Ekiti people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~ 4,175,608 (2011-'16) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|
Ekiti State - 3,270,798 (2016) Ondo State - 775,420 • Ekiti: 63,200 • Oke Ero: 66,190 |
|
| Religion | |
| Primarily: Christianity Also: Yoruba religion • Islam |
Ekiti State - 3,270,798 (2016)
Ondo State - 775,420
• Akure North: 151,930
• Akure South: 418,570
• Ifedore: 204,920
The Ekiti are one of the largest historical subgroups of the larger Yoruba people of West Africa. They are classified as a Central Yoruba group, alongside the Ijesha, Igbomina, Yagba and Ifes. Ekiti State is populated exclusively by Ekiti people, however, it is but a segment of historical territorial domain of Ekiti speaking groups. The name Ekiti is a derivation of an earlier term Okiti which means "Hilly" in Yoruba, as characterized by the generally hilly terrain of the areas the Ekiti inhabit. In associating Ekitiland with Ekiti State of Nigeria, it was observed that a good percentage of its people and communities located within the same geographical space of current day Ekiti State (one of the Nigeria’s 36 States) are homogenous. Ekitiland (Ekiti homestead), which is one of the sub-ethnic groups of the Yorubas found in the North-Eastern part, was described by Olomola as an area dominated by ‘rugged hills of relative heights’ along with many other Yoruba communities in the hinterland. Hence, if Ekiti was a toponym derived from its hilly environment, it would extend to areas of Upper Ogun, Ijesaland, Okuku and Igbajo, Iyagba, Owe (Kabba) and Akoko. Other early writers had referred to people of Ekitiland as ‘Efon’ tribes, except Ellis and Akinjogbin who interchangeably used Ekiti and Efon to refer to these same sets of people.
Olomola also deferred and suggested on the whole that ‘Ekiti has existed from time immemorial as a collective name for the land of a sub-ethnic division of the Yoruba which include parts of Ijeshaland, Igbomina and Ekiti, in the Eastern Yoruba land lying beyond the coastal plains. He was however when he stated that the existing sub-ethnic divisions in Yorubaland have been associated with their own homelands since the rise of the dynasties. Hence, Ekiti could only be properly defined by associating it with areas which constituted Ekiti in 1900, 1913 and from October, 1996 till date.
The Ekitis speak a distinct Yoruba dialect also known as Ekiti. Despite its comparatively large geographical spread, it remains relatively uniform within the areas where it is spoken. The dialect generally transients into Ijesha speech towards the west beyond the Effon ridge, and into Igbomina in the north and northwest towards the town of Omu Aran, both of which still fall within the Central Yoruba Continuum. Towards the northeast, as one departs the town of Ikole and Omuo the dialect gradually fades into Yagba and Ijumu types respectively.
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Wikipedia