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.
Onitsha by 2001 had an estimated population of 511,000 with a metropolitan population of 1,003,000.
The majority of people in Onitsha are Igbo and speak the Igbo language however significant communities from Northern and Western Nigeria live in the city. The Onitsha people like to be referred to as Ndi Onicha.
Onitsha Mmili was known as Ado N'Idu by migrants who departed from the vicinity of the Kingdom of Benin near the far western portion of Igboland (near what is now Agbor), after a violent dispute with the Oba of Benin that can be tentatively dated to the early 1500s. Traveling eastward through what is now Western Igboland (and various towns also called "Onitsha", for example Onicha-Ugbo, "farmland-Onitsha". Onitsha was founded by one of the sons of Chima, the founder of Issele-Uku kingdom. Chima, a prince of the ancient Benin kingdom emigrated, settled and founded now known as Issele-Uku in Aniocha North Local Government Area. The eldest son of Chima eventually emigrated across the Niger River to establish the Onitsha community.
Onitsha is a novel by French Nobel laureate writer J. M. G. Le Clézio. It was originally published in French in 1991 and an English translation was released in 1997.
Onitsha tells the story of Fintan, a young European boy who travels from Bordeaux to the port of Marseilles to sail along the coast of Africa to the mouth of the Niger River to Onitsha in colonial Nigeria with his Italian mother (nicknamed Maou) in the year 1948. Warren Motte wrote a review in World Literature Today to note that, like many of Le Clézio's writings Onitsha is a novel of apprenticeship. He mentions that the very first words of the novel inscribe the theme of the journey and announce that it will occupy the foreground of the tale and he quotes a passage from Onitsha to exemplify Fintan's reluctance to embark upon that journey
It was a long journey as Le Clézio wrote:
They were intending to meet Geoffroy Allen (Fintan's English father an oil company executive who is obsessed with uncovering the area's ancient history by tracking down myths and legends) whom Fintan has never met.
Onitsha depicts childhood, because it is written semi-autobiographically, but seen through the eyes of Fintan and to lesser extent his father, and his mother, who is not able to fit in with the colonial society of the town of Onitsha with its casual acceptance of 'native' slave labour.
Le Clézio wrote:
Onitsha Laquis Shaw (born July 16, 1980), who goes by the stage name Onitsha, is an American gospel musician. Her first album, Church Girl, was released by Stillwaters Records in 2007. This album was a Billboard magazine breakthrough release upon the Gospel Albums chart.
Onitsha was born on July 16, 1980 in Los Angeles, California as Onitsha Laquis Shaw.
Her music recording career commenced in 2007, with the album, Church Girl, and it was released on April 17, 2007 by Stillwaters Records. This album was her breakthrough release upon the Billboard magazine charts, and it placed at No. 19 on the Gospel Albums chart. The album was reviewed positively by AllMusic and GOSPELflava, in addition, it got a nine out of ten review from Cross Rhythms.
I am a man as a man I've been told
Bacon is brought to the house in this mold
Born of your bellies I yearn for the cord
Years I have groveled, repentance ignored
And I have been blamed and I have repented
I'm working my way toward our union mended
I am man who has grown from a son
Been crucified by enraged women
I am son who was raised by such men
I'm often reminded of the fools I'm among
And I have been shamed and I have relented
I'm working my way toward our union mended
And I have been shamed and I have repented
I'm working my way toward our union mended
We don't fare well with endless reprimands
We don't do well with a life served as a sentence
And this won't work well if you're hell bent on your offense
'Cause I am a man who understands your resistance
I am a man who still does what he can
To dispel our archaic reputation
I am a man who has heard all he can
'Cuz I don't fare well with endless punishment
'Cuz I have been blamed and I have repented
I'm working my way toward our union mended
And we have been blamed and we have repented
I'm working my way toward our union mended
We don't fare well with endless reprimands
And we don't do well with a life served as a sentence
And this won't work well if you're hell bent on your offense