[4] The city is located at 199.1 kilometres (123.7 mi), by road, directly north of Port Harcourt in the centre of the densely-populated Igbo heartland in South-East Nigeria.

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

[9] During pre.-colonial times, Ọka became famous as the Agbala oracle, specifically a deity that was said to be a daughter of the great long juju shrine of Arochukwu.

The oracle, which Chinua Achebe used as inspiration in his book Things Fall Apart[10]), was consulted to whenever disputes (far and wide) occurred, until it was eventually destroyed by colonial authorities, in the early part of the twentieth century.

Before the inception of British rule, Ọka was governed by titled men known formally as Ozo and Ndichie, who were accomplished individuals in the community.

They held general meetings, known as Izu-Ọka, at either the residence of the oldest man (Otochal Ọka) or a place specially designated by the titled men.

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.

This is followed by five months of dryness (November–March) marked by a Harmattan wind, also known as Ugulu in Igbo, which 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 before dissipating and leading to extreme dry heat in the latter months of February and March.

[18] The temperature in Awka is generally 27–30 °C between June and December but rises to 32–34 °C between January and April, with the last few months of the dry season marked by intense heat.

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.

The Structural Plan of Awka Capital Territory (2009–2028)[22] 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, Nri Kingdom, Amansea, Enugwu-Ukwu, Enugwu-Agidi, Isiagu, Isu-Aniocha, Mgbakwu, Nawfia, Nawgu, Nibo, Nimo, Nise, Okpuno and Umuawulu.

Governor Peter Obi implemented just a few of the UN-HABITAT's recommendations managing to tar less than 5 kilometers of urban roads, improve waste collection and upgrade schools and the teaching hospital.

ACTDA has completed aerial mapping in June 2015 with the government set to appoint a town planning firm to develop a Masterplan for the city.

Obiano has also gone ahead to change the gateway into and out of Awka by expanding the A232 expressway to three lanes and constructing three flyovers at three key junctions between Amobia and Amansea.

Awka hosts a variety of broadcast media organizations including two independent newspaper dailies, an FM radio station for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, the offices of the state-run Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation and a Zonal office of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

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

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 Ifite, Awka.

Winners' Chapel, Awka] is the largest Pentecostal Church in the metropolis hosting thousands of worshippers weekly in its yet-to-be filled 5000-seat capacity auditorium.

[25][26][27] 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 centre.

Today, Awka has become the centre of hospitality in Anambra state adapting to the needs of hosting a wide range of visitors.