizue Epie, Okaka, Ekeki, Azikoro and Amarata. While the Atissa have villages runs from Onopa to Ikolo to Ogu to Agbura namely Onopa, Ovom,

, Bebelebiri, Yenaka, Ikolo, Famgbe, Obogoro, Akaba, Ogu, Swali, and Agbura. The

is recorded sometime in the 1970s to have had about 12000 speakers spread from Igbogene to Amarata, but within the last 30 years the numbers of living speakers have greatly reduced. Though there is no current record of the numbers of speakers, the Epie language is not spared from the global epidemic that has befallen most of the world's little languages. The lack of teaching and learning of the Epie language have contributed greatly to the decline in the numbers of native speakers. Westernisation is another major contributor to the decline of thlanguage.ag For example, the traditional chiefs and elders of council are very young men and women, some of them in their 20s. These young people have lost touch of the basic cultural heritage and are hence not capable of transferring it to the younger generations. Many cultural aspects of the Epie-Atissa people have been lost, mainly due to the loss of traditional culture in favor of Western ideals. The Epie-Atissa kingdom has been the eye-base of business in Bayelsa state. The largest public local market, situated at Swali in the Atissa clan, has been very resourceful to the people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. ''Akenfa'', one of the most important cities in the kingdom, it is approximately 4 km square, making it the third largest community in the kingdom by area. Akenfa is currently ruled by a locally elected chief, Saiyah, who has ruled the community for approximately 12 years. According to the traditions of the Epie-Atissa kingdom, a chief will only be elected if the active chief is dead and buried for three months. The people of Akenfa have deviated from formal tradition and made the kingship an elected position around 2000. A new chief is elected after every four years. The Akenfa community is known to have the largest youth population in the kingdom, and these youth are known to be the pillars of the community. The youth are led by a locally elected official known as the Youth-President. This Youth-President is formally responsible for the youth's welfare and he makes the decisions for the youth. Another role of the youth president is to represent the community in youth affairs, the currently elected youth president is Mr. Mandi. Another recognized leader of the community is the Community Development Committee chairman (CDC), which is also locally elected, the current CDC chairman is Mr. John O. Osomu. The major role of the CDC chairman is to be in charge of all developments coming to the community. The Yenagoa community in the Epie-Atissa clan is the capital of

, and the chief of the Yenagoa community is known as HRH M.A Clarkson Kikile Oguo V, Ebeni-Eken of

Significant events

* 23 July 2007: Two expatriates working for MTN

Limited in Akenfa-Epie, a village outside of Yenagoa, were abducted by gunmen. and a kid was found in the Epie creek 2 days after the gunmen killed the teacher, and some students. * Early November 2013: the youths of Akenfa-Epie were attacked in the forest by the neighboring community; Agudama-Epie. One died many where injured and one went missing. *The people of Epie/Atissa Kingdom have gave their advanced reasons for supporting the governorship candidate of the All progressives Congress, APC.

References

{{Reflist Ijaw Bayelsa State