i 
 

RE-EXAMINING GENDER, GENDER 

ROLES AND IDENTITY IN NIGERIA:  

THE FATTENING ROOM TRADITION 

 OF THE EFIK 

(Report of Fieldwork) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Akin-Otiko, Akinmayowa 

Eshiet, Idongesit 

Olokodana-James, Oluwatoyin 

Edisua, Merab Yta 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 
  



 

ii 
 

Copyright© 2022 Akin-Otiko, Akinmayowa Akinmayowa; Eshiet,         

                             Idongesit; Olokodana-James, Oluwatoyin;  

                             and Edisua, Merab Yta 
 

                              

 

 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in 

a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, 

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior 

permission of the author. 

 

 

 

ISBN: 978-978-998-458-9 

 

 

 

 

Published By 

 

 

Lagos-African Cluster Centre,  

University of Lagos, Nigeria  

 
 

Printed By 

 

 

 

 

 

University of Lagos Press and Bookshop Ltd 

Works and Physical Planning Complex 

Unilag P.O. Box 132, 

University of Lagos, 

Akoka, Yaba - Lagos, Nigeria. 

e-mail: unilagpress@yahoo.com, unilagpress@gmail.com 

website: www.unilagpress.com 

Tel: 07039435625 

  



 

iii 
 

RESEARCH TEAM 

 
Lagos-ACC Principal Investigators 

 

Akinmayowa Akin-Otiko, Ph.D., is a researcher at the Institute 

of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos 

and has a special interest in the Religions, Cultures and 

Traditional Medicine of Africa. He has a BA and MA in 

Philosophy, from the University of Ibadan in 1996 and 2006, 

respectively. In 2013, he defended his Ph.D. in African Religion 

and Belief System, from the Institute of African Studies, 

University of Ibadan. Over the years, he has engaged in research 

and discourse in the area of African Traditional Culture. He has 

written books, contributed chapters in academic and research 

volumes, as well as published in different academic journals. His 

current research interest includes bioethical issues in African 

Traditional Medicine and this has earned him a Fellow of the 

Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies (BA). His 

interest falls within the Knowledge and Morality Research 

Section of the ACC. He takes a particular interest in the religion 

and culture of Africans. 

 

Oluwatoyin Olokodana-James, Ph.D., is a prolific scholar, 

dancer, choreographer and three-time recipient of the Lagos 

State Scholarship Award from the Lagos State Government 

(2008-2011). She is a lecturer in the Department of Creative 

Arts, University of Lagos. Her research interests are in African 

Studies with a special focus on Dance Ethnography, Gender 

Identity Studies, Film Studies and Criticism. Dr. Olokodana-

James is also an Associate Fellow of the Institute of African 

Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos and 

Member/Principal Investigator of the African Multiple Cluster 

Centre of Excellence, Bayreuth, Germany.  

 

 



 

iv 
 

IADS Cluster: Gender, Culture and Identity (Team Lead) 

 

Idongesit Eshiet, Ph.D., is a Sociologist with a research focus 

on Gender and Development Studies. Dr. Eshiet is an astute 

researcher who has participated in many local and international 

research projects. Her work on ‘Voice and Accountability in the 

Primary Healthcare Sector in Nigeria’, which argues for good 

health governance through civic engagement, won the 1st Prize 

of the Belinda and Bill Gates Foundation sponsored Writing 

Fellowship Award on ‘Investing in Human Capital as an 

Effective Strategy for National Development in Nigeria’ (2019). 

Dr. Eshiet is an alumnus of Brown International Advanced 

Research Institute, Brown University, Providence, Rhodes 

Island, USA, where she was exposed to a Comparative Analysis 

of Development Theory and Practice in the global North and 

South. This experience has broadened her horizon on 

development issues and as well impacted her research and 

teaching skills. She is also a Laureate of the Council for the 

Development of Social Science Research in Africa 

(CODESRIA). Dr. Eshiet has participated and read her works at 

various conferences both locally and internationally and has 

published extensively both locally and internationally. 

 

Cooperating Partner (Calabar, Nigeria) 

 

Merab Yta Edisua, Ph.D., is a development consultant, an 

academic, a foremost Children’s Theatre practitioner in the 

South-South Zone, a leading development communication NGO 

activist, a writer, director, performing artist, storyteller, 

researcher, applied theatre facilitator and church leader. She is a 

leader and member of many associations, NGOs and Networks. 

Her skills and areas of interest span Gender, SBCC 

programming, Tourism, Applied Theatre, Entertainment 

Education. At present, she is an alumnus of UNDP LDP in 

Nigeria and has completed the West African Capacity Transfer 



 

v 
 

Intensive (WACTI) and leads leadership training for UNDP at 

National and International levels. 

 

Research Assistants (IADS Cluster: Gender, Culture and 

Identity) 

 

Kehinde Samuel Olukayode is a doctoral student at the 

Department of English, University of Lagos, Nigeria. He holds 

a master’s degree from the same department. His research 

interests are Theatre & Performance, African Popular Culture, 

Cultural Studies and Media Studies. Some of his papers have 

been published or are awaiting publication in reputed journals. 

  

Abbas Aremu Rahman is an Assistant Lecturer in the 

Department of Art & Social Sciences Education, University of 

Lagos. He is currently a PhD student pursuing a doctoratein 

Education (Teaching and Learning of Islamic Studies) in the 

same university. His research interests include educational 

theories and pedagogy. 

  

Amenaghawon Idawu (nee Abusomwan) holds a Bachelor of 

Arts degree in English & Literature; Advanced Diploma in Early 

Childhood Education; Master of Arts degree in English 

Language, and Master of Arts degree in African & Diaspora 

Studies. She has authored and co-authored academic papers 

through cutting-edge research and scholarly ideation.  

  

Blessing Chidiebere Emodi is an educationist with a 

specialisation in Igbo Language. She has her Nigeria Certificate 

in Education (NCE Igbo/English) 2009; B.Ed. Igbo in 2015; 

Master’s in Education (Igbo, 2018); and a Ph.D. in view. Over 

the years, Emodi has taught as a Class Teacher, Subject Teacher 

and university lecturer. Her interests include integrating 

technology and Igbo teaching. She is currently an Assistant 

Lecturer at the University of Lagos. 



 

vi 
 

PREFACE 
 

This project was hatched in one of the working sessions of the 

Gender, Culture and Identity Research Cluster of the Institute of 

African and Diaspora Studies (IADS). The IADS was 

established in 2017 with a vision ‘to become an Institute for 

exchange of cultural and social ideas and research excellence in 

pursuit of knowledge for the development of Africa, the African 

Diaspora and the world.’ Since then, the IADS has created a 

platform for researchers to engage in critical reflection.  

 

In 2019, the IADS became a home to the Lagos-African Cluster 

Centre (ACC). The researchers of IADS were admitted into the 

Cluster as Principal Investigators assigned to the Lagos-ACC, 

which is one of the four ACCs in Africa. The ACCs are directly 

linked to the African Multiple Cluster of Excellence, University 

of Bayreuth. The Principal Investigators in the Lagos-ACC have 

won different grants from the Cluster of Excellence as well as 

the Lagos-ACC. This project, ‘Re-examining Gender, Gender 

Roles and Identity in Nigeria: The Fattening Room Tradition of 

the Efik’, is one of such projects that won a grant from the 

Lagos-ACC.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

vii 
 

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
 

The research team wishes to express gratitude to the Cluster and 

in particular the Director of the Lagos-ACC, Prof. Muyiwa 

Falaiye, for considering this project good enough for funding 

after following all due processes. The team is grateful to the 

Cooperating partner, Dr. Merab Edisua of the University of 

Calabar, for doing all the groundwork and identifying 

respondents for the project. The respondents are quite important 

to the execution of this project and we appreciate their 

significant contributions and are grateful for their consent and 

approval to use their contributions in this work. We also duly 

acknowledge the immense support of Prof. Bernard Sorre during 

the process of analysis. Dr. Abiodun Bello was significantly and 

effectively helpful with the proofreading, vetting and quality 

assurance of the final report. On behalf of the team, I thank 

everyone who contributed in various dimensions for their 

critique and input. This we indeed consider a good prelude to 

more research. 
 

And finally, I want to thank the Deutsche 

Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) 

under the German Excellence Strategy – EXC 2052/1 – 

390713894 for funding this first edition through the African 

Multiple Cluster of Excellence. 
 

 



Introduction 

 

 

1 
 

INTRODUCTION 
 

 

The African universe is typically one whole interconnected 

commune of existence. Just as the world of the living, the dead 

and the unborn connect in a transcendental manner, the flora and 

fauna are closely connected to the general and overarching 

cognition of the natural African person. It is in this very sense 

that ‘we are what we eat’, an idea that reflects the significance 

of dietary content to people’s general well-being and 

sociocultural outlook. For the Africans, therefore, food is life! 

By extension, in the circle and context of education, we can 

equally posit that ‘we are what we are taught and what we read’. 

To this end, the very essence of the Fattening Room practice 

among the Efik is to make women into what the society wants 

them to be. In this outlook to life and the world, the rites of 

passage through the cyclicity of life must be unbroken. Different 

commentaries already show that, as far as connubial relations 

are concerned, an average Efik woman has the requisite native 

education and training needed to hold onto a man and make a 

lasting home.  

 

For a long time, society, especially outside her natal context, has 

described the Efik woman as ‘promiscuous' based on these 

qualities. But such commentaries are, to a large extent, a 

reflection of assumptions that are based on a long history of 

socialisation and far-reaching popular orientation, often based 

on what people outside the Efik culture were taught. In the 

fattening room, an Efik woman is groomed and moulded to 

know how to care for her prospective husband and what it takes 

to look after her future home. If learning takes place properly 

and is practised by the book, men who encounter such women 

as possessing this orientation, are most likely to fall in love with 

them. This mix of acquired values and public disparagement 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

2 
 

form the background for the research into the Fattening Room 

Culture of the Efik people. 

 

Regrettably, the fattening room practice among the Efik is fast 

waning. The field trip confirmed that the practice is weakening 

and disappearing, thus giving this work very strategic 

importance. This is because essential information disappears 

with a waning culture. The findings of this study show that, 

while the practice in its entirety is not extremely bad, some 

aspects of the practice, such as female circumcision or female 

genital mutilation (FGM), that the government has banned, 

make the practice important to examine and evaluate in a 

research context. 

 

In the main, there are four reasons the fattening room practice is 

found to be waning. First is the classification of female 

circumcision as a criminal offence. The second reason is the 

perceived not-too-healthy act of overfeeding the bride or the 

maiden in the fattening room. The third reason is the traditional 

length of time for which maidens are expected to stay in the 

fattening room, which varies from one month to seven years, 

while the fourth is the fact that many have linked the Anansa 

river goddess and Egbe ritual to the fattening room practice. This 

has occasioned a reality in which many who are Christians are 

seen to frown at the age-old fattening room practice, considering 

it as evil and fetish. 

 

However, respondents tend to appreciate what can be learned in 

the fattening room. Some described it as a school where a lady 

is moulded into a good mother, a wife, a person with an overall 

good character, and one that is attractive to men. For these 

reasons, all the respondents think highly of the fattening room 

practice, but wish for some constructive and progressive 

adjustment. 



Introduction 

 

 

3 
 

This research is distinctive because it is a blend of three different 

views. The first group represents the older generation who 

supports the practice of the fattening room as it is presently done 

because they feel it is a longstanding tradition of the Efik. The 

second group comprises mostly members of the younger 

generation who applaud the focus of the fattening room practice 

with significant adjustment and elimination of some needless 

parts of the practice. They also requested the possibility of 

upgrading the programme into a formal curriculum, where ladies 

can go and learn voluntarily to become better persons, whether 

married or not. More so, they are of the opinion that a similar 

programme or rite should be developed for men to prepare them 

for marriages.  

 

The third group represents a few members of the community 

who do not support the practice of the fattening room at all. 

These are of the opinion that there are other possible ways by 

which a woman can be taught the basic things to prepare her for 

marriage. The third group is perceptibly hostile to the idea of the 

fattening room practice in its entirety because they perceive it 

from the point of view of gender imbalance. As a result, they ask 

questions such as: Why should it be a woman? Who is preparing 

the man for the woman? Why should only women be prepared 

for household chores? What is the place of the woman in the 

society? Why should a woman’s body be made to become 

appealing to a man? What are the health concerns that go with 

being very fat? These questions describe the concerns of the 

third group. 

 

This report, which assumes a deliberate polyphonic approach, 

represents field data gathered in view of laid-out objectives for 

the project. The study examined the core notions of culture, 

morality, and femininity among the Efik, as exemplified in the 

fattening room practice. The study addresses the existing 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

4 
 

knowledge gap by going beyond earlier studies on the 

advantages and disadvantages of the fattening room practice 

among the Efik people, to observing the fattening room 

tradition, highlighting the content of the learning processes, 

evaluating the practice, and examining its heuristic value. These 

were done against the backdrop of the changing notions of 

femininity, gender roles, and identity in contemporary times.  

 

The multivocal style of the report provides an adequate ground 

for the researchers to strengthen the voice of respondents and 

interviewees in a manner that underscores the role of gender and 

gender perception from the perspectives of direct cultural actors 

in the context of the Efik fattening room tradition. 

 

Methodology 
This is a nine-month research that included fieldwork in Calabar, 

in southern Nigeria. The first part of this project had researchers 

engage in library studies to review literature. Discoveries at this 

stage of the study showed that the fattening room practice among 

the Efik was waning. After the literature review, the Principal 

Investigators (PIs) and the research team conducted a field trip 

to Calabar with the purpose of collecting data for a documentary 

on fattening room practices and to carry out Key Informant 

Interviews and focus group discussions with people who had 

either experienced, or contributed to the fattening room practice. 

To achieve the objective of the research, researchers worked 

with a Cooperative Partner who is female and knowledgeable in 

the Efik tradition, and the Calabar environment. This 

Cooperative Partner helped to identify Key Informants. The In-

depth and Key Informant Interview methods were used to elicit 

responses from practitioners of the fattening room practice. 

Eighteen (18) In-depth Interviews were conducted in the 

following categories: six (6) maidens; four (4) parents and two 

(2) caregivers who attend to the maidens; six (6) Key Informants 



Introduction 

 

 

5 
 

who are knowledgeable about the fattening room practice both 

from historical and contemporary points of view and reside in 

the locations in which the study would be carried out. There 

were two Focus Group Discussions (FGD); one with male 

participants to get the male perspective, and the second with 

female participants for the female perspective. The documentary 

part of the project was made possible through a re-enactment of 

the fattening room practice.  

 

The researchers had the challenge of observing an ongoing 

fattening room practice because the practice is fast waning 

among the Efik due to the influence of modernity. However, this 

challenge was overcome through the documentary part of the 

project where the fattening room practice was re-enacted with 

the help of the Cooperative Partner. The fieldwork lasted for 10 

days, after which the researchers and the Research Assistants in 

Lagos, analysed the data collected. The data collected were 

analysed in accordance with the research objectives. This is 

provided in the Digital Research Environment of the 

Cluster/Lagos-ACC. The documentary that shares the title of 

this report is part of the data that were collected and analysed.  

 

Research Objectives   
This section is focused on the analysis of the data collected 

from the field during the study. The main purpose of the 

study is to examine Gender, Gender Roles and Identity in 

Africa, with a focus on the fattening room tradition native 

to the Efik people of Nigeria. However, there are five (5) 

specific objectives that will be responded to using the data 

gathered from the field. These specific objectives include: 

1. To investigate the language, symbols, rituals, and shared 

meanings that characterise the fattening room practice 

among the Efik. The researchers set out to find out the 

languages, symbols, rituals and shared meanings that 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

6 
 

characterise the fattening room practice of the Efik in 

Nigeria. 

2. To identify the learning models used in the fattening room 

practice of the Efik. The researchers asked, ‘What 

learning models are used in the fattening room practice of 

the Efik in Nigeria?’  

3. To show the multiplicity of knowledge in gender, gender 

roles, and identity among Africans. Researchers wanted 

to identify the multiplicities of knowledge (childbearing, 

homecare, cooking, sexuality, health, etc.) derived from 

the fattening room practice of the Efik in Nigeria. The 

content of the learning processes was derived from 

interviews. 

4. To produce a narrative of the fattening room practice of 

the Efik against the backdrop of deducing a theory on 

gender, gender role, and identity in Africa. This objective 

generate the question: Can a theory on gender, gender role 

and identity in Africa be deduced based on the narratives 

of the Fattening room practice of the Efik in Nigeria?  

5. To contribute to the Cluster-Knowledge Lab on gender, 

gender roles and identity in Africa. To achieve this 

objective, researchers asked questions around gender, 

gender roles and identity in Africa. 

 

At any rate, researchers found this study important because 

contemporary discourses on gender are dominated by Western 

views of femininity and masculinity that currently challenge the 

traditional notions on gender and gender roles in Africa. 

Nevertheless, since every culture has a clear understanding of 

gender and gender roles, which help in shaping the identity of 

individuals in their societies, it is important that such diversity 

of views in gender discourse be given equal prominence in 

scholarship, especially in Africa as a continent notable for 

multiple cultures and gender notions.  



Introduction 

 

 

7 
 

The findings aid the reflexive aspect of the project by 

juxtaposing the multiple positions on gender with contemporary 

ideas from the West with the view to a better appreciation of the 

strength and structure of gender and identity development 

among Africans. At the same time, the study self-evaluates the 

existing African positions on gender, gender roles and identity 

and consequently produces balanced positions that are better 

apprehended as a sociocultural dialogue rather than an 

uncoordinated ethnological and discursive formation on African 

cultural practices in particular and the African world at large. 

 

Data and Discussion Based on Research Objectives  
As already stated, this study is mapped out and coordinated 

based on a research focus that has been outlined into strategic 

research objectives. These are systematically worked out into a 

well-tailored field report as represented in the subsequent 

sections of this discourse.  

 

Objective 1:  
To investigate the language, symbols, rituals, and shared 

meanings that characterise the fattening room practice among 

the Efik. The researchers set out to find out the languages, 

symbols, rituals and shared meanings that characterise the 

fattening room practice of the Efik in Nigeria. 

 

Findings: 
Findings from the study show that the fattening room practices 

among the Efik are characterised by shared meanings, 

languages, symbols and rituals. This is to the extent that cultures 

are generally transmissible by learning behaviours that make 

them sustainable from one generation to another through 

established processes of socialisation, including rites of passage. 

As such, the objective of the fattening room is to make the girl 

child go through a rite of passage that acquaints and empowers 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

8 
 

her with life skills, such as home management skills, relational 

skills, self-care, etiquettes and good manners, among other 

teachable skills and cultural ways.  

 

In the process of teaching cultural ethos and virtues to maidens 

in the fattening room, the caregiver devises a special language 

and a set of symbols of communication with participants. All the 

participants in the Focus Group Discussion with women agreed 

that ‘…there are special languages used in the fattening room.’ 

In the words of Respondent 4 (R4), ‘…I can tell now but those 

languages are symbolic and you can’t get it anywhere [others 

are in agreement].’ Respondent 1 (R1) mentioned ‘nsibidi’ as 

an example of a special language used. According to R4, ‘… The 

hairdo carries a specially made comb from brass...and on that 

comb, there are some signs written on it, those are the nsibidi 

symbols.’ R2 mentioned that ‘the hairdo for adiagha, who is the 

first daughter, is different from that of the second daughter; and 

…the hairdo styles are different types.’        

 

In addition, during the fattening room practice, maidens engage 

in certain ritual activities that help define the fattening room rite 

of passage among the Efik. Ritual is taken to mean actions and 

activities that are done repeatedly and women are said to be a 

part of the ritual process in the Efik kingdom. In the remark of 

Respondent 2:  

 

As far as I know, being in Duke Town Church where the 

English coronations of Efik kings are done, I discovered 

years back during the coronation of Edidem Iye Ephraim 

Adam that it is a woman that pours the Mmong Emem 

(Water of Peace) on the Edidem (King). I also knew [at] 

that time that the last insult the Edidem receives 

(marking the last time anybody can insult the Edidem for 



Introduction 

 

 

9 
 

the rest of his lifetime) is the Ikong Edidem Eti, and that 

is also done by a woman (FGDM, R2). 

 

In agreement with this remark, Respondent 4 added that: 

 

My brothers have already said a lot in this matter, but I 

also want to bring in one other point. Efik people love 

beautiful things. In the government of the Efik, we 

believe in Oku Ndem, the overall power. The Mbiam 

Nfat (the juju makers) were the messengers and 

implementors [sic] of what the Oku Ndem said. The Oku 

Ndem were people from the water. Those that travelled 

to the waters saw how beautiful the people there were. 

So, when they came out of the water, they tried to make 

their daughters as beautiful as the people [in] the marine 

world because, if your child was accepted by Ndem, she 

would be rated higher. The process of making her that 

beautiful is to take her through this process and 

preparation… [He however asserts] But first and 

foremost, we are descendants of the Jews and we take 

from God’s instruction that circumcision is a must, but 

we here do it to both male and female… But because the 

people from Ndem usually prefer female to male 

children, our people beautify the female child to look as 

closely beautiful as possible to the girls in the marine 

world so they can be acceptable to the men in the marine 

world. That beautification happens in the fattening 

room… (FGDM, R4). 

 

As an attempt to aid an understanding of the rituals in the nkuho 

tradition, R4 further identified some of the underlying reasons 

for the tradition in these words: 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

10 
 

The first phase of nkuho is to make the girl-child know 

all that she needs to know about managing a household, 

proper behaviour, etiquettes, etc. 

 

The last phase gives her the final preparation and 

releases her to practice the things that she has learnt 

(FGD MEN, R4). 

 

Another participant who agreed with the above comments also 

passionately added her own assertion, that:  

 

Though I pass through it, right? But I think it was a rite 

of passage, preparing you to become a woman. Because 

I think that their belief was that before a girl child is sent 

out, she should be well cultured (FGD WOMEN, P4). 

 

As observed, the nkuho happens before marriage and some of 

the women explained part of the ritual that usually takes place 

before the marriage in nkuho. 

 

I think [that], about a week before my marriage, I was 

just not allowed to go out, friends could not come to see 

me and I have a senior matron or relative, somebody in 

the family and they [would] just bring food for me to eat 

and then they [would] massage me with the traditional 

ointment (FGD WOMEN, P3). 

 

Another participant in this group, in a rejoinder, added the 

following comment: 

 

Yes, I will answer that question, if you call that ritual 

because, in the house, you are being confined. Nobody 

comes in there except your caregiver. And, on the door, 

there is this soft palm front, like [a] fresh, one and they 



Introduction 

 

 

11 
 

put it there; that is, to give the information to some other 

person that someone is inside that room and nobody 

should come in there. So, if you call that a ritual, I will 

agree with you (FGD WOMEN, P4). 

 

On marriage and its related rituals, Idi who had participated in 

the nkuho shared a broader perspective on the subject of 

marriage to complement the contributions of other participants 

in the group:  

 

R:  Right at that teenage age, a suitor or a family might 

eye you as [that point] and decide to come notify the 

family, ‘We are interested in this girl [just] in case 

you would want us to [have] her hand in marriage.’ 

That is 'nkuho eyen owon'. After that, you will be 

removed... That is the rite of passage for the girl. 

I:  Okay 

R:  And it is agreed that, at that time, you don't know 

what a man is, right!  

I:  Okay. 

R:  It is from that age of 15 or 16, that they will now 

mutilate your female genital organ... After that..., 

now you've entered your rite of passage, and you are 

proceeding to become an adult, right!? 

I:  Okay 

R:  At the age of 18, this suitor who has already indicated 

interest, the family now would have started making a 

move into coming to ask your parents for your hands 

in marriage. That’s where the real nkuho now comes 

in because you have to stay another year… it could 

be two or three or more depending on how capable 

your parents are to keep you in the house, feed you 

... because you don't have anything to do [other] than 

to eat and sleep (P 1). 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

12 
 

It is important to note that, during the above discussion on the 

recurring subject of nkuho, the subject of female circumcision 

during the rites also came to the fore. As far as the general 

cultural awareness of the participants goes, the rite was 

incomplete without the circumcision ritual:   

 

Before I was put into the fattening room, in fact, I was 

circumcised, Yes! And that was the first stage. (FGD 

WOMEN, P2). 

 

While explaining the process of the circumcision, it was further 

highlighted that: 

 

… then you go to the backyard where they have plantain 

trees. They cut some fresh plantain leaves which they use 

as a mat for you to lie naked. Your legs are held by two 

people, then a native nurse comes with scissors and a 

razor, after which they massage the clitoris to make it 

soft before cutting it (Maiden, 1). 

 

On the part of the caregiver, the following explain the question 

on how to become a caregiver, if there was an initiation process:  

 

I:  ... is there any sort of initiation that these caregivers 

would have to go through? We are not talking about 

forbidden [things] now... 

R:  No no no no no..., there is initiation  

I:   No ritual processes? 

R:  No ritual processes. There is practically nothing... 

They just look at you as an elderly woman, that you 

have the traditional knowledge; they pick you. It all 

boils down to you accepting… your interest (P. 1). 

 



Introduction 

 

 

13 
 

On shared meaning during the fattening room process, the 

researchers noted with interest the following point as articulated 

by one of the participants: 
 

I want to agree to a large extent with what you have said. 

In a way, when you look at it with the lenses of gender, 

yes! When they go into this fattening, they are told this 

is what you must do: as a woman, you must be 

submissive to your husband; this is what you must do to 

your in-laws, and things like that. Not as if they really 

train them to be confident and free. Then, another aspect 

of the fattening room which we have not mentioned here 

is the circumcision aspect (FGD WOMEN, P.3). 
 

No, it is just a notice that somebody is in the house, and 

their belief too, depending on the family. It used to be 

believed that if a lizard or wall gecko came in and peeped 

[during the circumcision rite], it would reduce your body 

or the flesh so that, no matter how [they] ate, they 

wouldn’t get the curves that they wanted. So they put that 

[i.e. leaves from the plantain sucker]. Some used to put a 

grass that is nkim enang and they tied it with half-burnt 

firewood and [kept] it by the door, so that in case 

anybody – an elderly woman might want to come and 

see you or your mother friend may want to come and see 

you. In case they have any bad intentions or negativity, 

it will be neutralised. (FGD WOMEN, P4). 
 

Providing clarification, another participant added: 
 

No! It was just for you as a girl-child… your pride [P2 

re-echoes ‘your pride’] and for the family; just your 

pride. If you come out, you will look down on other girls 

that have not gone through that process as if they are not 

your mate (FGD WOMEN, P4).  



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

14 
 

Yes, it gives complexity to the other girls. Because you 

need to see how this ceremony is, especially [on the day 

the maiden is coming out]. It is usually a big festival 

[where] the whole people will gather. So it gives you that 

confidence and class (FGD WOMEN, P1) 

 

... I think a normal Efik girl will be proud if she is put in 

a fattening house and taught how to cook. Some don’t 

even know how to cook what we call edikan Ikong soup 

because there is [a] difference between edikan Ikong and 

vegetable soup [other participants concur]. So a girl will 

be happy if she is taught how to cook these special 

delicacies of the Efik – what edikan ikong really is, so 

those practices can continue. But let the circumcision be 

removed because it was not a palatable experience 

[Three participants agreed that the circumcision should 

not be included but P2 believes it should still be part of 

the fattening room tradition] (FGD WOMEN, P4). 

 

I don’t think it is completely going out because most 

people now cannot just do the wedding without doing the 

traditional [wedding] and in the traditional [wedding] 

you will go through some of those things (FGD 

WOMEN, P1). 

 

    Out of experience yes, because most times you are not 

hungry and you are forced to eat. The early morning food 

that is garri soaked overnight [Others agree and laugh] 

to make it soft and they put plenty [of] water in it, and it 

is given to you to drink and you are tired of it, but you 

are forced to drink it because they want your curves to 

come out. It is believed that if you are well-fed, your 

curves will come out and your body will be glittering and 

that one has not finished. Around 10 or 11am, they bring 



Introduction 

 

 

15 
 

you another one and this is … sometimes ekpang or ortor 

in a big tray again. That aspect was not very sweet [All 

agree] (FGD WOMEN, P4.) 

 

No! It did not. The 12 pounds remain the 12 pounds and 

all the item mmin ukung usung (drinks for knocking 

door), mmin akan (drinks for prayer), mmin ekom 

(drinks for greeting)… Everything remains the same till 

today, nothing has changed. It is just the greedy parents 

these days. Even then, there was nothing like mkpo ete 

(gifts for father). It was strictly mkpo eka (gifts for 

mother). But, as we speak now, mkpo ete is even higher 

than mkpo eka. They will just give mkpo eka peanut, 

except the groom's family are rich that they will now 

enhance mkpo eka. But mkpo ete is up there [meaning 

on a high side] (KII, 2). 

 

For the nkuho, like I told us earlier, we have nkuho in 

three stages. The early one is to keep the child on point, 

make her focus. You know education was by the way. 

But, when the Whites came in, it was pertinent that the 

girl-child should go to school. That is why circumcision 

at that school-age – that is, 7 to 8 years – was very 

pertinent, very very popular. As at that time, it was just 

to do the circumcision (KII, 5). 

 

Yes, it was then year 6 or 7. The child was expected to 

start Elementary One. There was this general belief that 

we all have feelings, that even a child has feelings and 

they were careful not to let somebody touch the child in 

an unpleasant place so that she would not feel anything. 

There was this belief that once circumcision is done, all 

feelings are gone. And some married women then 

suffered it because they were denied what it means [to 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

16 
 

have] feelings for your husband. They were denied what 

it means for a woman to cum when she is having sex 

with her husband. They were denied all that. All they 

knew was just go in there, do the needful to become a 

mother. But to enjoy sex? Zero (KII, 4). 

 

At nkuho preparing you for ndo (marriage), you will be 

taught all these things [that] we have mentioned. But, for 

making you an akwa nwan (full woman), it is expected 

of us that, as we are sending out our daughter, we are not 

just selling her, so that no husband tomorrow will ask 

you, ‘When you came, what did you come with? [From] 

everything in this house, show me what you came with.’ 

Not from our tribe. From our tribe here, [when] sending 

you off, we are sending you off fully. They will give you 

a full parlour setting. They will give you a kitchen set. 

They will give you a full-room setting as you are going 

to your husband’s house and they will give you good 

money. Good money [has been] seen inside the seclusion 

room. So everybody that goes into the seclusion room – 

in fact, the girl in question that is secluded – has been 

taught and given something to say if she dares sights it: 

‘nnugho mbe nnugho,’ meaning, ‘monitoring spirit I 

monitor you first’ [laughter]. Because it is believed that 

the wall gecko is coming to take everything that the girl 

has eaten, … so once the girl sees it or if anybody that is 

there sights it, they will make that exclamation. So, 

culturally, like most of the cultural artefacts are brought 

out on the outing ceremony to decorate the nkuho’s 

seat... Most of the artefacts there, depending on the 

family – like in my royal home, we will bring out our 

golden gong, our golden panes, our silver spoons, our 

canon. My father had a canon that was used in fighting 

the war. Our artefacts from years of slave trade, the palm 



Introduction 

 

 

17 
 

fronts, the [golds] that were collected during the early 

stage, depending on the family. Sometimes families 

borrow. You can borrow from some other families 

[artefacts such as] golden lanterns, the traditional long 

guns, the Dane guns, heads of Carmel, heads of lions that 

[a family member] had killed. And this differs from one 

family to another. So families do borrow these things to 

enrich their canopies. So it all depends on what you want 

to showcase, depending on your level of affluence (KII, 

2).  

 

Based on these complex preparations, a family that has any 

interest in a maiden being already groomed and now wants her 

as a wife in their family, may now go into possible pre-nuptial 

negotiations with the maiden’s family, often without her 

knowledge. This is the second stage in the chain of processes. In 

the third process, once the maiden in question has been removed 

from the traditional fattening home, she goes to the church 

dressed in her gown. The day after is usually the market day and 

the lady is dressed in another attire as she makes a public 

appearance on such a day. 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

18 
 

 
Plate 1: A maiden freshly out of the fattening room 
 

The participant provides a further description of that occasion in 

this narrative manner:      



Introduction 

 

 

19 
 

They now take her to the market... because she has to go 

through the market. People have to appreciate the work 

[the efforts] of her parents – how they were able to feed 

her, massage her [and] how beautiful now she looks… 

Oh! She has now become...she is going to be a woman. 

And the suitor there now has seen [her] and he's happy. 

People now come... keep giving her many gifts – many 

gifts – all the apparatus, and even the food- stuff, right! 

And then she goes back to the fattening room to now 

become a woman for the next four years making seven 

good years. So, she stays there and learns whatever 

trade... My grandmother was a seamstress. It was inside 

there that they taught her how to cut and sew. Then it was 

[the era of] the hand-sewing machine. There [were no 

leg-pedaled] machines. So, they bring the [maiden] 

there. She goes out to learn to cut and sew and they have 

all these crocheting [designs and patterns] … they teach 

her how to crochet all that... what [designs] she'll be 

doing to put in the back chair... These antimacassars  in 

the chairs and on the table... 
 

Illustrating this further, the participant provided more details: 
 

Like now that we have the Obong, right? You know the 

queen... Except if she wants to go to the kitchen, she has 

everything there. There are housekeepers. There are 

maidens who do everything. So, in the case of my 

grandmother, there were so many slaves in the 

compound who did everything for her and the mother. 

So, except there is  a particular food the father wants to 

eat, it is then the mother enters the kitchen to supervise 

the cooking. 
 

And as a queen, you want her to come and sit and train 

her child? So, she has somebody who is capable of doing 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

20 
 

that. She employs that person. That's when the caregiver 

comes in. The caregiver is well taken care of. The king 

has a lot of things. Is it money or wealth? The caregiver 

is well taken care of monetary wise and wealth wise...  

 

Assuming you are put in a fattening room, and you have 

an arrangement between you, your caregiver and your 

suitor or your male friend...and you are inside your 

fattening room – remember you've been circumcised so 

it's a license now that you can have fun or have sex – and 

maybe your caregiver is not around, your parents are not 

around, and your guy sneaks in and in the process, you 

become pregnant – when your caregiver notices that you 

are pregnant, you will not stay up to the day that you are 

supposed to, and the traditional rite of bringing you out, 

putting you on the podium for people to watch, to come 

and give you gifts will not be there. They will expel you 

from the fattening room (IDI, 1). 

 

This is the extent to which the nkuho traditional practices can be 

adjudged to be self-regulating and self-correcting. 

 

Of Symbols and Meaning in the Context of the Fattening 

Room 
The distinct context of the fattening room inscribes within its 

space the presence of special symbols which also encode in 

themselves meanings that are understood only within this 

interpretive community by participants.  These could have loose 

meanings and at other times may be complex. Participants in the 

Focus Group Discussion recalled and rehashed some of these 

ideas as presented further: 

 

Sorry, I want to disagree because I don’t think they stay 

that long in the fattening room and there is a certain age 



Introduction 

 

 

21 
 

when you are 12 or 14 when you are approaching 

puberty, you don’t stay there up to a year in the fattening 

room and then the issue of circumcision is not a problem 

[some participants disagrees] (FGD WOMEN, P2). 
 

Some people do it – as I attended a traditional marriage 

in London. You need to see the processes even in 

London. People were telling them how to dress [even 

there] in London and it was a beautiful experience and it 

gave this empowerment you are talking about in all 

ramifications and is giving you self-pride and confidence 

and I was so proud of it. I took pictures and I said, Ah! 

So this thing can be taken to London. It is good (FGD 

WOMEN, P1). 
 

[The speaker chuckles] You know at that age I was told 

and I did not understand and I went through it, and like 

she said the pampering, everything, the care, you were 

taught how to do this and that (FGD WOMEN, P2). 
 

Yes! Because they want your curves to come out when 

you come out of the fattening room you will be figure 8. 

(FGD WOMEN, P4). 
 

...we call it ‘uwang idem’ because, while you are there, 

you don’t wear clothes. Just a little piece on your waist 

they call it ‘mkpin’ and since your boobs have started 

coming, there is a small piece tied on your boobs region 

(FGD WOMEN, P4). 
 

It is assumed that if you wear clothes, it ties your body 

and you will not be as fat as they want. So, you won’t 

wear it so that you will be free and, as the massage is 

going on, you will give them what they want (FGD 

WOMEN, P4). 
 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

22 
 

I think it is a common one. You use your ‘ofong-ukot 

anwan’ (something like women’s pants/trousers), the 

beads – all those things are symbolic. And I am 

‘oduwan’, that is, the second daughter and there is a bead 

for that and hairstyle and for the ‘adiagha’ too – she has 

a special bead and hairstyle, depending on your position 

in the family (FGD WOMEN, P2). 

 

Yes! While they were in the fattening room, the nkuho 

attendants could use the white cloth to give a certain 

design [shows the interviewer the symbol] – this 

serpentine movement that, as you are leaving this 

fattening room, life is not a straightforward thing. Life is 

not a bed of roses. As you are going out there if you think 

marriage is just a straight line thing – no, marriage has 

so many challenges and those challenges were 

interpreted with this [shows the symbol again]; so don’t 

expect any straight line pattern of life in your marriage. 

You will see curves all over and when those curves come 

you have to develop a thick skin to withstand them so 

that your marriage will stand. That is one. Two, the 

flowery pattern on their faces, teaches them that you 

must always package yourself, not [only] when you are 

seen. You were a sweet-looking girl. But just [by] one 

drop, you turn yourself to ekaeka (i.e. grandmother or old 

woman). From there your husband that was not supposed 

to be looking outside when he comes back you are there 

tying a wrapper on your boobs. You have now turned 

into an old woman – no! Still, maintain yourself and your 

husband will not go looking right, left, back, and front. 

And they do that through the facial design [which they] 

make on them. And you talked about the brass trays. 

Most of those designs are also encrypted on the brass 

plates that you use in serving guests when they come – 



Introduction 

 

 

23 
 

that you use in decorating your house. All of them have 

codes of love, codes of fairness about life, codes of being 

straightforward in life, codes of harmonisation in life. 

Without these codes [as they will teach you] you may not 

really succeed in life and your marriage (KII, 5). 

 

I heard, ‘Marine, marine, marine,’ in the morning. I did 

not want to interfere, because what they brought in was 

bringing in ekanem-abasi (name of Efik marine deity) 

into ndo (marriage). We are Efiks and we know Anansa 

Ndem Iboku, Ekanem Abasi Ibodio – they are all spirits 

that... They are seers. If a king is about to be nominated, 

Ekpenyong Odusu, Ekanem Abasi, in particular, 

Ekanem Ibodio are consulted. [So and so name] has been 

nominated for enthronement. Is he qualified? Those are 

the duties of Ekanem Abasi; that is one. On the other 

hand, if the parents have stayed there five years, seven 

years, ten years, fifteen years and there is no child and 

they decided to consult Ekpenyong Abasi and they 

consulted Ekpenyong Abasi and Akanem Abasi in the 

power that God has given her was able to manipulate and 

help them have a child. These deities will not give [to] 

you and you just go away. You must return  to them. So 

that is where those things come to play. But, in the free 

ones, no, no. And those deities – the good ones – are like 

guidance angels. We have guidance angels in the church. 

We have prophetesses in these newborn churches, the 

likes of Father Mbaka. They are all everywhere. They 

will tell you it is like this, it will be like that, it will 

happen like this. Those are the roles of Ekpenyong 

Abasi… (KII, 5). 

 

Everything is symbolic. In the coming-out ceremony, for 

instance, [with respect to] the Efik hairdo, there is the 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

24 
 

one that is done for the ‘adiagha’, that is the first 

daughters. There is the one that is done for the second 

daughters. In the coming-out ceremony, this hair that 

they have there is a length for the first daughter. There is 

a length for the second daughter. So you dare not make 

the mistake of giving the firstborn a shorter hair or the 

second daughter a longer length. 

 

Considering the number of combs also, the first daughter 

has seven combs; the second daughter cannot have more 

than five combs from four, three down, [but] not more 

than five, you know. So they are all very symbolic. For 

the dance the coming-out costume itself. The short 

rapper that is tied – the mmpin as you call it, or the 

oyonyo that you wear – will all show that day whether 

you [are] betrothed or not betrothed. For instance, if the 

nkuho girl comes out with a longer oyonyo, it means that, 

before she went into the fattening room, somebody had 

already betrothed her. So, you can’t see all [of] her – you 

know everything she has to offer – again. You can only 

see as much as you can see because somebody had 

already betrothed her. But, if she has not been betrothed, 

she will tie just the other small clothes on her waist and 

chest so that you can still admire her and get desires. So 

everything is symbolic. The songs are symbolic (KII, 2). 

 

After that, they come every morning to dress you up. 

They use the native pot, the small one, which they heat 

and add oil, then water and something else. When this 

mixture is ready, they use a chicken feather to dip in and 

rub you, instead of their hands. After they have used 

warm water to massage the wound, they use the chicken 

feather, dipped in palm oil to put on the surface of the 

wound (Maiden 1). 



Introduction 

 

 

25 
 

 

To these extents, it can be seen that the language, symbols, 

rituals, and shared meanings as inscribed within the fattening 

room practice, are not simplistic in their significations, as they 

indeed constitute important cultural aspects that engender 

internal cohesion and coherence for the native Efik people. 

 

Objective 2 
In this section, the main focus is to identify the learning models 

used in the fattening room practice of the Efik in Nigeria. The 

researchers asked ‘what learning models are used in the 

Fattening room practice of the Efik in Nigeria?’  

 

Generally, the learning models of the fattening room stems from 

the informal educational tradition, where nothing [like a] 

curriculum or timetable is scheduled for the teachings. The 

teachings and learning are basically [apprenticeship-like] in 

approach. The subject matters, including moral, health, 

homecare and similar teachings, are vocationally inclined – this 

is, the learning models that pervade the findings. 

 

Identification of [the vocational method] as the general learning 

model is evident in the response of a member of the men’s focus 

group discussion. He explained: 

 

Just like it has been said earlier, where you have all forms 

of vocational training, she is trained on how to dance, 

how to cook, how to make beads and mats and other 

crafts plus many other training including behaviour and 

proper interaction with people and how to plan for [her] 

future (FGDM, R1). 

 

Following the nature of the vocational method of teaching, 

everything was learnt by doing and practising. A participant in 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

26 
 

the female focus group discussion, who is also a maiden – that 

is, a ‘graduate’ of the fattening room – gave the details in this 

manner: 
 

 So, in my own case, the caregiver really took time to 

teach me how to prepare the ekpang. You have to grate 

the cocoyam so that it does not stain your hands. She tells 

you if it does. ‘What if your husband happens to pass by 

and sees you and all your hands are messed up with 

cocoyam?’ He might decide not to eat that food because 

he will feel that you were not well-groomed. So you have 

to make sure that those things do not come into play. And 

they show you how to tie it with cocoyam leaves and 

how you place it in the pot. You are shown what you 

have to put first under the pot, what you put in the middle 

and then when to put crayfish, when to put fish and when 

to put oil. You sit down and watch how they are doing it 

(Maiden 1). 
 

Also, some of the teaching and learning were artistic in nature. 

This model is a form of vocational training that involves 

storytelling, teaching of proverbs, singing, dancing, attire 

dressing, carving and weaving. This was made known by a male 

Key Informant in his response that: 
 

In the fattening room ... there is a lot of storytelling, 

especially at the first stage. They teach them songs [sings 

in efik dialect – Ekpe ino ebot mi, mmangha ti 

mmagimag] at that level. So that is where we have 

storytelling... ( KII: 5). 
 

This submission was also affirmed by a female Key Informant: 
 



Introduction 

 

 

27 
 

So, you are taken through all that process and it is very 

artistic. And the way and manner she does whatever she 

is doing – the massage is very artistic (KII, 4). 

 

Complementing the learning models used are the various types 

of knowledge received in the fattening room. These are 

discussed in the next objective. 

 

Objective 3  
In this section, the objective is to show the multiplicity of 

knowledge in gender, gender roles, and identity among Africans, 

in this instance as enshrined in the cultural practices of the Efik. 

Researchers wanted to identify the multiplicities of knowledge 

(for instance, about childbearing, home care, cooking, sexuality, 

health, etc.) derived from the fattening room practice of the Efik 

in Nigeria. The contents of the learning processes were derived 

from interviews. 

 

The findings revealed that a multiplicity of knowledge was 

received in the fattening room. This is analysed and presented 

under such discrete themes as childbearing and motherhood, 

home care, cooking, sexuality, health, skills, and morality. 

 

Childbearing and Motherhood 
Childbearing and motherhood in the context of the fattening 

room are characterised by teachings on the art of mothering. It 

involves the care of self and that of the baby – How to put the 

baby to sleep, bathing of the baby, breastfeeding, and the 

teaching of the children – forms the basic knowledge under 

childbearing or motherhood. This could be inferred from the 

responses from the female Key Informants, two of whom 

explained, in part, that:  

 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

28 
 

There is an aspect that, when you become a mother, there 

are certain things you must do. Of course, you have to 

keep your baby clean. Apart from your own personal 

hygiene, the children must be clean. You must teach your 

children how to respect elders. So it is all part of it. A 

mother should be able to impact that knowledge on her 

child (KII, 2). 

 

And the other: 

 

… so that the storehouse will never deplete. So, the most 

important part of that seclusion process is the social 

education, the social character moulding where the 

women selected to do this work will be coming every 

day to teach her how to breastfeed a child. They will be 

checking her weight, how to carry a baby (KII, 5). 

 

Nkuho, therefore, like many other African traditions, 

underscores the importance of adequate preparation or 

preparedness for motherhood as well as the roles that come with 

it. 

 

Homecare  
Homecare is another form of knowledge in the fattening room. 

This is all about the management of home and house chores as 

explained by a member of the male focus group discussants: 

 

It is all about training your daughter or girl-child on 

home management, to be able to cater for her home when 

she gets married to her husband. In the fattening room, 

she will be taught how to run home chores (FGDM, R3). 

 

Homecare teaching involves how to make the home neatly [and 

make it] properly arranged. The clothes in the bedroom must not 



Introduction 

 

 

29 
 

be scattered all over. The sitting room must also be 

accommodating. Visitors should find one’s home open and 

hospitable. A key informant and focus group discussant 

elucidated: 

 

 When your in-law comes around, this is how to treat 

them. When they come, welcome them. Always have 

food. Your home should be a home where your door is 

always open and people are always welcome. You know 

those kinds of thoughts (FGDW, R3). Two, they also 

teach them how to cater for [their] home. You don’t 

scatter things. Your [living room] must look good. Your 

bedroom must be good. Your husband’s bed must look 

clean – the bed sheet clean, everywhere clean, fine smell 

[good] (KII, 5). 

 

Also, care of the husband is one core [aspect] of homecare. 

Cooking for the husband and the children; getting bathing water 

for the husband; setting the table and kind treatment of one’s 

husband are homecare contents. Some of the maidens 

interviewed revealed their experiences in this regard: 

 

I have said it. I [learnt] how to cook [from] inside there. 

I [learnt] how to take care of my husband. Nobody 

[taught] me. I learnt it there and … it is making my 

marriage sweet (Maiden 2) ...They will teach you when 

you leave here and go to your husband’s house, how to 

welcome him... In the morning, how you put water for 

him to wash his hands, wash his face, small things [like] 

you putting a chewing stick for him to chew, [washing] 

his mouth and how you keep water for him to bath 

(Maiden 2). 

 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

30 
 

Accordingly, knowledge of how to cook different traditional 

meals for husband, children and relatives could not preclude 

teachings in the fattening room. Findings revealed that Efik 

people have three-course meals and special delicacies. One of 

the caregivers explained that: 

 

Then they will tell you: for your husband to love you, 

these two things must be in place. One [is] his stomach 

so you must be knowledgeable in cooking all cuisines. 

Before you leave that seclusion, you are taught how to 

cook all kinds of dishes. You can cook this one today and 

you take it to your aunty or mother to taste first. She will 

teach you how to cook it. Then, the next day, she will 

drop all the ingredients and tell you [to] cook. If you 

make a mistake, she will correct you. [The] next day, it 

is another food, [and the] next day another food, until 

you are taught all the cuisines. And then the most 

difficult is ‘anyan ekpang’ (a morsel-type of a meal 

prepared with cocoyam and eaten with Banga soup) and 

‘efere abak’ (Banga soup). They will tell you to cook it 

and sit down [to watch] you. In those days, our mothers 

could start from morning to prepare ‘abak’ (Banga soup) 

and ‘anyan ekpang’ till 4pm. So they [would] teach you 

all kinds of cuisines. After that they [would] teach you 

how to serve it. They [would] teach you the first-course 

meal. The Efik people have a three-course meal... The 

Efiks have what we call starters that is ‘ekpuba’ 

(specially prepared pork) and ‘edita iwa’ (slithered 

cassava, or tapioka) or unam mbakara (pork meat). They 

[would] tell you [to not keep waiting] your husband 

[when] you are about to prepare food. Put something in 

his face so that he can be busy, you know. And then, if it 

is not edita iwa, it can be ‘nnya’, that is garden egg and 

groundnut; or ‘ntokon ibong’, that is a special kind of 



Introduction 

 

 

31 
 

pepper source used in eating kola nut and garden egg. 

They [would] show you how to prepare it. You don’t 

give it to him while he has started eating, no! You give 

it to him while you are cooking and if there is a good fish 

– we call that kind of fish ‘ayara iyak’; that is fish that, 

during drying it, you remove the fatty part of it and keep 

the real fish part – then you put pepper on it and give him 

to eat. After that, when the food that you are preparing is 

ready, you serve him. Immediately after he finishes 

eating, you have to give him fresh palm wine to drink 

and that fresh palm wine does not go alone but with a 

little fish. Therefore, you may never know [in case] his 

friends are around. So, you don’t always give him one 

cup. Bring cups [just] in case anybody is walking past 

and sees ete drinking palm wine and wants to join him 

(Caregiver 1).  

 

From the above, serving the food is a major component of the 

culinary knowledge expected from nkuho training. 

 

Sexuality 
In the fattening room, the teachings about sexuality are all about 

how to make one’s husband happy sexually. In the Efik tradition, 

hygiene is key to sexuality. So, the maidens are taught to be neat 

all through, even during their menstrual cycle. Then, no woman 

should deny her husband sex. On this aspect, a maiden revealed 

as follows: 

 

About sex ... there is a white cloth that they will give you. 

They call it ‘ufung Idak abed’ or ‘ufung idak mmkpana’, 

which means ‘under pillow cloth’. They will give you 

and [say], when you meet your man, how to use it and 

clean yourself and they will teach you how to wash it, 

how to keep it clean and even when you are 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

32 
 

menstruating. They will teach you your cycles. They will 

teach you how to use clothes. Like me, my grandmother 

taught me how to use [the] cloth when menstruating and 

that one was even better than this pad. After using it, you 

will wash it using hot water and sterilise it and fold it 

neatly again and fold it and cover it for next time. Yes, 

they teach you that you should not deny your husband 

sex, as many times as he needs you, you should not deny 

him (Maiden 2).   

 

Thus, being appealing to one’s husband with sweet words and 

how to be romantic and nice-looking have also been identified 

as complementary to being sexually attractive. In the description 

of one parent: 

 

And when you have finished taking your bath, dress very 

well. Carry your fine nightgown and wear it so that, 

when your husband turns to look at you, he will be 

attracted to you (Parent 1) ...A girl-child who is from 

Efik – I am not saying Akwa Ibom; I am not saying 

Ibibio, but Efik – can open her thighs without an odour 

coming out from her. The reason is that, from that first 

seclusion, you are taught how to insert your hand into 

your vagina so when you later have a girl-child and the 

girl child has a swap inside her vagina which God has 

put it there and the smell there is like onion and 

[whatever] comes out is whitish; it is not cream; it is not 

green; it is not red. So, by the time you fail to have this 

colour, it means you are sick. You put your hand every 

day in your body when you take your bath and bring out 

the swap and check. They will teach you that, whenever 

that swap changes from white to another colour, [you 

should] tell your mama. Maybe you have been infected 

from the toilet. They teach them to put their hand in their 



Introduction 

 

 

33 
 

body. Even till tomorrow, an Efik woman will put her 

hand in her body to clean it. They will also teach you that 

you are not supposed to leave hair in your armpit. They 

tell you that it will bring odour – unwanted odour – and 

then your private part; you bring it down and wash it very 

well not just to take your bath wuruwa! wuruwa! – that 

is, in a rush – and go away. You will take time to wash 

your private part very well; take time to care for that part. 

… And they will teach you that the moment you have 

sex with your husband – there is a cloth during the 

marriage ceremony that will be given to you, a towel, 

you will take it and wipe yourself. That cloth is always 

underneath the pillow and they will teach you that, when 

you finish having fun with your husband, use that towel 

and dab yourself and immediately you finish and your 

husband has gone out remove it and go and wash it, dry 

it, fold it and put it back there (Caregiver 3).       
 

For the Efik, there is no denying the significance of sexual 

education in the rites of coming-of-age. This preparation is 

deemed to serve a functional purpose in the overall cognitive 

process of the girl-child or bride-to-be in the world of the Efik, 

indeed as far as matrimonial responsibilities and expectations 

are concerned. 
 

Health 
Another teaching in the fattening room is on health. Findings 

revealed that there are usually talks on a healthy lifestyle. This 

is basically through good hygiene and the use of traditional 

medicines, like the white chalk, to beautify and treat rashes on 

the body. These are parts of health knowledge as evident in the 

excerpts below: 
 

In the fattening room, I was taught not to keep my armpit 

and pubic hairs. I was taught how to bathe in the morning 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

34 
 

and evening, how to brush my teeth and I do them to keep 

myself hygienic (Maiden 4). I had vegetable soup, which 

they say is good for the body... In fact, I just ate most of 

the dishes, I won't lie. I can't remember what I was told, 

but that otor (grated water yam) helps in blood 

circulation especially as it's spiced with scent leaves, 

uyayak, and other spices. That mostly, when we put to 

bed, we would be made to take plenty of it and other 

slightly peppery foods with spices to help flush the 

system and boost the breast milk flow. But then, I also 

ate it even though I was not breastfeeding. They showed 

me how to make it and enjoy it (Maiden 3).      

 

This is to the extent to which folk education on health goes in 

the equipping of the maiden in the fattening room. Though the 

preparation around personal health may be perceived or 

appreciated from an individual-centred rite, it is, in a futuristic 

sense, an aspect of education that will become hands-on in the 

bride’s future matrimonial home, and, by extension, as a 

potential future caregiver in the fattening home and the Efik 

society at large.  

 

Skills Acquisition 
Based on the findings, there are various skill acquisition 

teachings in the fattening room. Maidens are taught language, 

craft carving, knitting, dancing, inscription-making, trading and 

cooking skills. This is evident in a Key Informant’s description 

below: 

 

Another aspect is the craft aspect. They teach you how 

to weave. We have our local ndam (wool). They will 

teach you the process of knitting ndam; from ndam wool  

to other things so that, at the end of the day, you don’t 

just believe in buying here, buying there. You are able to 



Introduction 

 

 

35 
 

do your thing and save money. On languages, they will 

teach you the regular emesiere (good morning greeting), 

ete omoyong (welcome sir), mma omoyong (welcome 

madam), idem fo? (how are you?) Amadia mkpo? (have 

you eaten?) Mmagha iso fo odo… (I don’t like the way 

you are keeping your face). She will try to straighten up 

her face because she has heard mmagha iso fo odo. Ndito 

idem mbufo..o (Children how are you doing?) Ah! 

Grandma idem mi usung or Idem mi isong ke (Grandma 

I am feeling well or I am not feeling fine). They will 

teach them that. Because most children never knew those 

things and their meaning, it is there at the fattening room 

that they were taught [this language skill] (KII, R5). 

 

[The making of] special, very special tray covers [is also 

taught] and I know that in some other places women 

were also taught how to carve the chewing stick. You 

know the Efiks have a special way of carving chewing 

sticks and these were all thought in the fattening room 

(FGDW, R3).  

 

So, one major advantage of the fattening room is the [teaching 

of] technical knowledge. All of these bring about creativity [for 

the maiden and intending wife]. 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

36 
 

 
Plate 2:  The research team and cooperative partners displaying 

sample design of textile weaving from nkuho skills acquisition 

training 

 



Introduction 

 

 

37 
 

Morality 
The last set of teaching as categorised in this report is morality. 

One maiden and another member of the female focus group 

discussant confirm to the research team what happens in this 

process: 

 

I love the fattening room because it broadens the child’s 

intellect. There are certain things you can never learn 

outside but you will learn them there. I learned personal 

hygiene, social training, self-discipline, cooking, 

emotional control, anger management, communication 

with your mate, communication with adults and elders, 

and home management skills. It was just an institution 

where you learn all that you need to know as a woman 

(Maiden 5). How you can endure pain, how you can 

listen more and talk less, how you can be observant of all 

the things around you and learn the lessons, and how you 

can take care of yourself emotionally (FGDW, R4). 

 

Consequently, in this process, the spirit and character of 

endurance, respect, self-esteem, emotional stability, mental 

alertness, and so on, are instilled in them.   

 

Objective 4 
This section aims to produce a narrative of the fattening room 

practice of the Efik in Nigeria, against the backdrop of 

extrapolating a theory on gender, gender role, and identity in 

Africa. 

 

The fattening room exercise was one of the ways the Efiks 

preserved ancient beliefs, values, and customs. It was a cultural 

rite of passage that nurtured the young Efik female from 

girlhood to womanhood in a secluded room. The cultural 

characteristic of an ideal Efik female is signified in a young 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

38 
 

virgin who had been pampered, ‘schooled’ with social and 

psychological resources, and forcefully fed with large portions 

of food to attain massive body size, curvaceous hips, and fleshy 

waistlines. Focus group discussions with men and women, and 

narratives of maidens, parents, caregivers, and key informants 

produce narratives which further establish this context: 

 

In my community, men usually go around scouting for 

maidens who are going through [the] nkuho institution 

(FGDM, R3). 

 

The nkuho in Efik tradition, as far as I know, goes by two 

aspects of life. Number one: When a girl-child is born 

and grows to the age of between 5 and 10, she is 

circumcised. That's the first nkuho. Number two: When 

the girl-child is of age or maybe, there is a suitor 

interested in her, the parents can decide to put her in a 

fattening room. From the fattening room, she is sent out 

after a specified time to her husband. It is a very beautiful 

cultural perspective in Efik land (FGDM, R5). 

 

You will be in a particular room after the circumcision… 

[in] the first one week, you will experience pain. When I 

was in the fattening room, I didn't do much. In the 

morning, I would eat, I would sleep, I would wake up 

and eat again. They would be petting me…When I woke 

up in the morning, I would take my bath. They would 

now massage my body with native chalk – that white 

chalk – before I even bathe. They would be using that on 

me…. After that, I would take my bath and they would 

use that same white chalk to rub my body. There is one 

yellow [thing] that they also use. I have forgotten its 

name. They would use it, mixed with that white chalk – 

I didn’t use cream – and camwood to design my body. In 



Introduction 

 

 

39 
 

fact, when you eat in the morning, it is for you to lie 

down and sleep…They will cook ‘otoh’, ekpang nkukwo. 

That first stage early in the morning I don’t always like 

because, early in the morning, they will give you garri. 

This garri they will soak overnight. Then, the following 

day, the garri will be so soft. They will put water in, and 

you drink it like water so that it will make you fat. You 

will be so fat. The food used to be plenty… They [would] 

put food in a big bowl. If it is rice, they will put it in a 

tray. If it is garri, there is a particular plate for that – a 

big plate. You must finish it. But, for me, I used to put a 

plate under my bed, when nobody [was around], I would 

turn it into that plate and hide because, if you didn’t 

finish it, they would talk to you in a way [that] you would 

not like. There used to be a time [when] they would teach 

me something… [When it is] the end, you know when 

they throw the water, so you enter. That day, there were 

some people, about 5 or 6 or 7 or 8.... And when they 

throw the water you run and enter and, in short, that day, 

it was  merriment and they drank this ogogoro (ethanol 

dry gin) and when I was inside, I was hearing a kind of 

celebration. [There were] not many people, but the few 

people that were there…they will just buy this ogogoro 

and drink it. They use a cup and throw it on the roof and 

when the water [comes rushing] down and touches you, 

then you run into the house … That evening – you know 

in the neighbourhood there are other nkuho – then, I used 

to pass through the backyard to the other side to meet my 

colleagues. Sometimes they knew, maybe three of us 

would be in the house. We would talk, we would laugh, 

we played, and then they would go or, me too, I would 

return back. So, the night that I would come out, they 

would throw that water again and I would go out before 

coming into the room again...because now, I am free 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

40 
 

after coming out. So I can go anywhere now. On Sunday, 

I went to church. They bought me new clothes. They 

called people, they cooked. That Monday was the market 

day, so as I dressed to the church on Sunday, the same 

way I dressed to  the market on Monday (Maiden, 2). 

 

…Every morning, they would soak plenty of garri (fried 

cassava flakes) in water and leave it for hours to rise and 

be very soft such that you can drink it like a smooth 

paste. They bathe you and massage you with local white 

chalks (ndom). Sometimes, they mix ashes with the 

ndom to massage you. You are then given the soaked 

garri to drink so that you get fat. If you don’t get fat, they 

continue to keep you in the fattening room until they 

make sure you get fat. That is why some people are kept 

in the room for a very long time. After drinking the garri, 

they allow you to sleep. When you wake up, in the 

afternoon, they give you food again. In the evening, they 

give you other food… They teach you folk songs and 

traditional dances... You don’t go out... You don’t wear 

clothes, just the local chalk on your body. You can wear 

a small top if you have developed breasts. They roll your 

hair in knots called ikpok ube. They also decorate your 

face. Usually, you lay on a mat for you to sleep on. They 

normally don’t want the blood and oil to stain the bed 

sheet so you have to sleep on a mat… You are given a 

special seat… a round seat that is meant for you alone 

while in the fattening room…They also cover your legs 

with a cloth, since most of it is bare after the shorts. You 

are taken out as a maiden and dressed in special beads 

known as okpono on shorts. Your breasts are left bare 

while your wrist is adorned with beads. The seat in the 

tent  is made for your coming-out celebration. The tent 

is called mkpoto, which looks more like what you now 



Introduction 

 

 

41 
 

see in traditional weddings. You dance the dance steps 

you were taught in the fattening room and people will 

dance around you. Although some maidens go to the 

market with someone who covers them [with an] 

umbrella as they shop for food- stuff, I never went to the 

market. But I was taken to church. It was for 

thanksgiving and I was dressed normally (Maiden, 4). 

 

They kept me in the house and fed me very well – you 

know they want to feed you so that you can get fat. 

Somebody would come every morning to massage me 

with ndom (native chalk) and [do] my hair. My sisters 

were big so they taught them how to take care of a home. 

People would come and sing and play with us in the 

evenings, teaching us how to sing and dance and so on. 

If you want to go out, you tell the others, ‘onungo mi, 

inungo fi’ (if you pip on me, I pip on you). Every 

morning, this woman would come and open our legs and 

check to be sure everything was okay. After about a 

month or so, we were dressed and escorted to the market 

where people gave us gifts. When we were back [at] the 

house, we had a 'Coming of Age' dance in the evening. 

After that, we went to church on Sunday to thank God 

(P2). 

 

[Most of the time], people misinterpret the practice of 

nkuho (fattening room). They think it's just to go there 

and get all fat. Yes, I'm fat but I know that it is not all 

about that... Just like the Western education teaches us 

the Western culture or the Western behaviour in schools, 

in universities, colleges, the fattening room is an 

institution. So, my parents noticed that many young girls 

grow up in certain families where they are pampered and 

some parents don't find time to teach them those 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

42 
 

etiquettes of life. So, my parents wanted to instil more of 

the cultural practice in their female children. So, we just 

went in for the experience or the knowledge. It is now 

very typical of some Calabar girls that they don't know 

how to prepare the Efik-specific dishes; we have a lot of 

them – interesting and delicious ones. But there are few 

Calabar girls that can prepare those meals. And, with the 

way the Western world is taking over, a lot of our 

cultural food or practices is fading out of existence... So, 

my father wanted us to go there and have this culture-

specific knowledge on what goes around in our 

environment... It was when I was 7 years old… as a 

matter of fact we just went in there to get knowledge. 

There are three types of nkuho. The infant nkuho. The 

adolescent  nkuho (where  young women are groomed by 

confinement during which they are taught the rudiments 

of marriage) and the childbirth nkuho (allows one to 

learn about parenthood and all the necessary knowledge 

on how to raise her child, care and give attention to that 

child) (Maiden 5). 

 

… as I grew older, I discovered that what was done to 

my sister on the eighth day was done to some girls in 

some homes when they're 5, 6, 7 years of age, when 

they're about to start schooling. At this time, they are 

kept in the fattening room and fed very well. They are 

beautifully dressed on the day they are brought out and 

taken to the market. The women will clap and cheer her 

with ululation (making the sound as in a demonstration) 

Esin okut e nonye (Give money to her) E tor enye ndom 

(Rub her with Ndom) Mbok, nonye udia o (Please give 

her food o) E nonye mmong o (Give her water o). People 

will appreciate her with those things – money, ndom, 

food items, water, etc. as she is taken round the market. 



Introduction 

 

 

43 
 

Why the market? I don't know. She's taken back to the 

house and taken to church the subsequent Sunday. The 

Reverend will bless her and she'll go and start schooling. 

That's stage one. The next stage is a training school. Like 

Ete had rightly said, at this time, there's a suitor waiting 

by. She's isolated and taught how to keep her home, 

relate with her in-laws, how to take care of her husband 

in all ramifications – sex, food, petting and other things. 

In that same fattening room, she will be taught how to 

make mbufari (a tablecloth – it must be included in the 

items that must accompany bride price), how to cook 

menus like ekpang-kukwo, obobot ikon, afang, edikang 

ikong... You know, when an Efik girl takes care of a man 

– maybe a visitor – he'll fall in love with her and you will 

hear people saying, Ohh, ononye ibok ima! (Ohh, she 

gave him a love potion). There's nothing like ibok ima. It 

is that art of caring and caregiving that ‘charmed’ the 

man into loving her. She's not yet a mother, but she's 

taught the art of becoming a mother which is expected to 

be soon. When the phase of traditional marriage proper 

comes and goes, she is sent into a 9-month course. In 

some homes, she will still be taken back into Ufok nkuho 

(fattening room) where more massaging on her will be 

done. She's fed with plenty of garri soaked and left for 

at least twenty-four hours to rise and soften. In three 

months’ time, when she's going for christening, she 

looks plumpy, sweet, fresh, sexy. The teaching of the art 

of a mother continues through all those phases – how to 

breastfeed a child and a lot of other things, [in a step by 

step fashion]. They come out properly trained to do 

things orderly and correctly, not like it is with our girls 

of today who do things anyhow. She's brought out at the 

expiration of three months, celebrated and taken to 

church (FGDM, R2). 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

44 
 

…You know, nkuho was divided into three parts. The 

first part was the circumcision; the second part was the 

fattening of the woman to make her look plump and 

healthy. Instructors will come in daily to train her in 

different areas and fields of endeavour. Finally, In the 

end, the masquerade is brought in as a symbol of 

authority and government. Right now, we have the 

understanding that Ekpe masquerade also has some 

marine connotations. That is why, in some families, 

rituals involve them going to Efe Ekpe (Ekpe Hall) to do 

libation pouring and invoke some marine powers into 

those women before they proceed to their husbands’ 

house in marriage. However, this last phase does not 

apply to nkuho generally. It is not carried out in some 

families. So, the fattening room has the positive side and 

the negative side depending on the family. But, on the 

whole, it was a very good school designed for training 

women on all that was necessary – how to do well in life 

(FGDM, R1). 

 

We have three categories of nkuho…the first is that you 

are a child…between the ages of 7 and 12 years…The 

second stage is [between] the age of 15 to 18 years… 

You don’t know a man yet because, if you know a man 

and they take you and cut your clitoris, you will bleed to 

death. So, during that period, your grandma will be 

monitoring you, and the good thing there is, that each 

time you come back from school or stream, they will use 

an egg and measure your vagina if it has been tampered 

with. They will make sure that they monitor you 

seriously until the third term. You know you have first 

term and second term in school. They will leave it till the 

third term when you will stay at home for a month and 



Introduction 

 

 

45 
 

some weeks. So that is when they do it. It will not affect 

your schooling (Caregiver, 1). 

 

It is indeed against this backdrop that it has been documented – 

and as also highlighted earlier by this key informant – that: 

 

… there is this nkuho uto owo ndung ufot (nkuho that 

gives gifts to the lady). It is not the same thing as nkuho 

preparing you for marriage. Preparing you for marriage 

is different from making you come of age. At nkuho 

preparing you for ndo (marriage) you will be taught all 

these things we have mentioned. But for making you an 

akwa nwan (full woman). It is expected of us that, as we 

are sending out our daughter, we are not just selling her, 

so that no husband tomorrow will ask you: ‘When you 

came, what did you come with? [Of] everything in this 

house, show me what you came with. Not from our tribe. 

From our tribe here, [in] sending you off, we are sending 

you off fully. They will give you a full parlour setting. 

They will give you a kitchen setting. They will give you 

a full room setting as you are going to your husband's 

house and they will give you good money – good money 

(KII 5). 

 

… this particular seclusion is in her father’s 

compound…. She will come out in her maiden's outfit in 

which she is adorned. And she comes out and exhibits 

her talent… that is on Saturday or Friday. But it is 

usually done on Saturday so that she can be sent to the 

market. She has to go to the market where every other 

nkuho [mates] from different places [and communities] 

that have put their children in seclusion also [at] the same 

time like her – all the nkuho wherever they are – will 

come together in the market on Saturday. And it is on 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

46 
 

Sunday that the father, the parent of the nkuho will invite 

everybody to come. They will give her an umbrella, 

[have her] wear her socks and gloves, and a small hat and 

a crown to walk to church – that is, nkuho goes to church. 

First, nkuho goes to market. Second, nkuho goes to 

church to thank God. After that is a big ceremony in their 

compound… where she will come out and dance and 

dance and dance. Again that is the first. But the second 

is not like that. [With the second], it is believed that she 

is put in seclusion to be given out in marriage. It means 

the first and second letter is given already and they 

[were] taught [how] they responded, where the father 

[was to] respond when the girl is put in seclusion 

(Caregiver, 1). 

 

… it is a rite of passage for a girl-child, you must start at 

the early age of 10..., between 10 and 18. By 10, we call 

it, 'nkuho eyen owon'. That is, as a girl-child, they will 

put you in a fattening room, separate, to prepare you to 

become a teen and going into adulthood…And it is 

expected to be that, when you are there at that time – 

maybe two, three... assuming you are 10 – you stay there 

for 3 years. That is, you're 13, you are a teen… You wake 

up, [and] your caregiver will now come in and be giving 

you training on how to become a full-grown woman – 

the food you will be cooking, how to do your laundry, 

how to dress your house, the cleaning aspects, the 

sanitary aspects of your own body and the family that 

you are going in [to], your house, your environment and 

your dance steps when it is the day that you will be 

coming out to see people (Caregiver 2).  

 

…I was there. My grandma would take me and bathe me. 

She would take me to the backyard and she would 



Introduction 

 

 

47 
 

continue pressing the wound…She would massage me. 

She will use white clay…there is a special leaf – the 

Edada mmeme leaf which she used to massage me. Then 

you don’t go out. They will still put clay inside the water 

and rub you. Then you will sit on a mat on the floor. So 

they will bring you food and water. Early in the morning, 

they will give you garri that they soaked overnight to sip 

and you [are not allowed to] use a spoon. You will drink 

it in a big bowl [laughs] so that you will be fat now.  We 

have a special seat that you will sit on, so nobody sits 

there…You will be well drilled and taught. And they will 

make sure that you internalise them…You must sleep, 

you must eat because it is assumed that, by the time you 

are to come out from the fattening room, you should be 

[voluptuous]… They will teach you how to dance 

different dance steps… They teach you ‘nke’ [She sang 

the song making the sound that was used with her mouth 

and hands]. They taught us how to tell stories; poems 

proverbs and all those kinds of things…When the 

moonlight comes out, [all you fellow maidens that were 

circumcised], will come out…When it is close to the 

coming-out ceremony, they will come around then you 

will come and sing and dance together and go to the 

market. When you go to the market, they will [gift 

money to us]… You just walk around, with an umbrella. 

You will be well dressed… Immediately they see you 

they will be hailing you “o.. nkuho edi udua..o” (Nkuho 

has come to the market..o)… After coming from the 

church, first before we move to the market… people will 

then dash you money …They will admire you and then, 

from the market, you will now go home and you come to 

sit on mkpoto…That is when the ceremony will begin 

and that will happen from around 5:30pm downwards… 

People will come out and dance…If you are from a royal 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

48 
 

home, they will dress in our Efik traditional dress. They 

will dance. You too, you will dance, too. The mother of 

the girl will come and she will put this white chalk in 

water and rub it on the girls, saying ‘My daughter has 

passed through nkuho...o (mmo no eyen mi 

nkuho..o)…(Maiden, 1). 

 

… if we want to discuss nkuho, we have to follow it step 

by step…from the first day and the rites and the last day 

and the rites. So this for me rounds up the narrative for 

nkuho. You know [how] to prepare your daughter for 

womanhood in terms of what is expected of her as a 

grown-up. You start from a process. You know the first 

process is the seclusion rites …and the seclusion rites 

begin with circumcision…So, we have the seclusion 

house/room prepared, so you have to put her in a 

seclusion room – a room where nobody can have access 

to, usually in the backyard. In the configuration of her 

ancient cultural compound, there are some cultural 

things that need to be done…You then have to use palm 

fronds to picket the doors and the room that is going to 

be used for the circumcision rites… ensuring that it is 

fortified traditionally by all powers against every power 

that will want to come and put your daughter’s life in 

danger… If somebody comes there with an evil mind, he 

or she should not be able to cross that picket yard to enter 

the room. The evil must not be able to penetrate that 

house… Usually, there is a particular plant called ‘urun’ 

in my local language. It must be there at the entrance to 

that room… So, while this seclusion room is being 

prepared, also your ban, your storehouse – how many 

yam tubers have you gathered? How long will they last? 

Is it for one planting season? How long do you plan to 

put her in the room? What is/are physiological attributes? 



Introduction 

 

 

49 
 

Nkuho is about eating, feeding, forceful feeding … 

There is ukang ukum (cowtail plantain). There is edesi 

(rice). There is edita iwa (slice cassava or Tapioca)… to 

make her outgrow her age; to make her outgrow nature; 

to make her so grown to fulfil somebody’s fantasy; to see 

her beautiful – that is who we are. In my family, [by] 6 

O’clock in the morning, you are fed with one bowl of 

water. By 6:10am, they bring a bowl of garri, soaked, 

and one long big fish. By 6:15am, you are given pounded 

yam and soup. The food cycle ticks round the clock – at 

most a ten-fifteen-minute interval. They had their own 

belief and so the girl-child who must undergo nkuho 

must go through this painful process (of circumcision)… 

The woman who is vested [with the task of] doing the 

circumcision would have been there. [she is seen as a] 

woman walking in with her small girl, holding her bag 

that contains the implements and her red flag and a round 

bell and a pot…The girl is pinned down by young men 

… She will chop off part of the girl’s genitalia and then 

she stops the blood using native leaves… Because of the 

traditional things being used, after three days, the 

circumcision would have dried up and blackened up with 

the herbs – African traditional herbs that have been used. 

If, after four or five days, the wound is still fresh, then 

there is a problem; something must have gone wrong. 

Within the house, another school begins...for humanity, 

for people that she will interact with, for the man she will 

marry, for the society and the people she will live with 

(KII, 1). 

 

Furthermore, participation in the fattening room exercise 

provided social integration, personal standards or prestige, 

statuses, social regulatory mechanisms, and identity, against 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

50 
 

which the Efiks regulated their own behaviour and societal 

expectations:  

 

The parents that get their children through the nkuho 

process are respected for respecting and maintaining the 

family value. It was a common practice in the 60s to the 

80s. But, it is no more popular today because of the 

changes and the technology of the new world (FGDM, 

R5). 

 

So, I am a man. I have children [and] I want to showcase 

my daughters, and I will tell you in the next season or so 

many seasons to come, it is either I am preparing my 

daughters for marriage to a king’s son, a prince or so. So, 

like a fatted cow or a Good Shepherd that wants to go for 

an agricultural show, you want to showcase your ‘fatted’ 

or your best cow, your best bull. You want to bring it out 

for people to see. It comes from deep within; it is a thing 

of pride to showcase. So, to get to that point where you 

probably showcase your valued asset to the public to see 

so that they can begin to price. So, in this case, the nkuho 

is being prepared so that others can come and see. For 

instance, back in the day, I [could] see a small child, who 

[would] go to the stream even at age ten and I [could] 

say, ‘Okay I am going to betroth this girl for my son. I 

believe my son will marry this one’, and I do some stuff, 

the needful. It, therefore, behoves me as a parent to bring 

up this child in such a way and manner that, every day, 

as I am passing by, you will be hastening the time laps 

for her growth, so that they can come and carry her… 

(KII, 1). 

 

I am an indigene of Calabar, Efik, to be precise. I am 

from Ikot Nkpam Nkpan. My parents are both Efiks. My 



Introduction 

 

 

51 
 

Dad is a traditionalist, a cultural man. He was interested 

in the culture of his people. I used to live outside with 

my parents when my father was alive – he is late. He was 

a civil servant working with the Nigerian Embassy 

before he got posted to various countries as his job 

permitted. We used to accompany him. Since we were 

seven girls, he wanted us to have a firsthand experience 

of our culture and inherit something from our culture 

which is the practice of nkuho (Maiden 5). 

 

A typical Efik man will be very proud of marrying a 

well-groomed woman… Yeah! …the ego of an Efik 

man. He wants to see [his] wife serve him very well. So 

he will really bring out the cash. So he uses the cash to 

take care of [himself]... He wants to be behind and the 

wife [who is] in front, [while he] raises his shoulder – 

this is my pride. (FGDW, 4). 

 

… It is a [thing of] pride…you go through the process 

and you come out feeling different. You come out feeling 

you've achieved something. You know, you are ready for 

something (KII, 4). 

 

[Singing] Mbre ye afo so, mma mma anwan etete...kpok 

mbara-ukot, kpok ubok..o, yak edifo etie do, ada enye 

odo anam asian..o, mbre ye afo so... This particular song 

connotes that, anybody who does not pass through the 

rites of passage has no right to enter where other girls are 

staying because they will abuse her saying, mma mma 

anwan etete (cut your fingernail, cut your toenails too, 

but leave your long clitoris to be there, so that you may 

use it to make love as a man). That will make you run 

away [as a girl who has not undergone female 

circumcision]. Anybody in the village [who] does not 



Re-Examining Gender, Gender Roles and Identity In Nigeria: The Fattening… 
 

 

52 
 

pass through the rites of passage – every maiden in the 

village will abuse her as they sing that [song], nobody in 

the village will tell them to go away. They will [by 

themselves] run away (Caregiver 1). 

 

…[Emphatically] Then, there used to be this belief that 

it was only a rich father that could afford to put their 

daughter in the fattening room, feed her and bring people 

to teach her. The food the caregivers cook is not only for 

the girl. [The caregivers] too will take [part of it] away. 

So, it was only a rich home that could afford that so I had 

that good feeling (Maiden 6). 

 

As a caregiver, you are recognised in the whole village 

and being talked about. That is part of [the] 

compensation (Caregiver 2).  

 

In addition, the fattening room exercise was an intentional 

attempt to promote chastity, curb pre-marital sex, and prevent 

promiscuity and extra-marital affairs among Efik females. Thus, 

female children were coaxed into having their clitorises 

removed. Female circumcision, therefore, was at the core of the 

exercise as detailed in the earlier narratives and those following 

from here: 

 

… when they bring you in during that time they will not 

tell you that today is your day. In short the day you start 

seeing them dash [out] food, big meat, big fish, roasted 

plantain [to you], they want to make your mind settle and 

be at peace. In fact, you can see your grandma go and 

bring you fine cloth and dash [it out to] you so as to settle 

your mind; because, if you know that tomorrow they will 

temper with [your] genitals, you will run away… you 

will escape. So, they will pet you, then, early in the 



Introduction 

 

 

53 
 

morning, before 5am, they will trick you to go and take 

your bath. ‘We want to go for morning prayers’ (‘Akam 

Usen ubok’ – early morning prayer) and your head will 

be [swollen] because they have [gifted] you this and that. 

And then, when you come out, because you will be 

happy to follow them, then they will take you out of your 

room. You must have dressed and worn your pants. 

Then, my grandma would ask, ‘What kind of pants are 

you wearing? What type of dress is this? Go and change 

it. Let me give you something that will take you to where 

we are going.’ When you go to remove your clothes and 

wear a new attire, from there, you will see a man and, 

before you go to that place, they will do the circumcision. 

They put fresh plantain leaves on the floor and then they 

put deadwood on top of it. And then you come and they 

say, ‘Lie down.’ And, before you say you want to run, 

you can’t run because this man standing there will grab 

you and you will be shouting ‘ekaeka mi o’ (O my 

grandmother!) Your grandmother will be telling you that 

it doesn’t [hurt] that she is the on