A Speech Delivered at the Cultural and Award Ceremony of Nzuko Ora Nnewi UK & Ireland on 13 September 2025
Topic: “Nnewi: Our Heritage”
1. The Igwe Nnewi, Dr KON Orizu, CON, JP represented by The Crown Prince, Dr. Obianefo Orizu, Obi Na Eche Ndo.
2. Special Guest of Honour: Her Excellency, Dame Etiaba, Mama Anambra CON, JP,
3. The Chairman of Nzukora Nnewi in UK & Ireland, Chief Chukwuemeka Ofoma (Aguba Nze Nnewi) and all the members of his executive,
4. All the titled chiefs and title holders,
5. My lords spiritual and temporal ,
6. Other special and invited guests of honour present,
7. Ladies & Gentleman,
Okpu m dị n’ana as in “I greet you all”.
My name is Anayo Matthew Nwosu alias Ikenga Ezenwegbu. I am your brother from Ezeoguine Oguine Royal Family of Otolo Nnewi. By categorization of Ọfịa na Uno, I am part of you as I also live abroad but in Lagos, Nigeria.
I hereby thank the organizers of this event for finding me worthy to speak at this occasion that brings together in the City of London, all Nnewi citizens in the United Kingdom and Ireland as a body, Nnewi traditional and business leadership from Nigeria and many of our illustrious sons and daughters from around the world.
It was very difficult in arriving at a suitable topic for this great audience of enlightened Nnewi people; but finally, we settled for “Nnewi: Our Heritage”.
HOW WE BECAME NNEWI
The geographical entity called “Nnewi”
located in Anambra State, Nigeria, is situated east of the Niger River and southeast of Onitsha. It is a major commercial and industrial center in southeastern Nigeria.
Nnewi in fact is the name of a man whose grandfather migrated from Oraeri in today’s Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra. Nnewi’s grandfather’s name is Agbaja who took the Ọzọ title of Ezemewi.
Agbaja’s children and their distant Nri relatives who migrated from Oba, Ojoto and other Igbo land like Aro, Idemili etc. constitute what we have today as Nnewi after many centuries of communal wars, strife, boundary expansions and contentions.
Through deft negotiations and divinations, Nnewi was chosen as the name of the town. Thereafter, the town was divided into four communities. The emergent communities are in order of seniority: Otolo, Uruagu, Umudim and Nnewichi.
At the time of the institution of Nnewi town, there was nothing like universal suffrage or referendum on major decisions. The strong warriors who were already controlling large swaths of land in their domains did the partitioning and distribution of various families into the four communities of Otolo, Uruagu and Nnewichi. Each community is headed by an obi. It was agreed that Otolo would function as Di Okpala or the first son of the new town and whosever becomes the Obi Otolo becomes the head the of Nnewi family. The head of Nnewi is known as Igwe Nnewi.
After the formation of Nnewi Kingdom, every Nnewi man is primarily identified as a member of one of the four quarters of Nnewi where his family has been subsumed into, and any attempt to disrupt the current structure has always been met with serious resistance.
COLONIAL IMPRIMATEUR OF NNEWI SET-UP
Major H. C Moorehouse who led the British Expeditionary forces that visited Nnewi on 17 November 1904 was amazed at the political structure of Nnewi and decided to uphold it. The assignment of magisterial sitting turns to the Obis of Otolo/Nnewi, Uruagu, Umudim and Nnewichi at Agbaja Court and making them Warrant Chiefs by the Colonial government in the first quarter of 1905 attests to the colonial government’s approval of Nnewi’s political structure. Even with the periodic squabbles, Nnewi has maintained the four-community status with Obi Otolo, being the primus inter pares or first among equals.
BREAKING OF KOLA NUT IN NNEWI GARTHERING
In every Nnewi traditional gathering, the kolanut is broken by Igwe Nnewi followed by Obi Uruagu, then Obi Umudim and lastly by Obi Nnewichi. The elder brother and uncles of the man called Nnewi who have been placed into different parts of the four villages are not invited to break kola nut in Nnewi public gatherings. Where the Igwe and Obis of other quarters are not present, the kola nuts are given first to an Otolo man with the closest paternal connection to Igwe Nnewi and then to onye Uruagu, Umudim and Nnewichi in that sequence.
WHAT NNEWI IS KNOWN FOR
Nnewi, more than any other town in Nigeria has the greatest number of millionaires per community.
From time immemorial, Nnewi boys become rich so early in life to the bewilderment of natives of other towns and tribes. In ignorance of what drives an Nnewi man, outsiders ascribe this phenomenon as “Ọgwụ Ego” or “Ego Ọbala” meaning “blood money”.
From the foundation of the town, murder or ritual killing known as igbu ọchụ is treated as a horrendous abomination.
When an Nnewi man, no matter his societal standing, is suspected of willfully killing a fellow human being, he is expected to run away from the town and shall never be allowed to return until after 7 years. It is called “ịgba ọsọ ọchụ”. This also applies to killings resulting from fights, provocation or even a murder of someone caught on top of the killer’s wife.
If any person is suspected of using juju to kill someone for ritual purposes, the following procedure is followed:
1. The person is formally confronted with his offence,
2. If he admits to the offence, he is then chased out of the town after being stripped naked and taken around the main markets of his village.
3. The funeral rites especially the release of canon shots are performed, and the offender is said to have been sent off to the land of the dead while alive, an act known as “ịkwa mmadụ na ndụ”. He will never enter Nnewi town again. The offenders usually die thereafter or become hardened criminals in another town.
4. Should the accused deny the offence, he would be taken to a seer or diviner who will either indict or exonerate him. If he is indicted, he would never get home. His house would be set ablaze by the youths, and he would be taken around naked and be driven out of the town after his funeral has been conducted while he is alive.
5. Alternatively, the accused is asked to swear by a powerful deity. He must choose between swearing by Ogwugwu or Udo. The guilty must die after four market days otherwise the accused is adjudged innocent.
Killing a human being for riches is alien to Nnewi. In fact, people openly ask rich men to account for the sources of their wealth before such men are allowed to execute any public project.
WHAT DRIVES AN NNEWI MAN
Understanding what drives an Nnewi man to excellence is a subject for further investigation, but I have tried to isolate some of the inherent factors that motivate a typical Nnewi person to success.
1. Lack of Enough Fertile Soil
Nnewi does not have enough alluvial soil for bumper harvest of agricultural products. Most agricultural endeavours in Nnewi are at the subsistence level. There are pockets of animal husbandry but not big enough to make an Nnewi man as wealthy as he would love to be. Hence, anyone desirous of wealth must be innovative.
Also, because necessity is the mother of invention, many of our fore bearers took to trading and have inculcated the acts of trading in the subconscious of their children. It is now etched in the DNA of every child born of Nnewi parents that they can sell a repackaged devil to an unwary pastor. He can also trade with and make profit from the meanest of the tribes.
2. Skewed Inheritance Sharing Formula in Favour of The First Son
Any Nnewi male child knows that the first son practically inherits the lion share of the father’s wealth. Other children get smaller fractions of what the first son takes. That is, if the father shared his wealth before dying; otherwise, everybody is at the mercy of the first son. Nobody questions the first son about how much of his father’s wealth he decides to share or keep for himself. In fact, the first son assumes hundred per cent of the father’s business while his brothers are expected to find their destiny. Given this scenario, our boys grow up to know that they are on their own and should work hard to make it in life.
3. Ban on Professional Begging
Professional begging is banned in Nnewi. Anybody found indulging in professional begging is publicly flogged or pilloried. There is no food for a lazy Nnewi man. That does not mean that we do not have drunkards and imbeciles, but no healthy man in Nnewi would ever contemplate choosing begging as a profession.
4. Being Our Brothers’ Keeper
It’s also the responsibility of the wealthy to fend for his entire father’s family to the best of his ability. No man in Nnewi kills a goat or a cow and eats it alone. He must share with his extended family members.
Every comfortable Nnewi man knows that he has a responsibility to help train the children of poor relatives to become financially independent. We teach our people how to fish, not how to eat fish.
5. The Philosophy of “Akụ Enwe Be”
There is an Nnewi philosophy that “akụ enwe be” meaning “that wealth doesn’t reside permanently in a particular family but goes round and rests on the most prepared, lucky and the diligent.” So, every diligent young man in Nnewi is inspired to succeed knowing full well he must be ready to serve. There is an adage in Nnewi that “onye fee eze, eze e luo ya” meaning that “becoming wealthy or the boss is a reward of a diligent service of the master”
6. Apprenticeship Culture
An Nnewi man in trade or business would willingly introduce his brother or townsman to the same line of business under our perfected apprenticeship scheme called “ịgba bọị” or “ịmụ afịa”. A young boy (aged 10-14) serves his master for 5-7 years and his master settles him at the end of the service tenure and mentors him until he becomes successful. But a grown-up who does not want to serve for longer tenor shall pay for the coaching on the business methods for a period usually less than 2 years. This species of entrepreneurship has become an interest in the many major universities in the world. That is how our people dominate many areas of commerce. Just recently, the Anambra State legislature passed a bill on the Apprenticeship Scheme to give the force of law to the practice and to protect the rights of all involved in the scheme.
6. Recognition and Celebration of Excellence
Nnewi has many successful individuals and vibrant community associations that award scholarships to brilliant students. Not all must be traders because “ahọlụ ụmụ ụmụ gbuo ichi, ahọlụ ụmụ ụmụ chie ọzọ.”
SOME INSPIRATIONAL NNEWI ICONS
An Nnewi man Dr. Okongwu, the father of late Dr. Chu Okongwu, former and the longest serving Nigeria’s finance minister was the first Nigerian to bag a PhD in 1932.
It was epochal as the whole of Nnewi assembled in the 1940s at Onitsha to welcome Dr. Abyssinia Akwaeke Nwafor Orizu, the son of Igwe Nnewi on his return from the USA with a PhD. He was carried shoulder high to Nnewi. This released the intellectual impetus in our brilliant youths. They were marveled at the highfalutin vocabularies Dr. Nwafor Orizu was releasing as thunder from his mouth.
The records of Profs ABC Nwosu and Aghaji brothers in scholarship are also legendary.
Up until 1990, Nnewi had many professors in many universities all over the world in diverse areas of knowledge. At that time, Nnewi had over 10 professors in the University of Nigeria Nsukka alone.
7. Influence of Exceptionally Wealthy Forbearers
There are two persons in our history that are believed to have set the highest standards of business excellence and wealth in Nnewi. They are:
a) Nwosu Ezeodumegwu:
This man lived in the 18th and part of the 19th Century. He died in 1945 at the age of 100 years. His great-grandfather, Ezeoguine, was the Obi of Nnewi. He married 42 wives and had many concubines. He was the richest man south of the Niger. His fame made the colonial masters seek and send for him. It is to his credit, wisdom and influence that colonial masters did not invade Nnewi as they did other major towns.
b) Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu:
He was at his time, the richest man in Africa and the only black man the British Colonial government allowed to co-habit with them in Ikoyi. He lent Nigeria his Rolls Royce for the use of Queen Elizabeth of England when she visited Nigeria in 1956 before Nigeria’s independence. We also know how great the son of this man known as Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was in Igbo land. He was worshipped in life and death.
CONCLUSION
I want to conclude by asking Nnewi people here what they think of in how other people from other places see us. The common description is “ndi akpa uche” or “very deviously wise people”. We must live with that. Ọ ife anyị ñụtalụ na ara.
My final question is: how well have we passed down those beautiful Nnewi attributes to our children especially those born and raised abroad?
Everyone here should note that natural attributes or ọnatalụchi are liable to stunted manifestations by nurture or the place and the way we raise our children.
Thank you for listening. I am most grateful.
Chief Anayo Nwosu
Ikenga Ezenwegbu
anayonwosu@gmail.com
13 September, 2025
