What is the origin of ibibio?
Talbot suggests that by 7000 BC permanent settlement of some of the ethnic groups in Ibibio land had already begun and notes that the Ibibio language is probably the most ancient of all the semi Bantu languages. The Ibibio tribe is the 4th largest ethnic set in Nigeria, and barely outnumbered by Igbo neighbors.
The Ibibio people occupy the palm belt in the southeast Nigeria, and are regarded as the most ancient of all the ethnic groups in Nigeria. According to Robert McKeon, the Ibibio are probably the indigenous natives from whom most small tribes of Qua Ibom and Calabar are descended. The early settlement of the Ibibio in the area led to the development of a number of sub-clans, notably the Anang, the Efik, and the Oron. Talbot suggests that by 7000 BC permanent settlement of some of the ethnic groups in Ibibio land had already begun and notes that the Ibibio language is probably the most ancient of all the semi Bantu languages.
The Ibibio tribe is the 4th largest ethnic set in Nigeria, and barely outnumbered by Igbo neighbors. However, Nigeria was and has been ever since classified by the Royal Niger Company in 1914 as having only 3 major ethnic groups namely: the Hausa, the Yoruba and the Igbo.
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Available evidence indicates that the original homeland of Ibibio is at Usak Edet (Isangele) in the Cameroon. According to Ford and Jones, the Ibibio settlement of Isangele now forms a small tribe in the Kumba Division of Cameroon. Upon leaving the Cameroon territory, the Ibibio arrived at their present location following two major directions. Probably about 8000 BC one group reached Nigeria by an overland route and settled at Ibom (Arochuku) there they erected the famous shrine now known as the Long Juju of Arochuku. From Ibom some of the Ibibio people spread to Abak, Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, and other areas of what is known as the mainland of Cross River State. Other Ibibio came to the mainland by sea. These include the Uruan, Oron, Eket, and Ibeno people. The split of the sub-group (now called Efiks) from their kinfolk the (Uruan), seem to have started by about the sixteenth century. Talbot, who for many years conducted anthropological research among the Ibibio, suggested that the Efik started to claim a separate identity by about 1600 AD.
He wrote: “Soon afterwards, a section of Ibibio, expelled either by the on-coming of Igbo or in consequence of a defeat at the hands of a town of their own tribe (Uruan) migrated to old Efik Town near Ikoneto.”
Somewhat later the greater part of them moved again, some to Mbiabo and Adiabo and others to Creek Town. The final settlement of this branch of the Ibibio people seems to have occurred in 1670. At about this time some of the Ibibio chiefs from Creek Town who were cut off from their kin at Obutong by European traders, moved to a new site now called Duke Town. This is about four kilometers south of Obutong, at a strategic location just across the anchorage of the European trading ships.
SOCIAL SYSTEM
Ibibio society consists of villages, each of which belongs to a larger unit known as the “Clan”. The clan was often named after the founder of the first village in the area. Each Ibibio village is independent and equal in status. The villages consist of individual families comprising the husband, his wife/wives, children and grandparents. The society is mostly polygamous with formerly large families.
Nowadays the families are smaller due to excessive child mortality as well as the decreasing economic situation. In Ibibio land age is venerated. The respect extended to the elders comes from several cherished convictions.
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The oldest male of the family is often chosen as the head of the village unless he is incapacitated for any reason. A direct descendant of the village’s founder is preferred to inherit a vacant post. Similarly, one of the village heads is elected as head of the clan. The duties of a head include the settlement of disputes among members of the families, the villages or the clan. He is not only a true mediator but also performs sacrifices at the ancestors’ shrine for the well being of the families in the village. The family head chairs the meetings. He maintains regular consultation with the traditional Ruler’s Council that consists of all village heads of a clan. As custodians of legends, history and tradition, the elders play a significantly dominant role in Ibibio society. In the traditional setting those family meetings, village councils or Traditional Ruler’s Councils lay down laws and regulations for the governance of all units.
For the enforcement of these laws each Ibibio village has its own Ekpo or Ekpe Society. This society is an ancient secret order that is used for determining the truth, and as a medium of communication with the ancestors. In some of the riverside Ibibio villages the Ekpe Society performs the functions of law enforcement. In such cases, the Ekpe Society is seen as the supreme authority.
OCCUPATION and SPORTS
The Ibibio largely engage in farming, fishing, and trading. While farming is the principal occupation of the Ibibio uplands, the river-side Ibibio traditionally work as fishermen at fishing ports commonly known as INE. Trading is done by middlemen who act as brokers between the producers of goods and the consumers.
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Outside the farming and fishing seasons the Ibibio traditionally spend their time with various recreational activities, with games and sports like wrestling, swimming, Oyo, and Ekara (marksmanship) and arrow shooting). Also moonlight plays like 0ffiong and Edop provide a good platform for social interaction particularly for the youths. Daytime plays include Ukwa, Ebre, Ibit-Abang, Ekong, and a host of others.
LANGUAGE
As observed by G.I. Jones and Darryl Ford the word Ibibio is both an ethnic and a linguistic term. All the Ibibio people speak and understand the same language: Ibibio. The dialectal differences among the various Ibibio groups can be attributed largely to the long period of territorial isolation between groups. These variations in the Ibibio language reflect adaptations to diverse contacts and social differences of various Ibibio groups. Linguistic homogeneity decreases with the rise in population and with the expansion of the occupied area. With reduced interaction, the speakers of Ibibio tend to form variants of their language. Thus the major dialects of the Ibibio language include the Uruan (now popularly referred to as Efik), the Anang, the Oron as well as the Ibeno and Eket dialects.
THE IBIBIO IN TODAY’S NIGERIA
Today the Ibibio can be considered as victims of the unilateral tri-partitioning of Nigeria in 1906. The Nigerian society consists of heterogeneous groups of people which in itself are not an impediment to progress or co-existence.
But the Ibibio, just like their compatriots in South-South, otherwise known as The Niger Delta, are blanked-out in the register of Nigeria’s Federal portfolios since the “Flag” independence from Britain in 1960. Factually speaking, the Niger Delta has no share in the income generated from their soil which is 0il and Gas.
HOW COME?
The geographical unit now called Nigeria first came into existence in 1861 as the private British company known as the Royal Niger Company was promoting its colonial project. This does not imply that the peoples of the region now known as “Nigeria” came ashore from the British ships. Far from it: as archeological evidence proves existed various dynamic, interacting kingdoms living peacefully within its boundaries centuries before the British came.
In its efforts to implement a policy of “divide and rule” the Brits created and sponsored ethnic rivalries and antipathies throughout what is now known as Nigeria. They unilaterally merged Northern and Southern kingdoms by a concept known as Tripartite – the birth of three large regions that will be owned by one distinctive ethnic group. As would be expected, the post colonials who are black Africans themselves towed that devilish British concept undiluted and passed it onto floods of successive generations including amorphous behavioral patterns that strives to specialize only in “stealing” from its own folks.
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From 1960 onwards the word “corruption” as defined in most dictionaries takes on an even more despicable meaning in Nigeria. It becomes what Mr. Nwankwo describes in his book: The Stolen Billions and says: “From the debris of our battered hopes; barefaced robbery monumental thievery and official plunder of the Nigerian state, the putrid stench emanating from this cesspool of corruption casts an ominous pall on humanity”. Nigeria survives despite itself – that is true, but the slide to perdition will go on unless future generations are morally educated, away from the instincts of our leader’s filthy lucre.
