Ngwo

For the Cameroonian language, see Ngwo language.

Ngwo town is located in the south-eastern state of Enugu, Nigeria, with a population of about 50,000 people. The towns native population are of Igbo ethnicity.

History

Ngwo people descended from the man called Ngwu-Ako who lived at a place now called "Isi Okpoto" located around St. Mary Catholic Church, Ngwo with his two wives. Ngwu-Ako gave it the name "Okpoto" because the fruits and trees that grew there were of very large sizes and shapes. That is, for him, they were "okpotokpo" (very large/huge). Living there with his two wives, they begot their ten (10) male children who eventually metamorphosed into the ten villages of Ngwo, namely: Uboji, Amankwo, Ameke, Enugu, Etiti, Amachala, Ukaka, Amaebo, Okwojo, and Umuase. While the first three (3) got settled at a place now called Ngwo-uno, the last seven (7) settled at a place also now called Ngwo-asaa. That accounts for the two (2) big shades/components of Ngwo, namely: Ngwo-ato (Ngwo-ulo) and Ngwo-asaa (Ngwo-agu). While Ngwo-uno is made up of three main villages, namely: Amankwo, Amaeke, and Uboji, Ngwo-asaa is composed of seven villages, viz: Enugu, Etiti, Amachala, Ukaka, Amaebo, Okwojo, and Umuase.

Geography

Ngwo is the only town in Nigeria that is in two Local Government Areas. Those Local Government Areas include: Udi and Enugu Local Government Areas. This has been so, either for political reasons or for Ngwo being critical, as a major landlord, to the commercial nerve centres of those Local Government Areas, namely: Ninth Mile Corner and Enugu township. Geographically, Ngwo is bounded to the north by Abor, to the south by Nsude, to the west by Eke, and to the east by Nike. History of Enugu State will, not only remain incomplete, but also, incredibly erroneous except with concertedly integral reference to and inclusion of Ngwo which, not by chance or human design, but God's, constitutes a major landlord of Enugu metropolis.

Development is fast enveloping Ngwo town considering the high spate of commercial activities both at Enugu township and Ninth mile Corner, Ngwo.

Governance

The first "Okpoto" (High chief) of Ngwo was Chief Donald Orji, brought in by British colonialism. Ameke Ngwo is one of the ten formative villages of Ngwo, which, in 2001, was upgraded to the status of an Autonomous Community by the Enugu State Government which gave rise to the establishment of the position of the traditional ruler, called the Igwe.

Igwe Jerome Charles Okolo, ‘Ogwugwuebenebe XXI’, of Ameke Ngwo, became the first holder of this position having been unanimously elected by the entire community in October 2003. His coronation was one of those huge community-wide festivals, for which the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria are renowned. The ever impressive Ijele Masquerade – the king of Igbo masquerades, a multi-storey towering ensemble of carvings, masks and fabrics - made one of its very rare outings to grace the occasion, which was held on the football grounds of the local community primary school.

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