IKERE-EKITI

also called Ikere, or Ikerre town, Ondo State, southwestern Nigeria, on the road from Akure to Ado-Ekiti. A major collecting point for cocoa, it also serves as an agricultural trade centre (yams, cassava , rice, corn , palm oil and kernels, okra, pumpkins) for the Ekiti branch of the Yoruba people. Ikere-Ekiti has government and Christian teacher-training colleges; there is also a hospital. The town is headquarters of the Ekiti South Local Government Council. Pop. (1983 est.) 176,800.