Eket is one of the 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The name Eket or Ekid also refers to the indigenous people of the region who are the Ibibio people of the southern part of Ibibioland and to their dialect which is Ekid . The Eket people use the endonym Ekid for themselves and their language, but Europeans spell and pronounce the name as "Eket".

Apart from being a local government area in Akwa Ibom State, Eket is one of the three geopolitical zones in the state. The geopolitical zones are Uyo senatorial district, Ikot Ekpene senatorial district and Eket senatorial district.

The town itself is an industrial city that in recent years has become a conurbation joining together separate villages. The Office of the Surveyor-General of Akwa Ibom State estimates the area of the Eket Local Government Area to be approximately 176.000 square Km while the 2006 National Census gives the population of the Local Government Area as 172,856.^[2] However, the Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Economic Development gives the 2013 estimated population of the Eket Local Government Area as given as 218,438 with a population density of 1,241/square Km.

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.^[3] In the absence of roads, this river was the major means of transportation from the Atlantic coast to the hinterlands. It facilitated trade and political administration in the pre-colonial and colonial periods,^[4] hence the first effort at Christian evangelization in the area was named Qua Iboe Mission and the political district was named Qua Iboe District.^[5]

Other landmarks are Esuene Square, Mobil's Qua Iboe Terminal, Mobil Airstrip which was built in the 1970's and Qua Iboe Bridge on the East-West Road. Part of the Stubbs Creek Forest Reserve declared by the Colonial Government in 1930 is located within Eket Local Government Area.