Awka Ọka
Zik Avenue, Awka.
Awka Location in Nigeria
Coordinates: 6°12′25″N 7°04′04″E / 6.20694°N 7.06778°E / 6.20694; 7.06778
Country	Nigeria
State	Anambra State
Government
• Type	State, Traditional
• Governor	Peter Obi
• Eze Uzu	Gibson Nwosu
Population (2006)[1]
• Total	301,657
Time zone	WAT (UTC+1)

Awka (Igbo: Ọka)^[2] is the capital of Anambra State, Nigeria with an estimated population of 301,657 As of 2006^[update] Nigerian census. The city is located about 600 miles east of Lagos in the centre of the densely-populated Igbo heartland in southeastern Nigeria.

The West-East Federal highway links Lagos, Benin City, Asaba, Onitsha, and Enugu to Awka and several local roads link it to other important towns such as Ekwulobia, Agulu, Enugwu-Ukwu, Abagana and Nnewi.

Strategically, Awka is located midway between two major cities in Northern Igboland, Onitsha and Enugu which has informed its choice as an administrative center for the colonial authorities and today as a base for the Anambra State government.

History[link]

Awka was famous for metal working and its blacksmiths before the 20th century and were prized throughout the region for making farming implements, guns and tools. The Awka area in earlier times was the site of the Nri Civilization that produced the earliest documented bronze works in Sub-Saharan Africa around 800 AD.

Before the inception of British rule, Awka was governed by titled men known as Ozo and Ndichie who were accomplished individuals in the community. They held general meetings or Izu Awka either at the residence of the oldest man (Otochal Awka) or at a place designated by him. He was the Nne Uzu or master blacksmith, whether he knew the trade or not, for the only master known to Awka people was the master craftsman, the Nne Uzu.

In modern times, Awka has adapted to the republican system and is currently divided into two local government areas, Awka North and Awka South with local representatives. However, it still preserves traditional systems of governance with Ozo titled men often consulted for village and community issues and a paramount cultural ruler, the Eze Uzu who is elected by all Ozo titled men by rotation amongst different villages to represent the city at state functions.

The current Eze Uzu of the city selected since 1999 is Gibson Nwosu one of the first recruits for the Nigerian Air force and a former head of Air Traffic Operations for the Biafra Air Force, the Lusaka International Airport and the Zambian Air Service Training Institute (ZASTI).

Awka should not be confused with Awka Etiti which is a town in Idemili South local government area that is often mistaken for the main capital.^[3] Today it is the capital of Anambra state of Nigeria. Slogan: Sires of Smiths

People[link]

Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy, famous artist from Awka

Awka comprises seven Igbo groups sharing common blood lineage divided into two sections. Ifite Section, the senior section, comprises four groups, Ayom-na-Okpala, Nkwelle, Amachalla, and Ifite-Oka followed by Ezinator Section, which consists of three groups, Amikwo, Ezi-Oka and Agulu. Each of these groups has a number of villages. All together, Awka comprises 33 villages.

Awka people today as in traditional times are well travelled. In ancient times demand for their skills as blacksmiths had Awka people travelling throughout Nigeria making farming implements, household tools and guns. Each village had clearly defined trade routes. For example, people from Umuogbu village plied their trade in Benin and in the Urhobo and Itsekiri areas, Umubele were stationed in the Igala areas in modern day Kogi state, Umuike and Umuonaga in present day Abia and Rivers State, Umuenechi in the Kwale and Isoko area of Delta state, and Umudiana, Okperi, Ugwuogige stationed in Calabar area of today's Cross Rivers state.

Today, Awka people can be found all across the globe many working as skilled professionals in a wide range of fields. As a result, there is a large Awka diaspora located primarily in the UK and in the USA. There, they have formed social clubs like Awka Union USA and Canada, Awka Town Social Community UK and Ireland and other community associations. These associations have been a way for people to enjoy their culture as well as to engage in community self-help projects.

Over the years Awka Town has attracted people from other states in Nigeria and has a significant number of immigrants from northern Nigeria, Delta and Enugu states, Cameroon and Ghana now comprising more than 60% of residents in the town.

Geography[link]

Awka lies below 300 metres above sea in a valley on the plains of the Mamu River. Two ridges or cuestas, both lying in a North-South direction, form the major topographical features of the area. The ridges reach the highest point at Agulu just outside the Capital Territory. About six kilometers east of this, the minor cuesta peaks about 150 metres above sea level at Ifite –Awka.

Awka is sited in a fertile tropical valley but most of the original Rain forest has been lost due to clearing for farming and human settlement. A few examples of the original rain forest remains at places like the Ime Oka shrine. Wooded savannah grassland predominates primarily to the north and east of the city. South of the town on the slopes of the Awka-Orlu Uplands are some examples of soil erosion and gullying.

	Enugwu Agidi	Okpuno Awka	Ifite Awka
	Amawbia, Nawfia		Ndiagu
		Awka    East
	Enugwu Ukwu	Nibo, Nise	Isiagu

Climate[link]

Awka is in the tropical zone of Nigeria and experiences two distinct seasons brought about by the two predominant winds that rule the area: the south western monsoon winds from the Atlantic Ocean and the North eastern dry winds from across the Sahara desert. The Monsoon winds from the Atlantic creates seven months of heavy tropical rains which occur between April and October which are then followed by five months of dryness (November - March). The Harmattan also known as Ugulu in Igbo is a particularly dry and dusty wind which enters Nigeria in late December or in the early part of January and is characterized by a grey haze limiting visibility and blocking the sun's rays.

The temperature in Awka is generally a comfortable 27-30 degrees celsius between June and December but rises to 32-34 degrees between January and April with the last few months of the dry season marked by intense heat.

Economy[link]

Anambra State Secretariat, Awka

The economy of Awka city revolves primarily around government since many state and federal institutions are located there. Awka hosts the State Governor's Lodge, State Assembly and State Ministries for Health, Education, Lands, Water.

The Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) a TV and radio station are located in the city center. A number of federal institutions including the Central Bank of Nigeria (which has a currency center in Awka), the NTA Awka media station, and branches of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Federal Road Safety Commission, Nigerian Immigration Service, and Corporate Affairs Commission are also present in the city.

UBA and Fidelity Banks on Zik Avenue, Awka

In recent years, several new businesses have erected fascinating new buildings that have largely changed the face of Awka city. The partly state-owned Orient Petroleum Resources Ltd has the headquarters in Awka. The company is poised to set up a refinery at Igbariam to jump-start the exploitation of the huge crude oil deposits in the Anambra River basin. Also Juhel Nigeria has constructed a manufacturing plant for Parenteral drugs in the city.

Major Nigerian Banks such as Access Bank, Bank PHB, Diamond Bank, Ecobank, First Bank, Intercontinental, Oceanic Bank, UBA, Union Bank and Zenith Bank have opened branches in the city.

Urban Planning and Infrastucture[link]

Decaying Infrastructure

Awka is often seen as the state capital with the worst infrastructure in Nigeria (a country which itself is a notorious example of bad infrastructure) with less than 10% of its roads paved, inadequate storm drainage, poor public water supply, garbage dumped on the sides of roads and a nonexistent sewage system. This has been because Awka has suffered from decades of neglect and poor urban governance in Anambra State due to corruption and deception from a long list of state governors.

Broken-down roads at Corner of Expressway with Arthur Eze Street

The last attempt to address the urban decay was made by the Government of Peter Obi who forged a technical cooperation agreement with UN-HABITAT in 2007 to provide technical assistance in the preparation of a structure plan for Awka Capital Territory. The Structural Plan of Awka Capital Territory (2009–2028) ^[5] is designed as a Core-Multi-Nuclei urban design with Awka, Amawbia and Umuokpu serving as the core of the city with linkages to the major towns of Adazi-Nnukwu, Agulu, Abba, Abagana, Agukwu-Nri, Amansea, Enugwu-Ukwu, Enugwu-Agidi, Isiagu, Isu-Aniocha, Mgbakwu, Nawfia, Nawgu, Nibo, Nimo, Nise, Okpuno and Umuawulu.

Map of Envisioned Awka Capital Territory

However, despite launching the masterplan to great fanfare and public goodwill and despite having adequate funds with around $2.5 billion / 375 billion naira oil earnings received from the Federal Government of Nigeria during his tenure, Governor Peter Obi has resoundingly failed to implement 95% of the UN-HABITAT's recommendations having managed to build just one road in central Awka and laid less than 3 kilometers of water pipes. The Eke Awka market which was to be relocated and fenced elsewhere continues to create chaos in the middle of the city, public buses add to the mess due to non-existent bus parks and parking spaces.

Markets[link]

Awka like most Nigerian cities is defined by large rudimentary open-air markets where everything from basic food produce to clothes, cosmetics and household items are sold.

The largest market in the town is Eke Awka, named after one of the four market days (see Igbo calendar). Located on a former community burial ground in the center of the city, Eke Awka has grown from a small market serving the needs of residents of the Agulu, Ezi-Oka and Amikwo sections of Awka to functioning as the main retail core of the city and neighbouring towns. It houses an estimated 5,000 lock-up shops and stalls all tightly packed into less than 35,000 square meters of space and has become infamous for causing tremendous traffic chaos with a medley of shoppers, buses, wheel barrows all jostling for the limited amount of space available.

The second largest market in Awka is Nkwo Amaenyi located further down on the busy Zik Avenue business district artery. It is far smaller than Eke Awka with less than 100 market stalls in an area estimated at around 3,000 square meters.

Education[link]

Awka has a large student community which at times comprises around 15% of the population of the town. It hosts two primary universities of higher/tertiary education - Nnamdi Azikiwe University and Paul University.

Nnamdi Azikiwe University

Nnamdi Azikiwe University is owned and run by the federal government of Nigeria providing undergraduate and postgraduate education to an estimated student population of 36,000 at its over 100 acre main campus located at Amansea, Awka. Nnamdi Azikiwe University ranks among the top 10 universities in Nigeria in research output.

Paul University was founded in 2009 by Bishops of the five ecclesiastical provinces of the Anglican Church East of the Niger as a private university to provide quality undergraduate training in Theology, Natural and Applied Sciences, Social Sciences and Management. The university which is fully residential has an estimated enrollment of around 400 students (expected to reach 3,500) and has replaced St Pauls university College which was founded in 1904 by the Church Missionary Society of the Church of England to train church workers and teachers.

Religion[link]

The Church Missionary Society (CMS) of the Anglican Church was instrumental in bringing Christianity into Eastern Nigeria through Reverend Samuel Ajayi Crowther who founded the Niger branch in 1857. A teacher's training college in Awka was created in 1904. Its oldest church in the town is believed to be the Church of the Holy Spirit which was completed in 1930. Its largest church today is the Cathedral Church of St. Faiths with a typical Sunday attendance of 1,200.

The Roman Catholic Church lagged behind the Anglican Church in entering Awka but it has built a larger presence ever since. The Catholic faith has two large cathedrals - St. Patrick’s and St. Mary's Catholic Church in Awka as well as four smaller churches such as SS John and Paul's, St. Anthony's, St. Peter's and St. John's spread around the town. Administratively, since 1977 Awka has served as a diocese for the Roman Catholic Church serving 107 parishes and five chaplaincies.

Hospitality[link]

Queen's Suites Hotel, Iyi-agu Estate, Awka

As a people well known for travelling, Awka developed an enlightened tolerance and kindness towards guests and strangers which led the British missionaries and colonial authorities to choose the town as a key administrative center.

Today, Awka has become the center of hospitality in Anambra state adapting to the needs of hosting a wide range of visitors. It has become the place for holding political meetings, where conferences are organized by the state government and Nnamdi Azikiwe University and where other events such as workshops and trainings are hosted by federal institutions such as the CBN, Immigration, Federal Road Safety Commission, and NGOs such as FHI, the World Bank and the UN.

Golphin Suites Hotel, Awka

Awka has also become a home-away-from-home for members of the large Igbo diaspora when they visit their relatives in Awka and nearby towns providing a measure of western-style comfort and services within a hotel and resort setting. Indeed within half an hour of Awka, it is estimated that there is a diaspora population numbering well over 100,000.

The town currently has over 15 3-star hotels among which the most popular include:

• Barnhill Resort
• Choice Hotel
• Cosmila Suites and Hotel
• Finotel Classic Hotel
• Golphin Suites
• Marble Arch Hotels
• Olde English Hotel
• Parktonian Hotel
• Queen's Suites Hotel
• Suncity Exclusive Hotel
• Tourist Gardens Hotel

Festivals[link]

Imo-Oka Festival

The Imo-Oka festival is a week long festival of masquerades and dances held in May at the beginning of the farming season in honor of a female deity who it is hoped would make the land fertile and yield boutiful crops. The festival starts with Awka indigenes visiting the community of Umuokpu with masquerades and it ends with the visit of the Imo-Oka stream on the final day which is heralded by a heavy rain that falls in the late afternoon.

There are four major events performed during the festival, the ede-mmuo, ogwu oghugha, egwu Opu-Eke and Egwu Imo-Oka. Egwu Opu Eke is a rich cultural dance performed by female worshippers of Imo-Oka shrine which includes priestesses and ordinary women alike decorated in colorful costume dancing in the market square in honor of the deity controlling the shrine.

The Imo-Oka festival showcases a variety of masquerades (mmanwu) from sinister ones which flog spectators to friendly ones which sing or dance. The masquerades are believed to represent the spirits of Awka ancestors coming from the land of the dead for the festival.

Notable people from Awka[link]

• Kenneth Dike, a historian known for his study of pre-colonial Nigerian history, the first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor of the oldest Nigerian University University of Ibadan and the person who set up Nigeria's National Archives. During the Nigerian civil war (1967–1970) Prof Dike was a roving ambassador for the Biafra cause. He went into exile at the end of the Civil war becoming the first Mellon Professor of African History at Harvard University. He returned to Nigeria to become the founding Vice-Chancellor of what is today the Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
• Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy MBE, a London-based visual artist. The first black artist to paint a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II when commissioned to paint the official Golden Jubilee portrait.^[6] She was chosen as one of the UK Women of the Year in 2002 and 2003, represented the UK at the Council of Europe and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of East Anglia. During 2006 her work was represented on the national postage stamps of six countries. In 2008 she addressed the Cambridge Union^[7][8] Chukwuogo-Roy is a regular contributor to the BBC and other current affairs programmes. In 2009 she was made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.
• Dr. Emmanuel Onu Egbogah is an internationally recognized authority in the fields of petroleum policy and strategy, improved/enhanced oil recovery, stimulation procedures and multidisciplinary team approach to field development planning and reservoir management. He currently serves as Special Advisor on Petroleum Matters to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and founder and Executive Chairman of Emerald Energy Resources Limited.
• Rtd lt col Damian Oyeoka Orogbu, First Telecommunications engineer in the Nigerian Army, life fellow of the International Biographical Center, Cambridge England, Pioneer President General Awka Development Union.
• Lieutenant-General Chikadibia Isaac Obiakor, appointed in 2008 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as Military Advisor on UN Peacekeeping Operations. Previously served as Commander of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) Artillery Brigade in Liberia in 1996 and 1997, and as ECOMOG Chief Coordinator of the Liberian elections in July 1997.^[9]
• Chinyelu Onwurah, a British Labour Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central, becoming the first female British MP of African origin.
• Chuka Umunna, a British Labour Party Member of Parliament for Streatham constituency.
• Late Ozo Barrister Amanke Okafor(Ozo-Awka)lawyer,author,philanthropist

References[link]

v t e Anambra State State capital: Awka LGAs Aguata Awka North Awka South Anambra East Anambra West Anaocha Ayamelum Dunukofia Ekwusigo Idemili North Idemili South Ihiala Njikoka Nnewi North Nnewi South Ogbaru Onitsha North Onitsha South Orumba North Orumba South Oyi

Coordinates: 6°12′25″N 7°04′04″E / 6.20694°N 7.06778°E / 6.20694; 7.06778

Osvaldo Bayer. Linz Am Rhein, 1999

Osvaldo Bayer (Santa Fe Province, Argentina, 18 February 1927) is a journalist and scriptwriter. He lives in Buenos Aires, and in Linz Am Rhine, Germany, where he went into exile during the "National Reorganization Process" dictatorship (1976–1983).^[1]

Biography[link]

Self-designed as an "ultra-pacifist anarchist", Osvaldo Bayer was raised in Bernal, in the Province of Buenos Aires, and then in Belgrano, Buenos Aires.^[1] His parents, however, were living in Rio Gallegos during the strike in the 1920s which led to the Patagonia rebelde movement.^[1]

After having worked for an insurance firm and on the merchant marine as an apprentice helmsman,^[1] he studied history in the University of Hamburg, Germany, from 1952 to 1956, and became there a member of the Socialist Students’ League.^[1]

Returning to Argentina afterwards, he dedicated himself to journalism, investigation, and history of Argentina, as well as writing film scenarios. He also studied medicine a year, then philosophy at Buenos Aires. According to him,

Disgusted by local socialist policies, he turned towards the Federación Libertaria Argentina (FLA), having already been acquainted to anarchist literature during his time in the German Socialist Students' League.^[1]

Furthermore, he founded the Department of Human Rights in the School of Philosophy and Humanities of the University of Buenos Aires.^[1]

He worked in the newspapers Noticias Gráficas, Clarin and Esquel, a local newspaper in the Patagonese town of Esquel. In 1958 he founded La Chispa ("The Spark"), "the first independent newspaper of Patagonia".

A year later, he was accused by Pedro Aramburu's military regime of diffusing strategic information, and forced by the National Gendarmerie to quit Esquel.^[1] Thereafter, Bayer was from 1959 to 1962 general secretary of the Press Syndicate. Immediately after being expelled from Esquel, he was hired by the national daily Diario Clarín, where he became Chief of Politics' section. He had, under his direction, the journalist Félix Luna, who founded in 1963 the history magazine Todo es Historia, to which Bayer collaborated.^[1]

In 1963, he was arrested for 63 days by General Juan Enrique Rauch, then Minister of Interior^{[citation needed]} under José María Guido's government, appointed by the military^[1] and little-son of Colonel Federico Rauch, for having unsuccessfully proposed during a debate in the library of Rauch (Buenos Aires Province) a plebiscite in order to rename the town to Arbolito, the nickname of the Ranquel (a tribe close to the Mapuche) who had allegedly killed the German militar in battle in 1829. Rauch was qualified by Bayer as guilty of genocide.^{[citation needed]}

During María Estela Martínez de Perón's regime, Bayer was threatened several times, due to the content of his work, and mainly of his book La Patagonia rebelde, on the crushing of a rural workers uprising in Patagonia during the early 1920s, under Hipólito Yrigoyen's rule. He was therefore forced to exile himself to Berlin in 1975, while the "Dirty War" was beginning, and only returned after Raúl Alfonsín's 1983 election and the transition to democracy.

Bayer's first book, on the Italian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni, a best-seller, was proscribed by President Raúl Alberto Lastiri (1973); La Patagonia Rebelde, his second work, by Isabel Perón, and other were burnt by the military after they took power in 1976. Francesco Rosi, who directed the Christ Stopped at Eboli, was supposed to make a film adaptation of his book on Di Giovanni, but renounced after the 1969 Piazza Fontana bombing, saying it was not the time to make a film on a terrorist.^[1]

Transition to democracy[link]

He was nominated Doctor Honoris Causa on 20 April 2003 by the Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires for his work in the fields of human rights, literature and journalism. On this day, he alluded to his forced exile, stating that:

Bayer is today involved in the struggle for Indigenous rights. Fifteen days after having been declared "Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires" by the mayor Aníbal Ibarra, he was declared persona non grata by the Senate (an initiative of Eduardo Menem) for having proposed the unification of the Argentinian and Chilean Patagonia, as the "first step for a common Latin-American market".^[3]

As of 2008, he collaborates with the newspaper Página 12, founded by his friend Osvaldo Soriano (1943–1997). He is the author of the scenario of the film La Patagonia Rebelde, adapted from his book and realized by Héctor Olivera, which won the Silver Bear Award in the 1974 Berlin International Film Festival. He also wrote the screenplay of the 1988 film La Amiga, a drama on the dictatorship.

Bibliography[link]

• Severino Di Giovanni, el idealista de la violencia. Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, Editorial Galerna, Buenos Aires (1970).
• La Patagonia rebelde (tomos I y II). Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, Editorial Galerna, Buenos Aires (1972).
• La Patagonia rebelde (tomo III). Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, Editorial Galerna, Buenos Aires (1974).
• Los anarquistas expropiadores y otros ensayos. Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, Editorial Galerna, Buenos Aires (1975).
• La Patagonia rebelde (tomo IV). Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, 1975, Berlin.
• Exilio. Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer y Juan Gelman, editorial Legasa, Buenos Aires (1984).
• Fútbol argentino. Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires (1990).
• Rebeldía y esperanza. Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, Grupo Editorial Zeta, Buenos Aires (1993).
• Severino Di Giovanni, el idealista de la violencia (reedición). Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, Editorial Planeta, Buenos Aires (1998). ISBN 987-580-092-9
• En camino al paraíso. Ensayo. Osvaldo Bayer, editorial Vergara, Buenos Aires (1999).
• Rainer y Minou. Novela. Osvaldo Bayer, Editorial Planeta, Buenos Aires, (2001).

Filmography[link]

• Los cuentos del timonel by Eduardo Montes-Bradley. The film features Osvaldo Bayer in Germany. Argentina, 2001.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Documentos de Osvaldo Bayer
• Osvaldo Bayer page Anarchist Encyclopedia (English)
• Osvaldo Bayer, la Patagonia rebelde. La escritura de la memoria.
• Artículo de Bayer en Página12 referido a un caso de la problemática de los Pueblos Originarios