Ini is located in the

south South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

Akwa Ibom State Akwa Ibom is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It borders Cross River State to the east, Rivers State and Abia State to the west and north-west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The state ...

. The location of the Ini Local Government Area covers the former Ikono Local Government Area and

Abia State Abia is a state in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. The state's capital is Umuahia and its most populous city is Aba. Abia is bordered the west by Imo, east by Cross River, south by Rivers, northwest by Anambra and northeast by Enug ...

. It has a land area of 320,451 square kilometres.

People

The people of Ini Local Government area are members of the Ibibio people.

Ibibio Ibibio may refer to: *Ibibio language, Niger-Congo language of Nigeria *Ibibio people an ethnic group of southern Nigeria *Ibibio Sound Machine, an English electronic afro-funk band who sing in Ibibio See also * Ibiblio, a digital library and ar ...

, Itu Mbon Uso and Nkari languages are spoken. As of 2006, the

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

is 99,196 in total with 52,644 male and 46,552 female residents. * Source
2006 National Census

Natural Resources

Natural resources found within Ini include

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, clay, gravel, fine sand, crude oil, gold and

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

. The forest region provides

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

and firewood.

Commerce

Ini is known as the food basket of Akwa Ibom State. Due to Ini's land expansive area, the citizens are predominantly farmers. Ini produces food items such as rice, palm produce, cassava, cocoa, plantains, and bananas. There is potential for

agricultural expansion Agricultural expansion describes the growth of agricultural land ( arable land, pastures, etc.) especially in the 20th and 21st centuries. The agricultural expansion is often explained as a direct consequence of the global increase in food and e ...

and increased hunting.

Traditional Administration of Ini Local Government Area

The Ini Local Government is made up of Ikpe Clan,

Ikono Ikono is a Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, located in the South South of Nigeria. It is bounded at the North, by Ini Local Government Area, South by Abak and Uyo Local Government Areas, East by Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area and West ...

Clan, Iwerre Clan, Itu Mbon Uso Clan and Nkari Clan. Nkari, Itu Mbonu Uso and Iwerre Clan have ten gazetted and recognized villages each, while Ikpe Clan and

Clan have 52 and 43 villages gazetted and officially recognized villages each. (Source: List of Recognized Villages and Clan, Akwa Ibom State Official Gazette, 2006). The local government area of Ini consists of ekpuks (lineages/macro-families) which make up autonomous, recognized and gazetted villages/communities. The communities/villages are grouped into one of the five clans of Ikono, Ikpe, Iwerri, Itu Mbon Uso and Nkari. The clans made up the local government. The Akwa Ibom State Traditional Rulers law, cap 134 laws of Akwa Ibom State and the gazettes published pursuant thereto clearly list all the recognized villages/communities and the grouped clans. The system of traditional administration in Ini Local Government Area is the same as other Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State that also follow the ancient Ibibio Political System, where the highest political system was the Community (Obio/Idung) which had an autonomous Obong Idung or Obong Obio or Obong Ikpaisong. Several communities with close blood affinity usually formed a

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

and

cooperation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English and, with a varied usage along time, coöperation) takes place when a group of organisms works or acts together for a collective benefit to the group as opposed to working in competition ...

for the purposes of cultural and mutual cooperation in defense, commerce, and cultural championship. These inter-communal union of communities with blood relation is today recognized as a clan. The clans today have official clan heads who are selected by the recognized traditional rulers of the communities/villages from among themselves. The traditional rulers' law restricts the authority of every traditional ruler to his gazetted village/community and forbids interference of any traditional ruler in the administration of any other autonomous or gazetted village/community. The

paramount ruler {{Use American English, date=December 2018 The term paramount ruler, or sometimes paramount king, is a generic description, though occasionally also used as an actual title, for a number of rulers' position in relative terms, as the summit of a f ...

is the president of the Council of Traditional Rulers in the local government. He is selected by the Clan Heads from amongst themselves. Thus, a Traditional Ruler is firstly the King or Ruler of his recognized village/community, before he can vie to be elected to the office of the clan head and further vie to be elected as paramount ruler. Thus if a paramount ruler loses his

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign (or viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory ...

as a traditional ruler of his Community/villages, he automatically ceases to be a clan head and thus ceases to be a paramount ruler. Royalty in Ini Local Government Area resides in the ancient royal thrones which are in each of the autonomous and gazetted villages/

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place (geography), place, set of Norm (social), norms, culture, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Ide ...

. When a paramount ruler joins his ancestors, another

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

head is elected to occupy the office of the Paramount Ruler from among the existing recognized clan heads after the burial of the deceased paramount ruler. The paramount ruler is, therefore, the first amongst equals in the royal thrones of Ini Local Government Area. The current Paramount Ruler of Ini Local Government Area is His Royal

Majesty Majesty (abbreviated HM for His Majesty or Her Majesty, oral address Your Majesty; from the Latin , meaning ) is used as a manner of address by many monarchs, usually kings or queens. Where used, the style outranks the style of ''(Imperial/Roy ...

, Edidem Apostle Nteong Udo Effiong Akpan (Who is also the Clan Head of Itu Mbon Uso). The list of recognized Traditional Rulers of all the Communities/Villages and the Clans Heads are contained in the register kept at the State Ministry of Local Government and

Chieftaincy A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of western Af ...

Affairs.

References

{{Authority control Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom State