Sister cities of Onitsha

Onitsha (Igbo: Ọ̀nị̀chà Mmílí or just Ọ̀nị̀chà) is a city, a commercial, educational, and religious centre and river port on the eastern bank of the Niger river in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria.

In the early 1960s, before the Nigerian Civil War (see also Biafra), the population was officially recorded as 76,000, and the town was distinctive in a number of dimensions; the great Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (born and raised in the contiguous town of Ogidi) characterized it as harboring an "esoteric region from which creativity sallies forth at will to manifest itself," "a zone of occult instability" (see "Onitsha Matters" [1]). Though it experienced great suffering during and after the civil war, by virtue of its still-strategic geographic position Onitsha has continued to develop, and by 2001 had an estimated population of 511,000 with a metropolitan population of 1,003,000. It is currently one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

The indigenous people of Onitsha are Igbo and speak the Igbo language. It is here worth noting that Onitsha should not be confused with the other municipalities of the same name Onicha lying further east in Nigeria: Onicha-Uboma, Onicha-Uburu, Onicha-Agu, Onicha-Nwenkwo, Onicha-EnuguEzike, Onicha Ngwa, Onicha Nkwerre etc.. On the west bank of the River Niger exists also Onicha Ugbo, Onicha Olona and Onicha Ukwuani. All of which speak Igbo as their native language.