The Yakurr (also Yakö and Yakạạ) live in five compact towns in
Cross River State
)
, image_map = Nigeria - Cross River.svg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Location of Cross River State in Nigeria
, coordinates =
, coor_pinpoint ...
(Obono 2001, p. 3),
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 of G ...
. They were formally known as Umor, Ekoli, Ilomi, Nkoibolokom and Yakurr be Ibe. Due to linguistic problems encountered by the early
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
an visitors, the settlements have come to be known by their mispronounced versions –
Ugep,
Ekori
Ekori is a community in Yakuur, Nigeria.
Language and culture
The native language is Lokaa. English is the official language; other languages spoken in Ekori include pidgin English, which most West African people understand. Leboku is the New ...
,
Idomi
Idomi is a village in Yakurr Local Government of Cross River State, Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in ...
, Nko and
Mkpani
Mkpani is a village in the Yakurr Local Government area of Cross River State, Nigeria, This is the community of the former Governor his excellency Clement Ebri. This community gave birth to two communities, Lebang, and Lopon. Mkpani is 120km ( ...
(Okoi-Uyouyo 2002). In the latter, it is a product of ''yakpanikpani'' (a Lokạạ word for "tricks"), a name, which Enang (1980) says was given to them by the Ugep people after being tricked in a conflict (''Yakurr News'').
Territory
Yakurr people are predominantly found in territories that lies between latitudes 50 401 and 60 101 north of the equator and longitudes 80 21 and 60 101 east of the
Greenwich Meridian
The historic prime meridian or Greenwich meridian is a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. The modern IERS Reference Meridian widely used today is based on the Greenwich mer ...
and northwest of
Calabar
Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language. The city is adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers and ...
, the capital of Cross River State. They are found in the present-day
Yakurr Local Government Area
Yakurr Local Government Area is located in the Cross River basin in Cross River State Nigeria. The local government area (LGA) was carved out of Obubra local government in 1987. The seat of government is in Ugep.
Major settlements in the local go ...
and constitute the largest ethnic group in the state. They share their northern and eastern boundaries with the Assiga,
Nyima and Agoi Clans of the Yakurr Local Government Area, the southern boundary with the
Biase Local Government Area and their western boundary with the
Abi Local Government Area.
By 1935, Yakurr had a population of 22,000 and 38,000 by 1953 (1939, 1950, and 1964; Hansford ''et al.'' 1976; and Crabb 1969). The population numbers of Yakurr based on the 1991 national census were rejected by the local and state government due to discrepancies. The results of the 2006 census by the Nigerian government about the current population are still pending.
Origins
The language spoken by the Yakurr is
Lokạạ, an
Upper Cross River language. It is described by Iwara (1988) as one of the major languages of Cross River State, comparable, in terms of number of speakers, with
Efik
Efik may refer to:
* Efik people, an ethnic group located primarily in southeastern Nigeria
* Efik language, the language of the Efik people
*Efik mythology, the mythological beliefs of the Efik people
*Efik religion, the traditional religion of t ...
, which enjoys the special status of a lingua franca in the state. According to Ethnologue, it was spoken by 120.000 people in 1989 (Eberhard ''et al.'' 2019).
The Yakurr exhibits a very high degree of social heterogeneity, but linguistic, political, religious and cultural homogeneity. In the absence of written records, linguistic, political, religious and cultural homogeneous patterns are the most dependable evidences of establishing descent and biological connections.
All Yakurr people share a common tradition of overland migration and ancestry. The ancestral homeland of the Yakurr people is "Akpa", said to be a shortened form of "Lẹkanakpakpa". This area is believed to correspond with the Cameroon–Obudu range as it stands today. The Yakurr cites the Okuni, Nsofan and Ojo people as their neighbours at Lẹkanakpakpa. The traditions of Okuni, Nsofan and Ojo corroborate the Yakurr claim of having lived together at Lẹkanakpakpa, which is referred to as “Onugi” by the Okuni and Nsofan people and Lẹkpamkpa by the Ojo people.
The migration of Yakurr from their ancestral homeland started at about AD 1617, when a misunderstanding between the Yakurr and their neighbours, arising from the violation of a burial custom forced their neighbours to wage a war against them, leading to them being driven from their homeland.
The migratory history of the Yakurr people, as given by Ubi (1986 and 1978) is that, between 1617 and 1677, the Yakurr migrated from that ancestral homeland to look for a new homeland following a military defeat from Akpa. About A.D. 1660, some Yakurr migrants founded new homelands in their present locations. These locations are Idomi and Ugep. Between 1677 and 1707, some other Yakurr migrants founded the towns of Ekori and Nko. Between 1707 and 1737 yet another wave of Yakurr migrants founded Mkpani settlement.
The reasons for the relocation of populations in new settlements by the Yakurr is mainly due to competing demands for land resources, as a result of growing populations in one hand and unresolved conflicts in the other. This development is aided by the patrilocality of marriages and strong patriarchy in the family system. It was thus easy for patriclans to relocate to new settlements. This has produced a slight parallelism in names of patriclans and strong parallelism in names of matriclans in all the Yakurr settlements.
Culture
Notable people
*
Okoi Arikpo
Dr. Okoi Arikpo (20 September 1916 – 26 October 1995) was a Nigerian chemist, anthropologist, lawyer, politician and diplomat. He served as the foreign minister of Nigeria.
Early life and political career
Okoi Arikpo was born in Ugep in 1916. He ...
, Longest-serving Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, & Pioneer Secretary, National Universities Commission.
*
Clement Ebri, former Governor of Cross River State.
*
Eteng Okoi-Obuli, Minister of Agriculture, Second Republic.
*
Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas
Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (born 27 September 1960) is a retired Nigerian navy vice admiral, who was the 22nd Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) of the Nigerian Navy from 13 July 2015 to 26 January 2021.
Background and education
Ibas was born in Nko, Cross ...
, Vice Admiral, and Former Chief of Naval Staff
*
Usani Uguru Usani
Usani Uguru Usani (born 27 January 1961) is a Nigerian pastor, lecturer and politician who served as Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in the Nigerian government.
Early life and education
Usani was born on 27 January 1961 in Nko, Yakurr Local ...
, Former Minister of Niger Delta.
*
Etowa Eyong Arikpo, Former Attorney General, and Chief Justice of Cross River State
*
Okoi Ikpi Itam
is a historical fantasy novel about ninja written in 1958–1959 by the Japanese author Futaro Yamada. It is the first installment in Yamada's ''Ninja Scrolls'' series, which he wrote until his death in 2001. The book was translated into English ...
, Former Chief Justice of Cross River State.
*
Eka Ikpi Braide
Eka or EKA may refer to:
People
* Eka Budianta (born 1956), Indonesian poet
* Eka Darville (born 1989), Australian actor
* Eka Gigauri (born 1978), Georgian activist
* Eka Gurtskaia (born ), Georgian beauty pageant titleholder
* Eka Kurniawan ( ...
, Pioneer Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Science & Technology, and Federal University of Lafia, Nassarawa
*
Efa Iwara
Efa Iwara, also known as Efa, is a Nigerian actor and rapper.
Early life and education
Iwara was born on 20 August 1990 in Ibadan, Oyo State to his Professor of Linguistics father and Librarian mother. He hails from Ugep in Cross River Sta ...
, Nigerian actor and rapper
References
*Crabb, D. W. (1969) ''Ekoi Bantu Languages of Ogoja'',
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
*
*Enang, S. B. (1980) ''Mkpani Pre-Colonial History'',
University of Calabar B. A. History Project.
*Hansford, K.; Bendor-Samuel, J. and Stanford, R. (eds.) (1976) ''Studies in Nigerian Languages'', Summer Institute of Linguistics,
Accra.
*Iwara, A. U. (1988) ''Reading and Writing Lokạạ'', Institute of African Studies
University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 1962 ...
,
Ibadan
Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its ...
.
*
*Okoi-Uyouyo, M. (2002) ''Yakurr Systems of Kinship, Family and Marriage'', Bookman, Calabar.
*Ubi, O. A. (1986) “Analysis of Two Bronzes from a Nigerian Asunaju Shrine: A Rejoinder” ''Africana Marburgensia'' xix, pp. 7–8.
*Ubi, O. A. (1978) ''The Yakurr: A Reconstruction of Pre-colonial History'',
University of Lagos
The University of Lagos, popularly known as UNILAG, is a public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria and was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the first generation universities in Nigeria and is ranked among the top universities in th ...
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic
* Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group
** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
History
Thesis
A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144 ...
.
News'' Latest info about Yakurr People.
Further reading
*Forde, D. (1939) "Kinship in Umor” ''
American Anthropologist
''American Anthropologist'' is the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), published quarterly by Wiley. The "New Series" began in 1899 under an editorial board that included Franz Boas, Daniel G. Brinton, and John ...
'', Vol. 41, pp. 530–540.
*Forde, D. (1950) "Double Descent Among the Yakö” in Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. and Forde, D. (eds.) ''African Systems of Kinship and Marriage'', Oxford University Press, London.
*Forde, D. (1964) ''Yakö Studies'', Oxford University Press, London.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yako people
Geography of Nigeria
Cross River State
Ethnic groups in Nigeria