How Efik king brought education into Eastern Nigeria

Long before Nigeria became a nation, the Efik Kingdom of Old Calabar was already writing history.

In the 1840s, 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐲𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐚 𝐕 of Duke Town, alongside 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐲𝐨 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲 II of Creek Town, did something no other ruler in the region had done — he wrote letters to Queen Victoria of England and to the Scottish Missionary Society, requesting that teachers, books, and missionaries be sent to Calabar.

The Efik had already mastered diplomacy and correspondence, trading on equal terms with the British while understanding the power of literacy. Their appeal wasn’t for guns or soldiers — it was for education and knowledge.

That single act of vision changed the course of history. In 1846, the first team of missionaries arrived, led by Rev. Hope Masterton Waddell, and together with Efik chiefs, they established the 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 — the first formal school in Eastern Nigeria.

From that moment, Calabar became the gateway of Western education, Christianity, and civilisation to the entire southeastern region, long before most parts of Nigeria had even seen a book.

The Efik language became the first to be translated in all of West Africa. Professor Eyo Ita from Creek Town became the first professor in Nigeria.

So, when you speak of the cradle of education in Eastern Nigeria, remember: “It began with the Efik King, who wrote to the Queen of England.”

It’s with honest ability that the president of Uda Development UNION, Uyo branch, Mkpefe Edim Asanaenyi, promised the Uda community a sound sensitisation programme for both Primary and Secondary Community Schools in the area, in line with the principles of “Special Education Dev. Fund,” to assist in building a better, standard and healthy school in the Uda community.

This vision was born out of the above-stated vision of our Efik Great Kings mailing letters to Queen Victoria of England and Scotland Queen

It’s in these principles that Oro, Ibibi and Annang built their educational Foundations to produce outstanding and influential personalities in the past, which eventually produced positive results in politics and economic affairs of our Nations.

Special Education Development Fund, in UDU II, helps the Union to monitor, sensitise and maintain academic effectiveness and inculcate in our Children good morals and Seriousness in pursuing their Educational Journey.

Therefore, it should be a collective effort to contribute to maintaining a set standard of our community schools in both primary and secondary schools in the Uda community.