Ebonyi State


Ebonyi State is in southeastern Nigeria. It is inhabited and populated primarily by the Igbo with the city of Abakaliki as its capital and largest city. Other major townships include Afikpo, Onueke, Ezzamgbo, Edda, Effium, Aba Omege, Amasiri, Unwana, Echara Ikwo, Egu-Ubia, Ụbụrụ, Onicha, etc. It was one of the six states created in 1996 by the then federal military government of General Sani Abacha. The State of Ebonyi was created from parts of both Enugu State and Abia State, which were the Abakaliki division from Enugu State and the Afikpo division from Abia State respectively. It has three senatorial zones, the Abakaliki division make up Ebonyi North and Ebonyi Central senatorial zones, while the Afikpo division make up the Ebonyi South senatorial zone. Ebonyi has thirteen local government areas as well as local development centres created by the state government. It is home to six prominent higher institutions of learning: Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki ; Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo ; Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana; Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu; Ebonyi State College of Education Ikwo and College of Health Sciences, Ezzamgbo.

Demographics

There are several Igbo dialects spoken in Ebonyi State, including Edda, Ehugbo, Izzi-Ezza-Mgbo-Ikwo dialect cluster, Unwara, Akpoha, Okposi, Onicha, Korri, Effium and Uburu.

Administration

In 1999, Dr. Sam Ominyi Egwu was elected as the first governor of the state under the People's Democratic Party. He was succeeded by Martin Elechi who was elected in 2007 and successfully ran for re-election in 2011, under the same PDP. Gov Martin Elechi was succeeded by the current Governor, Dave Umahi, who was elected in the March 2015 election and re-elected in March 2019 for a second term in office.

Natural resources

Ebonyi is primarily an agricultural region. It is a leading producer of rice, yam, potatoes, maize, beans, and cassava in Nigeria. Rice is predominantly cultivated in Ikwo, yams in Izzi, with other regions in the state such as Amasiri, Edda and Ezillo making notable contributions, and Effium and Ezzamgb taking the top spots in cassava production. Ebonyi has several solid mineral resources, including lead, crude oil, and natural gas, but few large-scale commercial mining|mines. The state government has, however, given some incentives to investors in the agro-allied sector to encourage production but capacity remains largely under utilised. Ebonyi is called "the salt of the nation" for its huge salt deposit at the Okposi and Uburu Salt Lakes. There are also some tourist locations within the state prominent ones include Abakaliki Green Lake, Uburu Salt Lake, Unwana and Ikwo Beaches.

Local government areas

Ebonyi State consists of thirteen Local Government Areas. They are:
Languages of Ebonyi State listed by LGA:
LGALanguages
AbakalikiIzii; Kukele; Mbembe, Cross River
Afikpo NorthAgwagwune; Legbo
Afikpo SouthAgwagwune; Legbo
EbonyiIzii
Ezaa NorthEzaa
Ezaa SouthEzaa
IkwoIkwo
IshieluEzaa; Oring
IvoEzaa
IzziIgede; Izii; Mbembe, Cross River; Nnam
OhaukwuEzaa; Mgbolizhia
OhaozaraOhaozara
OnichaOhaozara

Notable people