Tag: History

When Queen Elizabeth II visited Nigeria in 1956, she set foot on Akwa Ibom soil. According to history, the Queen of England has visited our country just twice. This was first in 1956 and then in 2003 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.

So, what made the Queen visit Akwa Ibom?

Spoiler! Firstly, Akwa Ibom State did not exist until 1987, so when the Queen visited our land, we were not yet ‘Akwa Ibom’.  Technically, the Queen did not visit Akwa Ibom.

But she set foot on our soil on a tour to Nigeria just before we won independence from Britain.

Some History

Prior to the time of her visit, Nigeria was under the monarchic rule of the Queen. We gained independence in 1960 and became a republic in 1963.

When the Queen visited Nigeria, the Governor General of Nigeria was Sir James Robertson, a British colonial officer.

Queen Elizabeth’s First Visit to Nigeria

The Queen’s first visit to Nigeria lasted just 20 days; from 28 January to 16 February 1956. It was termed a royal tour that had the queen visit many locations in the country.

It was during this first visit that the Queen inaugurated the federal court in Kaduna, attended the Royal Durbar also in Kaduna, Tin Plant in Jos, Lagos and also Enugu.

The Visit to Itu

Although not widely reported, part of the Queen’s reasons for visiting Nigeria was to lay a wreath at the grave of 20th Century Scottish missionary, Mary Mitchell Slessor. At that time in 1956, Mary Slessor’s recognized grave was in Itu in present day Akwa Ibom State. Today, though, the grave is in Calabar, Cross River State.

To get the Queen into Itu, a special landing for her boat was created on the banks of the monolithic Itu River. The landing had a small jetty built to help the Queen alight from the boat to land. A lobby was also built for her to wait in before proceeding to the grave site. Besides the quay and landing, a rail system was built to lift the Queen’s boat out of water also to land.

Queen’s Beach

The jetty is adjudged to be the first quay system to have been built in the entire South-East and South-South Nigeria. The location is today called ‘Queen’s beach’ in present day Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

The Queen’s beach is one of the tourist sites of Akwa Ibom State today in the Itu area. Of course, there is also the intimidating Itu river, the breath-taking rolling hills of Itu and Ibiono, the Mary Slessor Cairn and lots of other such sites worth visiting.

Buy a book on the historical journeys of Ibom people, click here.

Feature Picture shows Queen Elizabeth 11 with Prince Philip leaving the Calabar stadium. The photograph is for sale via Alamy.

Keyword: Queen Elizabeth visited Akwa Ibom

It was President Ibrahim Babangida that actually said that Akwa Ibom State is founder of modern Nigeria. When did he make this statement? When he created Akwa Ibom state, carved out of Cross-River State. This was in September 23, 1987, after a long struggle of 4 decades.

How Modern Nigerian States Began?

Creating Akwa Ibom State was fair and right seeing that Ibibio people were among pioneer groups in the struggle for State Creation. They mounted this struggle using the Ibibio Union. Meanwhile, this Ibibio Union – a socio-cultural organisation founded in 1928 – later transited to a goal driven institution in 1948. The union was known, back then, for ability to unite the Ibibio people thereby giving them one voice to contribute to the development of society.

Record: Ibibio Union was Nigeria’s first ever socio-cultural group.

However, beginning from 1967 when the 12 state structures was established by the then Military ruler Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the mainland part of Calabar province in eastern Nigeria was only known as the South-eastern state.

This did not feel good to the people and so it led to the name change to Cross River State in 1976.

It was just one of the ways to calm their agitation but the Ibibios and their Annang, Ekid, Oro relatives still wanted a state of their own. As such, the struggle continued.

Buhari Rejected, Babangida Accepted

After the fall of the 2nd republic in 1983, paramount rulers of 10 local government areas of mainland Cross River State sent to the then military ruler Mohammudu Buhari demanding the creation of Akwa Ibom State. This it was fruitless pursuit.

Record: Ibibio Union was one of Africa’s first groups to send indigenes on foreign scholarship.

The Ibibio People, known for their undaunted nature, kept the pressure on. In the course of this struggle, another opportunity came in 1986, when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida set up a bureau to define the political direction of the country. The fathers of Akwa Ibom State submitted the memo again. This time, it won the favour of the President Babangida.

What Babangida Thinks of Akwa Ibom State and Modern Nigeria

When he visited his newly created State, this is what Babangida said;

 “I do not exaggerate when I say that all the states in the federation owe a huge historical debt to the people of Akwa Ibom State, because … the cradle of the movement of state creation is here. In this sense, it can be said that you are the founders of modern Nigeria.”

 

Akwa Ibom state is one of the most important states in South-South Nigeria. It has since grown into 31 local government areas with diverse peculiarities. It is also one of Africa’s largest producer-states of Oil.

For more on the story of Akwa Ibom State, click here.

 

Written by

Brownson Nseime,

Jabborro PR, Uyo

 

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