{"id":17300,"date":"2025-07-21T14:35:36","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T14:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/?p=17300"},"modified":"2025-07-21T15:03:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T15:03:42","slug":"first-of-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/first-of-many\/","title":{"rendered":"First of Many"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"17300\" class=\"elementor elementor-17300\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-7e044f61 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default sc_fly_static\" data-id=\"7e044f61\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-extended\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-112f4f58 sc_content_align_inherit sc_layouts_column_icons_position_left sc_fly_static\" data-id=\"112f4f58\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5196ade4 sc_fly_static elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"5196ade4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Discover Akwa Ibom<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Do you know Nigeria&#8217;s first local government area?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">During the colonial era, after the British troops arrived in Southern Nigeria in 1903, they established a garrison and numerous trading posts and companies, such as the John Holt, Cooperative Wholesale Society, and Paterson Zochonis (PZ) industries. This establishment began Ikot Ekpene&#8217;s evolution into an administrative centre, later becoming the first experimental local government area in British West Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload_inited aligncenter wp-image-17301 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/download-2-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Ikot Ekpene, known as the &#8216;Raffia City,&#8217; boasts a fascinating history that dates back to the 16th century when the Annang people first settled in the area. The city emerged as a regional commerce centre renowned for exporting palm products, raffia fibres, and various crafts, with raffia weaving and basketry being a significant part of its culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the name implies,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The rich culture of Raffia <\/span><b>City <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is also reflected in its craftsmanship, particularly raffia weaving and basketry. The town is celebrated for its intricate raffia products, including mats, baskets, and hats, which gives credence to the skill and creativity of its people.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, Ikot Ekpene continues to be a flourishing community that blends its historical roots with modern advancements. The local cuisine is <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">also <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">another delightful aspect of Ikot Ekpene, with various traditional dishes catering to various palates. This unique blend of tradition and progress makes it a destination with a rich, storied past and an intriguing cultural evolution.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload_inited size-full wp-image-17302 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/download-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"259\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Discover Akwa Ibom Do you know Nigeria&#8217;s first local government area? During the colonial era, after the British troops arrived in Southern Nigeria in 1903, they established a garrison and numerous trading posts and companies, such as the John Holt, Cooperative Wholesale Society, and Paterson Zochonis (PZ) industries. This establishment began Ikot Ekpene&#8217;s evolution into&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[302,274,296],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-15th-edition","category-cultures","category-destination"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17300"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17309,"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17300\/revisions\/17309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iafulcrum.com\/mag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}