Owerri Chukwukadibia | |
|---|---|
 A road in Owerri | |
| Nickname: Ala owerri | |
| Motto: Eastern Heartland | |
  Owerri Owerri in Nigeria | |
| Coordinates:5°29′06″N7°02′06″E / 5.485°N 7.035°E /5.485; 7.035 | |
| Country | Nigeria |
| State | Imo |
| LGA | Owerri Municipal,Owerri North,Owerri West. Owerri capital territory consist of 4 local governments; Owerri Municipal, Owerri North, Owerri West and Part of Mbaitoli |
| Government | |
| • Type | Executive Chairman-Council |
| • Governing body | Local Government Council |
| • Party | APC |
| • Chairman | Emma Odor(Owerri Municipal); Henry Njoku(Owerri North); Henry Onwukwe (Apiti)(Owerri West) |
| Population (2016)[2] | |
• Total | 1,401,873 |
| Disputed estimate | |
| GDP (PPP, 2015 int. Dollar) | |
| • Year | 2023 |
| • Total | $12.6 billion[3] |
| • Per capita | $12,800 |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (WAT) |
| Postcode | 460...[4] |
| Area code | 083 |
| National language | Igbo |
| Website | imostate.gov.ng |
Owerri (/oʊˈwɛri/oh-Way-Ray,[5]Igbo:Owèrrè)[6] is the capital city ofImo State inNigeria, set in the heart ofIgboland.[7] It is also the state's largest city, followed byOrlu,Okigwe andOhaji/Egbema. Owerri consists of threeLocal Government Areas namelyOwerri Municipal,Owerri North andOwerri West. It has an estimated population of 1,401,873 as of 2016 and is approximately 551.00 square kilometres (212.743 sq mi) in area combining the 3 local government making up Owerri. Owerri is bordered by theOtamiri River to the east and theNworie River to the south.[8] The Owerri Slogan isHeartland. It is also called theLas Vegas of Africa, due to the night life of the city and the numerous hotels, casino and leisure parks all over the city.
Owerri was founded by in the 14 century CE by Ekwem Oha.[9]
Before becoming the capital of present-day Imo State, Owerri was the last of three capitals of the disputedRepublic of Biafra in 1969.[10] The capital of the secessionist state was continuously being moved as Nigerian troops captured the older capitals.Enugu andUmuahia were the other capitals before Owerri. Present-day Owerri does contain some statuary memorializing the war, particularly in locations which suffered heavy bombing, but most war artifacts and history are maintained in a museum at Umuahia, Abia State.
Owerri has an airport 23 kilometres (14 mi) southeast of the city, called theImo Airport, located in Obiangwu,Ngor Okpala LGA. The Airport (Sam Mbakwe Airport) provides flight services toAbuja,Lagos,Port Harcourt, andEnugu. Right now, it serves as an alternate forPort Harcourt. Sam Mbakwe (Imo) International Cargo Airport is now an International Cargo Airport. Some major roads that go through the city arePort Harcourt Rd., Aba Rd.,Onitsha Rd., and Okigwe Rd. Roads within the city include Douglas Rd., Weatheral Rd., Tetlow Rd., and Works Rd. Relief market is the main market in Owerri after the demolition of Eke Ukwu Owere.
Owerri sits in therain forest and produces many agricultural products, such asyams,cassava,taro,corn,rubber andpalm products. Owerri also sits on hugecrude oil andnatural gas reserves like most of the Igbo land areas.
Places adjacent to Owerri | |
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Owerri has atropical wet climate according to the Köppen-Geiger system. Rain falls for most months of the year with a brief dry season. TheHarmattan affects the city in the early periods of the dry season and it is noticeably less pronounced than in other cities in Nigeria. The average temperature is 26.4 °C.
| Climate data for Owerri (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 37.9 (100.2) | 40 (104) | 39 (102) | 38.5 (101.3) | 36 (97) | 35 (95) | 33.6 (92.5) | 34 (93) | 34 (93) | 37 (99) | 37 (99) | 37 (99) | 40.0 (104.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 33.8 (92.8) | 34.9 (94.8) | 34.2 (93.6) | 33.3 (91.9) | 32.3 (90.1) | 30.8 (87.4) | 29.4 (84.9) | 29.2 (84.6) | 30.1 (86.2) | 31.2 (88.2) | 32.8 (91.0) | 33.7 (92.7) | 32.1 (89.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 27.9 (82.2) | 29.2 (84.6) | 29.1 (84.4) | 28.6 (83.5) | 27.8 (82.0) | 26.9 (80.4) | 26.1 (79.0) | 26.0 (78.8) | 26.5 (79.7) | 27.1 (80.8) | 28.2 (82.8) | 27.9 (82.2) | 27.6 (81.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 21.9 (71.4) | 23.6 (74.5) | 24.1 (75.4) | 23.9 (75.0) | 23.4 (74.1) | 23.1 (73.6) | 22.8 (73.0) | 22.7 (72.9) | 22.8 (73.0) | 23.0 (73.4) | 23.5 (74.3) | 22.1 (71.8) | 23.1 (73.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 5 (41) | 13 (55) | 15.6 (60.1) | 19.6 (67.3) | 19 (66) | 17.2 (63.0) | 17 (63) | 15 (59) | 17.4 (63.3) | 19.5 (67.1) | 17 (63) | 10.5 (50.9) | 5.0 (41.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 18.2 (0.72) | 44.0 (1.73) | 98.7 (3.89) | 171.3 (6.74) | 273.2 (10.76) | 314.1 (12.37) | 361.5 (14.23) | 341.1 (13.43) | 380.7 (14.99) | 256.4 (10.09) | 58.5 (2.30) | 10.4 (0.41) | 2,328.2 (91.66) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 1.2 | 2.7 | 6.0 | 9.7 | 14.1 | 15.5 | 20.1 | 19.8 | 20.0 | 16.0 | 4.5 | 0.7 | 130.3 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 75.1 | 79.2 | 85.6 | 87.7 | 88.9 | 90.2 | 90.4 | 89.9 | 90.8 | 90.2 | 86.4 | 78.0 | 86.0 |
| Source:NOAA[11] | |||||||||||||
One major food that is particular to the Owerri people is known as ofe owerri (ofe means soup, while Owerri is the capital of Imo state). It is sometimes referred to as the king of soup and in some Igbo communities, beautiful women are sometimes likened to Ofe Owerri. Ingredients for the soup, includesnails,ponmo (cow skin),goat meat, okporoko (dried hake fish),dried fish, oporo (smokedprawns), grounded driedcrayfish, wraps of ogili (fermented soya beans), fresh pepper, grounded dried pepper, grounded uziza seeds (Ashanti pepper),cocoyam,palm oil, sliced ugu leaves (pumpkin leaves), sliced oha leaves, sliced uziza leaves,stock cubes, achi powder andsalt.[12]
Owerri has a major Nigerian football club:Heartland F.C. It was known previously asIwuanyawu Nationale, but the team retained its nickname: The Naze Millionaires. Popularsuper Eagle players hails from owerri, people likeEmmanuel Emenike,Kelechi Iheanacho who played for major English clubs likeManchester City F.C. andLeicester City F.C., FormerInter Milan,Arsenal,Portsmouth F.C. striker andNigeria national football team playerNwankwo Kanu was born and raised in Owerri. He attended Holy Ghost College,[13] a renowned local secondary school in the Owerri town.
Christianity is the dominant religion in Owerri. Catholics and Anglicans have the largest followings and Owerri is home toAssumpta Cathedral, the seat of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri (Latin: Archidioecesis Overriensis) and the Seat of Wisdom Seminary. The archdiocese covers an area of 2,996 square kilometres. 670,986 of the 1.7 million people in the area are members of the Catholic Church. The Anglican cathedral church of the transfiguration of our lord (CATOL) is the Anglican Cathedral for the Anglican faithfuls in the Anglican Diocese Of Owerri. There are about 700,670 members of the Anglican Church in the Owerri metropolis.All Saints Cathedral, Egbu, Owerri is the first and Largest Anglican Church in Owerri and the home of first Igbo translated Bible.
_in_Egbu%2c_Owerri.jpg)
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