The Ngwa people (natively: Nde Ṅgwà IPA: [ŋɡʷa]) are an Igbo group living in the southern part of Igboland.
The Ngwa people are mainly farmers, producing crops such as yam, cassava, cocoyam and palm oil production.
[7][4] The Aro people gained access to Ngwaland through members of the Okonko society with originated from the Efik-Ibibio area.
[11] The Ngwa people made contacts with the British during the period when slave trading was being banned; this saw the establishment of the first consular post at Obegu in 1895.
[15] Precolonial Ngwa land were practitioners of African religion and worship their gods as part of their culture.
Yam, maize, cassava, cocoyam, vegetables, oranges, palms, fruits make up majority of the food crops.
[23] The Ekpe and Okonko society were introduced to Ngwaland through Aros and originally from their neighbours in Cross River.
[25] The young unmarried women are sometimes inducted into mgbede to undergo a nutritional course aimed at fattening and preparing them for marriage to suitors.
[35][36] It is used as means of communication in trade, folktales, community and village meeting and entertainment with the Standard Igbo being the preferred language for administrative and educational purposes.
[37][38] Prior to the arrival of the British, the Ngwa people worshipped the deities that were indigenous to their village which Chineke[a] was and still is considered the most powerful in the pantheon of gods.
[2] Due to the fertile land, the economy of Ngwa people in pre-colonial era was solely based on farming.
The Ngwa people started importing iron for hoes and machete around the sixteenth and nineteenth century.
[42] During the second World War, the prices of palm oil and kernel were beginning to recover; which gave rise to the construction of the Eastern Railway which runs through Ngwaland.
[44] Since the Nigerian Civil War, cassava has become a more important cash crop in the Ngwa villages.
[45] "Isusu" a form of banking institution aiding in raising money for business or marriage in pre-colonial Ngwa.