Itsekiri People

Itsekiri People

The Itsekiri (also called the, Isekiri, Itsekri or Ishekiri or Itsekhiri) are an ethnic group of Nigeria's Niger Delta area, Delta State. The Itsekiri presently number between 600,000–800,000 people and live mainly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State on the Atlantic Coast of Nigeria. Significant communities of Itsekiris can be found in parts of Edo and Ondo states and in various other Nigerian cities including Lagos, Sapele, Benin City, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Many people of Itsekiri descent also reside in the United Kingdom, the USA and Canada. The Itsekiris traditionally refer to their land as the Kingdom of Warri or 'Iwerre' as its proper name – which is geographically contiguous to the area covered by the three Warri local government districts. The area is a key centre of Nigeria's crude oil and natural gas production and petroleum refining and the main town Warri (a multi-ethnic metropolis) forms the industrial and commercial nucleus of the Delta State region.

The Itsekiri monarch is known by the title 'Olu of Warri'. The Itsekiris speak a language very closely akin to Yoruba but which has also been significantly influenced by other languages particularly Portuguese, Edo (Benin), English. Although linguistically related to the Yoruba ethnic group, however, through centuries of intermingling modern day Itsekiris are of very mixed ethnic origins (primarily of Yoruba (Ijebu, Ilaje,Ondo and Owo), Edo, Urhobo, Ijo, Anglo-Scottish and Portuguese descent) and are today mainly Christian (Protestant and Roman Catholic) by religion. Thus having had 6 centuries of direct cultural exposure to Western Christianity and other African influences, contemporary Itsekiri language and culture has successfully evolved into a hybrid of the many cultures that have influenced its development. Similarly owing to the complex genetic mix of most Itsekiris over the centuries, many individuals self-identifying as Itsekiri would usually be a complex mix of any of the aforementioned ethnic and racial groups.