Reclaiming Precolonial Ties Across Nigeria’s Former Eastern Region
Conference: ISA 22nd Annual International Conference (2025)
Presenter(s): Philip Effiong
Tags: 2025 East Lansing Michigan State University Philip Effiong
Abstract
Areas referred to as the former Eastern Region of Nigeria (including today’s Delta State) comprise ethnic nationalities that have been intimately connected for eons – linguistically, artistically and culturally. Even with occasional conflicts over land, these ties were historically sustained through trade and marriage. Subsequently, it wasn’t uncommon for older generations to communicate in different languages across the region. This sense of ethnic commonality was a major reason why the women’s anticolonial uprising of 1929, for instance, was successful. Sadly, ethnic politics and ensuing conflicts beginning in the 1960s destroyed a lot of this ethnic cohesion, creating territorial trappings of power. For people of this region, the lost sense of harmony must be regained in order to achieve self-determination and political power in a country that is increasingly becoming unsafe and resorting to repressive systems of governance. While a practical civic educational policy would be useful in this regard, the performative arts can also be instrumental in restoring and consolidating these vital ethnic ties, which would accelerate sustainable development in every sector.
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