A major landmark in the town is the Qua Iboe River which in some places frames the boundary between Eket and Onna Local Government Areas and empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
According to Dapper's 1686 book Description de l'Afrique (Amsterdam 1686), this river had been named Rio del Conde by the Portuguese.
Eket people belong to the Ibibio ethnic group of Akwa Ibom State who are said to be "the stock natives from whom most of the small tribes in the Qua Iboe and Calabar have sprung".
However, when the Portuguese explorers arrived on the coast of West Africa in the late 1400s and interacted with the natives through trading activities and enslavement of Africans, Eket people were already well settled in their current location.
These different clans of Eket people have oral histories explaining their origin and migration to their present locations.
These oral histories seem to confirm the position of several historians such as Abasiattai (1988)[10] and Edet Udoh (1983)[11] that Eket and Oron people migrated through a seaward route from the Cameroons to their current locations.
Although King Jaja's commercial and political adventures in the Qua Iboe area which impacted the Ekid people have been documented in colonial records, including the 1881 Jaja-Ibeno War[12] it seems the one singular event which brought Eket into history was the signing of the Treaty of friendship and protection between the "King" and Chiefs of Eket, Qua Iboe River and the representatives of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Britain, Ireland, India, etc.
Next came the establishment of the Qua Iboe District in 1894 with Alfred Ashmall Whitehouse as the first Vice Consul at Eket.
[17] The district was part of the Oil Rivers Protectorate declared on June 5, 1885 after the conclusion of the Berlin Conference.
The Qua Iboe District comprised what is today most parts of Akwa Ibom State, including Esit Eket, Onna, Ibeno, Nsit Ubium, Etinan, Abak, Etim Ekpo, Oron, Mbo, Okobo, Urue Offong/Oruko, Udung Uko, Okobo etc.
[21] The abundant rivers, creeks and streams and the lush vegetation provide an enabling environment for crop, fish and animal farming.
For example, cassava, various species of yams and cocoyams, vegetables, plantains, bananas, tilapia and snail farming are common.
Between 1928 and 1941, Prince Peter Eket Inyang Udoh who had lived in the UK and USA for 17 years, tried to garner support from local farmers in Ibibio and Annang areas, including Eket to export palm produce to the US, working under the aegis of the Ibibio Trading Corporation which he had set up.
[24] An oil mill was established at Ikot Abia in Okon, Eket but it also went into disuse during the civil war.
With the creation of states on May 27, 1967, and the commencement of Mobil operations between 1969 and 1970 which resulted in an increased population in Eket, a lot of people are engaged in construction and service industries, e.g. catering and hotels management, transportation, telecommunications, merchandising (supermarkets), teaching, civil service, the professions, etc.
When Mobil Producing Nigeria started its operations in the then South Eastern State soon after the civil war, the location of Eket Local Government gave the town the advantage of being the hub of Mobil Producing Nigeria operations.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were the Seastate Seafoods Ltd, Qua Steel Products Ltd and Dr Pepper Bottling Company, all of which are now closed down.
Many of the internal roads and drainage systems in the town were constructed or rehabilitated by Mobil Producing Nigeria under its Community Development program.
In recent times, a thriving foodstuff market has been established along Marina Road where agricultural products from the Northern part of the country are sold.
The area is now newly "oil-rich" and Eket is the thriving hub of a new oil and gas business, with more than 250 companies providing support services such as catering, flights, and exports.
However, this success has caused problems, especially a reluctance by local young men to engage in traditional work such as fishing and farming.
In addition to the Amama, groups of "Ekpenim Isong" (Ekpo Ndem Isong in Ibibio) class rule individual villages and towns, and their will is enforced by the "Ikan" class (traditional masked police) to which entry is by merit rather than birth.
Common surnames include Odungide, Akanimo, Assam, Inwang, Essiet, Udoito, Edoho, Edohoeket, Etukudo, Ukpong, Ekpo, Ikott, Abasekong, Asamudo, Nyoho, Ekong, Ekanim, Udofa, Edem, Inyang, Itauma, Udosen, Usoro, Etti, Etteh[29] (actually meaning father),[30] Udofia, Ukoetuk, Uku, Abia and Nsien.
[31] The institute later became the Qua Iboe Church Teacher Training College, Afaha Eket before the civil war.
[33] After the liberation of Eket by the Nigerian Federal Forces in 1968 the QIC TTC, Afaha Eket was moved to QIC TTC, Ndon Eyo so that its premises could become the premises of Edoho Memorial Grammar School whose name was now changed to Government Secondary School, Afaha Eket while the former premises of Edoho Memorial Grammar School, Ikot Usoekong was taken over by the Nigerian Army.
In the 1970s and 1980s several communities, individuals and organizations established secondary schools in Eket to provide education for the increased population of the town.
The school started in 2000 as Heritage College but in 2010 it was licensed by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to operate as a Polytechnic.
Dr Karl Kurth, the executive secretary of the Syndical Conference Missionary Board of North America officially opened the hospital and dedicated it to the glory of God in a special service on May 2, 1953, although the corner-stone laying ceremony was performed on 20 June 1951 with the participation of Sir John Stuart Macpherson, K.C.M.G., Governor-General of Nigeria.
Eket is blessed with a good number of private clinics which provide high-quality medical services to the people.