The Ijebu speak a dialect of the Yoruba and are found in large concentration in Epe, Ikorodu and Ibeju-Lekki, apart from those who have long settled in Lagos Island especially in the area of Idumagbo and Ebute Ero. Traditions of the origin of the group link them with Ijebu-Ode and Iremo quarters in Ile-Ife. Most of the Ijebu Village settlements in Lagos state were established during the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The Ijebu are very enterprising, shrewd and business like. Authenticated traditions posit that the early Ijebu settlers in Lagos state played important role in the socio-economic development of Lagos that they had to be incorporated into the traditional socio-political organization of Lagos state with the title Eletu Ijebu- Minister of Ijebu Affairs. The existence of Obun Eko (Eko Market), which have been derived from Obun an Ijebu word for market is an indication of the extent of Ijebu influence on early economy of Lagos.
The Ijebu are found in many parts of the state as traders and settlers. The Ijebu are very ritualistic, a typical Ebi festival in Epe for instance, feature the worship of many deities, cult ceremonies, offerings and masquerade display which span over a period of two months. The Ijebu settlements in Lagos State just like the Awori and Ogu settlements were not founded at the same time nor by the same hero; for instance, while the Ijebu Epe will continue to remember Hurakaloye, those of Ikorodu cannot forget Oga and Lasunwon and the people of Ibeju will fondly remember Abeju Agbeduwa.
Ikorodu for instance is peopled by Ijebu speaking sub-group of Yoruba who occupy modern Ikorodu local government area of Lagos State. Available evidences suggest that the settlement must have been founded by immigrants from interior Ijebuland in the 17th century. A hunting and farming community developed immediately after the settlement, and the initial vegetable harvested in the settlement immediately suggested the name Oko-Odu- farm of Odu vegetable which had since been compressed to Ikorodu.
The people are very hardworking and sociable. This could be accounted for by the socio-economic interaction they have had with the people of Lagos as early as the period of the Benin invasions of coastal Yorubaland . some Lagosians also established fishing settlements on the shore of Ikorodu especially during the dynasty crisis of the mid nineteenth century, linking Ikorodu with Lagos.
