Ekiti State

Ekiti State lies in southwestern Nigeria. It shares a 61 km border with Kwara State to the north, a 92 km border with Kogi State to the northeast, borders Ondo State to the south and southeast, and an 84 km border with Osun State to the west. The state takes its name from the Ekiti people, a Yoruba subgroup who form the majority of its population. It was created in 1996 from part of Ondo State, and its capital is Ado-Ekiti.

Ekiti is one of Nigeria’s smallest states by area (31st largest) and 30th most populous, with an estimated 3.5 million residents as of 2022. It is also one of the country’s most educated states, boasting the highest number of professors in Nigeria. Most of the state lies within the Nigerian lowland forests, while the north transitions into the drier Guinean forest–savanna mosaic. Wildlife includes false acraeas, mona monkeys, forest buffalo, and grey parrots, along with one of the last remaining troops of Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees—about 20 individuals—in the heavily threatened Ise Forest Reserve. In March 2022, Ekiti became the first Nigerian state to adopt an official state tree. On World Forest Day 2022, Governor Kayode Fayemi announced the Obeche (Triplochiton scleroxylon) as the state tree, chosen for its local prominence and environmental, economic, and cultural significance.

The area now known as Ekiti State has been home for centuries primarily to the Ekiti people, a Yoruba subgroup, with minorities of the Akoko Yoruba and Yagba–Ekiti Yoruba subgroups. About 90% of the population is Christian, with Muslims and traditionalists each making up roughly 5%. In the pre-colonial period, the region was subjugated by the Ibadan imperialist movement, whose hegemony collapsed in the 1890s. During the latter half of the 1800s, Ekitiland formed the Ekiti Confederacy. From 1877 to 1893, the confederacy (also called Ekiti-Parapo) fought the Oyo-Ibadan in the Ekiti-Parapo War (or Kiriji War), led by Fabunmi Okemesi-Ekiti alongside other Eastern and Western Yoruba groups. The war ended in a British-brokered stalemate, after which the area was colonized and incorporated into the British Southern Nigeria Protectorate, which later merged into British Nigeria in 1914. After Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the area was part of the Western Region until 1967, when it became part of the Western State. In 1976, the Western State was split, and the area became part of Ondo State. Twenty years later, in 1996, the northwest of Ondo State—then called the Ekiti Zone—was broken off to form Ekiti State.

Economically, Ekiti relies partly on agriculture, mainly yams, rice, cocoa, and cassava. Key minor industries include logging and tourism. The state has the joint-thirteenth highest Human Development Index in Nigeria and is considered the heartland of the Ekiti people. Educationally, it has the highest number of professors in the country.

**History**

Ekiti was an independent state before British conquest, one of many Yoruba states in what is now Nigeria. The Ekiti people trace some of their ancestry to Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba race, though evidence suggests aboriginal people lived in the region before royalty arrived from Ile-Ife as that kingdom grew.

Two major schools of thought exist on Ekiti’s origin. The first ties it to Ife: Olofin, a son of Oduduwa, had 16 children. Searching for new land, they left Ile-Ife, passing through Iwo-Eleru (Cave of Ashes) at Ijare and stopping at Igbo-Aka (forest of termites) near Ile-Oluji. Olofin, the 16 children, and others continued until they reached a flat, pleasant land. There, Owa-Obokun (the monarch of Ijesha land) and Orangun of Ila stayed in present-day Ijesha and Igbomina land in Osun State. The remaining 14 children journeyed onward and settled in present-day Ekiti land. Seeing many hills, they said in their mother tongue, “Ile olokiti” (land of hills). “Okiti” later blended into “Ekiti,” giving the state its name. This account may describe certain royal lineages, but not all of Ekiti, which comprises 131 principal towns with their own royalty and many land-owning communities without royalty. Invading royalties from the east colonized and transformed the aboriginals, distinguishing the Ekiti dialect through mixing with Ife/Oyo Yoruba, according to historian Samuel Johnson.

The second school of thought is more historically grounded. It holds that Oduduwa traveled to Ife (Ife Ooyelagbo), where he found people already settled, including elders such as Agbonniregun (Stetillu), Obatala, Orelure, Obameri, Elesije, Obamirin, and Obalejugbe. Descendants of Agbonniregun (Baba Ifa) settled in Ekiti—examples include the Alara and Ajero, sons of Ifa. Orunmila (Agbonniregun) himself spent much of his life at Ado, giving rise to the saying “Ado ni ile Ifa” (Ado is the home of Ifa). The Ekiti have since remained in their present location.