Imo State
The state is named after the prominent Imo River. The slogan ‘Eastern Heartland’ was adopted for the State.
The fist form, the entity, Imo State took was in 1914, when Owerri was made one of the major Eastern Provinces. Owerri became an administrative centre early enough for areas in the present Abia and some parts of Ebonyi States. This was why Sam Mbakwe who led what was Imo State in 1979 presided over areas in Abia, Imo and some parts of Ebonyi, with Owerri as the Capital.
Imo State was created by the Federal Military Government of Murtala Muhammed on the 3rd of February, 1976. It was one of the new 6 States created to politically reduce the centralization of the regions to weaken the possibility of another secession of the Igbo people from the Republic of Nigeria. A secession that was attempted from 1967-1970, in the Nigerian Biafran war. Until 1976, Imo and Anambra areas were administered under the East Central State.
Furthermore, out of Imo State, came Abia and parts of Ebonyi States in 1991. The new Imo State is presently divided into 27 local governments areas, the highest in the South East.
The people in the Imo area were historically farmers like every other group in the Neolithic and Stone ages in the tropical belt of sub-Saharan Africa. The many rivers stood as connecting channels to other areas for long distant trading and these rivers were in abundance. This is because the area was in close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Oguta Lake for instance, the largest natural lake in Imo State was of immense value to the people of Oguta, Orsu, Nkwesi and Awo. The lake was a resourceful to the shipping off of palm products and other produce pivotal to the British colonial economy.
Today, the people of Imo State are famed for their level of educated and are touted to have one of the major numbers of academic Professors in the country.
It must be mentioned that the present Imo State airport was built from scratch through donations from Imo State indigenes under the impressive leadership of the then Governor, Sam Mbakwe, after whom the airport was named.
HISTORY
GEOGRAPHY
Imo State is bordered by Abia State on the east, River Niger and Delta State to the west, Anambra State to the north and Rivers State to the south. The state lies within latitudes 4°45'N and 7°15'N, and longitude 6°50'E and 7°25'E with a land surface area of 5,530 km2.
Imo State like other the South Eastern States is a tropical rain forest, with a number of rivers like the Imo river occupying 26,000 hectares of wetlands, and flows 240 kilometres into the Atlantic Ocean. Others are the Otamiri, Orashi, Efuru, Oguta etcetera.
The Nigerian 2006 population census recorded 3,927,563 as the population of the State. However, the 2017 National Population Commission estimated the new population at 4.9million, with a population density of 230 to 1,400 people per square kilometre.
The Igbo constitute about 98% of the population, having many dialect variants of the Igbo language
DEMOGRAPHY
ECONOMY
The economy of the Imo people was founded on agriculture. Like many other Igbo areas, they grew yams, palm products, cocoyams, beans, plantain, bananas, maize and vegetables on a subsistence level, until the European intrusion, ushering in a cash crop economy. Through contact with the European slave traders and colonialists, from the 17th C, other exotic crops like cocoa, pineapples, potatoes, cassava were introduced to not only be cash crops but have become staple foods in the area today.
Apart from farming, some groups engaged in specialized crafts and one of them was the Orodo people in present day Mbaitolu local government area, who have been known till date as traditional bone setters. Like was the usual fashion in Igbo land, to maintain economic relevance, this knowledge was passed down in secret from one generation to the next. People travelled long distances to Orodo for solutions to their bone ailments.
Today, Imo state is home to economic investments around Oil and gas exploration, chemical plants, brewery companies, grain mills, starch production, integrated multi-oil seed processing plants, inland water way transport, and palm produce industry
Imo State informally thrives as a centre of hospitality with its many hotels and lounges. Consequent upon this, ideas have been developed to make Imo as the centre of a growing entertainment hub in the South East and the country generally. Ideas like developing the many lakes and rivers in places like the Oguta, Awo-Omamma and Njaba as resort centres and tourist spots. With a young population, there are huge potentials if a tourist and entertainment economy is exploited.
