Cross River State in Historical Focus: Waterways and Crossroads –E.J Alagoa/Anthropological writings of Africa – Dr Olu Lawal (2004)
In his lecture delivered to inaugurate the Bassey Andah Foundation, the widely acclaimed doyen of African oral history, Professor Alagoa, identifies the factors that gave unity to the Cross River and Rivers region of Nigeria, comprising presently Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Rivers and Bayelsa States. These areas have been united by waterways and rivers from the earliest times of origins, migrations, settlements as well as trade and commerce, especially since the fifteenth century.
This unity is indicated by common cultural institutions such as secret societies of Ekpe, the Nsibidi script, the ancestral monoliths especially the akwanshi, and Ekpu Oro.
