Ekiti State, Nigeria Genealogy

Nigeria Ekiti State

Guide to Ekiti State, Nigeria ancestry, family history and genealogy: birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, parish registers, and military records.

Information
Ekiti was an independent state prior to the British conquest. It was one of the many Yoruba states in what is today Nigeria. Ekiti State is a state in southwest Nigeria, created on October 1, 1996 alongside five other new states by military dictator General Sani Abacha. The state, created out of the territory of Ondo State, covered the former twelve local government areas that made up the Ekiti Zone of old Ondo State; however, on creation, it took off with sixteen (16) Local Government Areas (LGAs), having had an additional four carved out of the old ones. Ekiti State is one of the thiryt-six states (including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja) that constitute the Nigeria.

The Ekiti, whose ancestors migrated from Ile-Ife as a people, form one of the largest ethnic groups in Yorubaland. Ekitis are culturally homogeneous and they speak a dialect of Yoruba language known as Ekiti. The homogeneous nature of Ekiti confers on the state some uniqueness among the states of the federation. Slight differences are noticeable in the Ekiti dialects of the Yoruba language spoken by the border communities to other states. For example, the people of Ado local government area do not speak exactly the same dialect with the people of Ijero Local government area, while the people of Ikole area speak something different from the people of Ikere area. The communities influenced by their locations include Otun (Moba land) that speaks a dialect close to the one spoken by the Igbominas in Kwara State. The people of Oke-Ako, Irele, Omuo speak a similar dialect to that of Ijesas of Osun State. However, part of the uniqueness of the Ekitis is that where ever is your own part of the state, you will understand well, when the other Ekiti man/woman speaks, in spite of the dialectal variations. In addition, all towns in Ekiti State take a common suffix, "Ekiti," after their names.

Towns and administrative divisions
The people of Ekiti State live mainly in towns. These towns include: Ado, Awo-Ekiti, Efon-Alaaye, Aramoko, Ikole, Ikere, Ire, Ijero, Ayetoro, Ipoti, Igogo, Ise, Itapa, Otun, Usi, Ido, Emure, Iyin, Igede, Ilawe, Ode, Oye, Omu, Omuo, Ilupeju, Ikoro, Ikun, Iye, Ijesa-Isu, Ayedun, Aisegba, Osin, Okemesi, and Igbara-Odo.