THE LAND OF PROMISE…
Akwa Ibom is made up of 27 local government areas, with Uyo as the capital city. Its major towns include Uyo, Eket, Ikot Abasi, Oron, Etinam, Abak, and Ikot Ekpene It has a population of 2, 359, 736 million based on the 1996 national census figures. As the third largest producer of crude oil in Nigeria, Akwa Ibom State, is one of most important economic resource bases of the Nation.
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- First Administrative Office
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- The historical Ibibio State Union Secretariat building at Uyo now a Nigerian Legion office
Incidentally, nothing much has been written of the state in spite of its rich history as a theatre of early European activities from the Portuguese era downwards, particularly, as the area served as the hinterland for the coastal city states of old Calabar and Niger Delta in the 19th century contact between Nigerian peoples and the Europeans. The reason for this stem from attention and emphasis laid on Old Calabar being the administrative headquarters of the area, which makes historians entwined its historical contribution as part of the history of old Calabar.
However, in spite of this lack of attention to what later constitutes Akwa Ibom State, today, history of its rich cultural cum administrative monuments today has exposed a wide contact between the people and the European, the relics of this contact are found virtually in all coastal areas of the state. It has also been discovered that the areas which constitutes Akwa Ibom State was the main source of commodity trade especially palm produce for the Europeans.
The evidence is seen in the existence as the various European trading warehouses. Most importantly it was a major trade route particular during the era of slave trade (1503 – 1842) and a cradle of European Christian Missionary contact with people in hinterlands (1846 – 1900) at the beginning of the 20th century, seen in the early missionary presence of the Qua Iboe Mission at Ibeno and Etinan, followed by other missions like the Church of Scotland Mission, The Roman Catholic Missions.
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