One of this year’s major attractions at IPADA INITIATIVES CELEBRATIONS 2025 that took off on Friday 28th November at La Campagne Tropicana Forest River And Beach Resort, is the “Calabar Fattening Room,” an Efik cultural practice in which young women are trained for womanhood and prepared for managing their homes to promote marital harmony.
It is a rich blend of tradition that dates back to centuries, and originates from Cross River State in Nigeria, and was officially declared open at the grand opening ceremony day of IPADA INITIATIVES CELEBRATIONS on Saturday 29th, November 2025.
Courtesy of Her Majesty, Queen Aruk II Barrister Marie Ikpeme Erete, who has facilitated the Calabar Fattening Room along with a cultural troupe of over 100 persons, including her guards in colourful attires.
According to Her Majesty, Queen Aruk II, Barrister Marie Ikpeme Erete, showcasing this rich colourful tradition, is her way of promoting, healthy marriages and reduce rising divorce rates.
Queen Aruk stressed the need to revive positive aspects of African traditions.
“Africa’s greatness and pride lies in it's culture,” she said. “We must project the good parts of our traditions because they build moral values and can even generate revenue through tourism.”
She explained that the Efik fattening room, a centuries old practice, is being publicly showcased for the first time to preserve its true essence.
“We want to prevent people from bastardizing this culture. It teaches young women how to care for their homes and present themselves with pride. Those who go through the fattening room have a very low divorce rate,” she noted.
Founder, La Campagne Tropicana Brand, IPADA INITIATIVES & IPADA INITIATIVES CELEBRATIONS, Otunba Dr. Chief Olawanle Akinboboye, said the broader vision is to use Nigeria as the gateway for uniting people of African descent globally, encouraging them to regularly visit their ancestral homeland to reconnect with culture and explore economic opportunities.
He emphasized Africa’s massive tourism potential and Nigeria’s capacity to exceed its $1 trillion economic target by harnessing its cultural wealth.
“Africa is the wealthiest continent, yet we are not taking advantage of our tourism potential,” he said. “If we maximize this, oil will become insignificant.”
Otunba Dr. Chief Olawanle Akinboboye highlighted plans to make travel into Africa seamless through Lagos and Abuja as primary entry points for diaspora returnees.
The opening of the fattening room featured the Calabar cultural dances, notably the Ekombi dance, where beautiful maidens entertain cheerfully with dance steps that are only peculiar to the people of Calabar.
This rich cultural tradition, is now open for public exhibition, however without revealing the sacred part of the fattening room's mystery, but showcasing all that a young woman, needs to groom herself, to be able to keep her husband and build her home, in a modern, cosmopolitan world, where marital divorce, is a daily trend.
The exhibition will last only between IPADA INITIATIVES CELEBRATION days, November 29th to December 7th. 2025.
The grand finale will be on December 7th, when the maidens currently inside the fattening rooms, will graduate into full 'wife-material', ready for marriage to a lucky man (suitor). The maidens will come out of the fattening rooms with a colorful ceremony, never witnessed outside the confines of Cross River State of Nigeria.
Actually, this is the historic first time, that the Efik fattening room, will be showcased, outside Cross River State, which is its traditional home. Much thanks and love to, Her Majesty, Queen Aruk II, Barrister Marie Ikpeme Erete, for this historic milestone tourism opportunity, given to IPADA INITIATIVES CELEBRATIONS 2025.
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