Uokha lies on the latitude 7 07’N and longitude 6 04’E in a deciduous derived rainforest zone of Edo State. The climate is sub humid tropical with an average annual rainfall of about 1967mm. Uokha is a town in

Owan East Owan East is a Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. The headquarters is in the town of Afuze. The Owan East Local Government Area comprises 69 towns/villages, made up of eight clans (Emai, Igue, Ake-Ievbu, Ihievbe, Ikao, Ivbi-Mion, Ive- ...

, a local government area of

Edo state Edo State, Edo, officially known as Edo State, is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South Geopolitical zones of Nigeria, geopolitical zone of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. As of 2024, the state was ranked as the List of Ni ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It is located about 123 km northwest of Benin city the capital city. It has a population of approximately 10,000 inhabitants.

History

Uokha is believed to have been founded by Prince Odion the first son of Oba Eweka 1 of

Benin Kingdom The Kingdom of Benin, also known as Great Benin, is a traditional kingdom in southern Nigeria. It has no historical relation to the modern republic of Benin, which was known as Dahomey from the 17th century until 1975. The Kingdom of Benin's c ...

. According to oral traditions Prince Odion went on a hunting expeditions northward towards the Kukuruku hills in present-day Edo North senatorial district, and it was during this time that the throne became vacant. After days of waiting the palace's chiefs had no choice than to crown his younger brother Prince Omo as the next Oba of Benin. Unfortunate Prince Odion came back to the palace and met his younger brother crowned as the new Oba and out of annoyance he went back into the forest migrated northward towards the Kukuruku hills and settled in the present day location of Uokha. The present day people are predominantly farmers, and are known to grow food crops such as yams,

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

, and

cash crop A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an Agriculture, agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate a marketed crop from a staple crop ("subsi ...

s like

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s, plantain,

cashew Cashew is the common name of a tropical evergreen tree ''Anacardium occidentale'', in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South America and is the source of the cashew nut and the cashew apple, an accessory fruit. The tree can grow as t ...

s etc. INSTITUTIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURES Uokha is home to: Odion Primary School Eweka Primary School Uokha Grammar School

Notable people

* Ambruse Vanzekin – Nigerian football goalkeeper *

Abiola Irele Francis Abiola Irele (commonly Abiola Irele, 22 May 1936 – 2 July 2017) was a Nigerian academic best known as the doyen of Africanist literary scholars worldwide. He was Provost at Kwara State University, founded in 2009 in Ilorin, Nigeria. Be ...

– people rofessor and former Vice Chancellor, Kwara State University * Felix Ohis Uduokhai – footballer in the German league

References

{{Coord, 7.0730, 6.0473, display=title Populated places in Edo State