Ibeno is located in the south south of

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 ...

and is a Local Government Area of

Akwa Ibom State Akwa Ibom State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria, 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. The state takes its name from the Qua Iboe ...

. Ibeno town lies on the eastern side of the Kwa Ibo River about from the river mouth, and is one of the largest fishing settlements on the Nigerian coast. Ibeno lies in the Mangrove Forest Belt of the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

region of Nigeria, bounded to the west by Eastern Obolo Local Government Area, to the north by

Onna Onna is a Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Its name comes from an acronym of the names of the four predominant clans in the area: Oniong, Nnung Ndem, Awa Afaha and Awa. Onna has a population of about 495,000 ...

Esit Eket Esit-Eket is a town and Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, southern Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a ...

and

Eket Eket is one of the 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The name ''Eket'' or Ekid also refers to the indigenous ethnic group of the region and to their language. The Eket people use the endonym ''Ekid'' for themselves and their l ...

, and to the south by the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Location

Ibeno Local Government Area is located at the south end of Akwa Ibom State, occupying a vast coastal area of over 1,200 km². . It is bounded in the south by the

and shares borders with

and Eastern Obolo local government areas...

History

Ibeno Local Government Area was created out of the defunct Uquo-Ibeno Local Government Area on December 4, 1996, by the Federal government instrument. Before the creation of Uquo-Ibeno Local Government Area, the people of Ibeno were in Eket Local Government Area – Ibeno Edoh, Uquo Ibeno respectively. Ibeno Local Government Area has thus graduated from being part of Eket Local Government area to part of Ibeno-Edor with headquarters at Inua-Eyet Ikot Ibeno (now defunct) to being part of Uquo Ibeno with headquarters at Uquo (now headquarters of Esit Eket Local Government Area) to a distinct and separate local government area, Ibeno Local Government Area with headquarters at Upenekang. It is one of the 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom State.

Geography

Ibeno occupies the largest Atlantic

coastline The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

, more than 129 km, in Akwa Ibom State. Located in the mangrove swamp forest, the area has rain throughout the year with the peak between May and September. The climatic condition in Ibeno is favorable all year round for fishing and farming. Ibeno Beach, the longest in West Africa, is a popular tourist attraction.

Language

The people speak Ibeno dialect of the Efik–Ibibio-Andoni language. The need to establish trade links with the

Efik people The Efik are an ethnic group located primarily in southern Nigeria, and western Cameroon. Within Nigeria, the Efik can be found in the present-day Cross River State and Akwa Ibom state. The Efik speak the Efik language which is a member of the Be ...

meant that the

Andoni people The Obolo people (also called Andoni or Idoni) are an ethnic group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Obolo people are found in Rivers State and Akwa Ibom State. They have historical relations with the Oron people, Ohafia, Igbo Ogoloma, Ido, ...

that settled in present-day Ibeno had to coin the language to suit. The people of Ibeno are of Oron–Efik extraction.

Commerce

The prime occupation of the people is

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

. However, farming and petty trading enjoy appreciative notice. The presence of

oil exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration methods Vis ...

activities by oil giant Exxon Mobil and other service companies influence activities both upstream and downstream.

Culture

Ibeno people are rich in cultural heritage. The people have many age-long traditional institutions like

Ekpe Ekpe, also known as Mgbe/Egbo (Ekoi language: ''leopard''; derived from the Ibibio term for the same), is a West African secret society in Nigeria and Cameroon flourishing chiefly among the Efiks. It is also found among a number of other ethn ...

, Obon, Uke, Ekong, Akata, Eka-Ebitu, Ubom Isong, Oluo, Ikini and the age-grade system (Nka) which is highly recognized and practised in Ibeno.

People

Ibeno people are ancestrally related to the

and

Oron people The Oron people or Örö people are a sub-ethnic group of the larger Ibibio people, that make up the Akpakip Oro or Oron Nation. The Örö are located primarily in southern Nigeria in the riverine area of Akwa Ibom and the Cross River States a ...

in origin. The common

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

of Ibeno people is the Ibeno language, prominently spoken by Ibeno and Eastern Obolo people in Akwa Ibom State. The people also enjoy an active aquatic life.

Population

References

*http://www.helloakwaibom.com/ibeno-lga/ Hello Akwa-Ibom {{LGAs and communities of Akwa Ibom State Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State Towns in Akwa Ibom State Populated coastal places in Nigeria Fishing communities in Nigeria