Geopolitical zone
South South
The Niger Delta: creeks, mangrove, oil and the most ethnically fragmented coastline in the country.
6 states · Last verified 13 September 2026
The South South, commonly called the Niger Delta, covers Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers. It is a landscape of creeks, mangrove forest and rainforest, cut by the many mouths of the Niger, and it holds most of Nigeria's crude oil and natural gas.
No single people dominates. Ijaw, Ibibio, Annang, Efik, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Isoko, Edo, Ogoni, Ikwerre, Ejagham and Oron communities each have their own language and institutions, and the Benin Kingdom in Edo is one of the oldest continuously reigning monarchies in West Africa. Fishing, palm produce and river trade long predated oil.
Oil has brought national revenue and local grievance in equal measure: gas flaring, spills, lost fishing grounds and disputes over derivation and clean-up have defined regional politics since the 1990s, alongside the Ogoni struggle and the amnesty programmes that followed the militancy of the 2000s.
What defines the zone
- Holds most of Nigeria's oil and gas reserves
- Creeks, mangrove and rainforest of the Niger Delta
- Extremely fragmented ethnic and language map
- Seat of the historic Benin Kingdom
- Long-running disputes over oil revenue and pollution
States in South South
Akwa Ibom
Uyo
Land of Promise
South South31 LGAsBayelsa
Yenagoa
Glory of All Lands
South South8 LGAsCross River
Calabar
The People's Paradise
South South18 LGAsDelta
Asaba
The Big Heart
South South25 LGAsEdo
Benin City
Heartbeat of the Nation
South South18 LGAsRivers
Port Harcourt
Treasure Base of the Nation
South South23 LGAs
Peoples of the zone
Languages recorded here
Annang · Bekwarra · Boki · Edo · Efik · Ejagham · Epie-Atissa · Esan · Etche · Etsako · Ibibio · Igbo · Ijaw · Ikwerre · Isoko · Itsekiri · Nembe · Ogoni · Oron · Owan · Urhobo
Food from this zone
- soup
Afang Soup
Afang Soup is made from finely sliced afang leaves (wild spinach leaves) combined with waterleaf, cooked with palm oil, meat, dried fish and stockfish. It has a dense, vegetable-heavy texture and is one of the signature soups of south-eastern coastal Nigeria.
- soup
Afia Efere
A pale, pepper-forward soup thickened with pounded boiled yam rather than seeds or palm oil, so it stays close to white. It is heavily spiced with uyayak and utazi and cooked with goat meat, chicken or fish.
- soup
Atama Soup
Atama Soup is a soup built around atama leaf, a strongly aromatic wild leaf, cooked with periwinkle, fish, meat and palm oil. Its distinctive character comes from the atama leaf's pungent flavour, which is milder than bitterleaf but similarly bracing.
- soup
Banga Soup
Banga Soup is a palm-fruit soup from the Niger Delta made by extracting fresh palm-fruit pulp and cooking it with a distinctive mix of spices, notably banga spice blend, along with meat or fish. It has a rich orange colour and a savoury, slightly bitter, aromatic flavour distinct from other palm-nut soups.
- street_food
Boli
Boli is ripe or half-ripe plantain roasted whole or split over an open charcoal fire until charred outside and soft inside. It is typically sold by roadside vendors and served with a spicy sauce made from pepper, palm oil and often fish.
- soup
Catfish Pepper Soup
Pepper soup made with fresh catfish cut into thick steaks and simmered briefly in the spiced broth so the flesh stays firm and the skin turns gelatinous. Scent leaf is added at the end.
Festivals in this zone
- Festival
Calabar Carnival
December, with the main parades on 26 and 27 December. · Cross River
- Festival
Calabar Regatta
December, as part of the Calabar festival season, with the exact date set by festival organisers each year · Cross River
- Festival
Ekpe
at title-taking ceremonies, funerals of titled members and festival occasions through the year, with no single fixed festival date · Cross River
- Festival
Ekpo
performed through the year at funerals and community events, with the fullest masquerade seasons concentrated in the dry season (roughly November to March) · Akwa Ibom
- Festival
Igue
late December, in the days leading up to the New Year, with exact palace dates fixed by the Benin traditional council each year · Edo
- Festival
Leboku
August, with the exact dates set by the Yakurr traditional council each year · Cross River
The other zones
- Geopolitical zone
North Central
Nigeria's middle belt, where the savannah meets the forest and no single ethnic group dominates.
- Geopolitical zone
North East
Sahel and savannah country, historic seat of the Kanem-Borno empire and home to the Mandara mountains.
- Geopolitical zone
North West
The most populous zone, the heartland of Hausa city states and the Sokoto Caliphate.
- Geopolitical zone
South East
The Igbo heartland: dense settlement, market towns and a strong tradition of enterprise.
- Geopolitical zone
South West
Yorubaland: old kingdoms, dense cities and the country's largest urban economy.
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