Wikipedia
Onicha-Ugbo (also spelled Onitsha-Ugbo) is a town in Aniocha North Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria. The town's traditional ruler is the Obi of Onicha-Ugbo; as of 2002, the obi is Agbogidi Chukwumeliaze.
It lies on the Benin-Asaba Express way connecting the west to the East of Nigeria. The main economic activity in the area is agriculture. Onicha-ugbo is a growing town of about 16 square kilometres in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Nigeria's Delta State. It is located about 40 kilometres from Asaba on the Asaba-Benin highway and has a population of about 10,000 inhabitants. It is bordered to the east by Issele-Uku and Idumuje-Unor; to the West, by Igbodo (in Ika Local Government Area)and Obior; to the north, by Idumuje-Ugboko and Ewohinmi (in Edo State) and to the south, by Ubulu-Uku. As a junction town, Onicha-Ugbo is easily accessible from all the bordering communities through a network of roads.
Onicha-Ugbo is situated on a highland at the western boundary of Aniocha North Local Government Area, and is covered with clayey brick-red sand. There is no solid rock near the surface. The Oha-Bioseh is a spring and source of clean water situated by its boundary with Idumuje-ugboko to the north. The Mkipitime Lake is a mysterious pool covering a large expanse of land near the Igbodo border. The lake is believed to be full of water during the dry season and to go almost completely dry in the rainy season.
There is no flowing river in the town. The nearest river was the Iyi Ugo in Aniofu and until recently people walked the six odd kilometers to the river, or to the nearby "tom-tom" spring and the Oha-Bioseh in idumuje-Ugboko (four kilometers away) and Mkpitime to fetch clean water in the dry season. In the rainy season, the people depended on family ponds (the deep omi and shallow ogodo) and water collected during the rains as it cascades down the roofs of houses (mili-ochichi). In recent times, concrete underground wells were dug and rainwater is directed into them through gutters made round the base of corrugated iron sheet roofs. These wells serve the homes as water reservoirs particularly against the dry season.
When ponds were the vogue, they served not only as water reservoirs but also as drains during the rainy season. Consequently, the streets became dry as all the water flowed into the ponds through channels made for that purpose. Fruit trees like the cherry (udala enwe, udala omumu), mango, pepper fruit (mmimi) berry (anene) ugili, agbono, plantain (ogede ji-oko), banana (ogede ntiti) and bread fruit (ukwa) were usually planted around the homes and provided nutritious fruit, shades and necessary checks against erosion.
Onicha-ugbo is a road junction and offers the main approach to Idumuje-Ugboko and Idumuje-Unor. It is a market center and boasts of the first telecommunication relay station in ANiocha North Local Government Area, built in 1955. The old Lagos-Asaba Trunk 'A' road, which was completed in 1916 particularly, opened it up to the world. The road ran through the town proper. It is made up of four villages (ogbe) i.e. ogbe-obi, Ogbekenu, Isiekpe and Umuolo. Agba, until recently, was not treated as an ogbe in Onicha-Ugbo. It existed for a brief period as a semi-autonomous until its own ceremonial monarch (Eze Agba) who in turn had an Iyase as his sole Onotu (Traditional Chief). Agba never developed into a town. Instead, it became a part of Onicha-Ugbo, subject to the overall administration of the obi of Onicha-Ugbo in spite of the continued coronation of its ceremonial Obi or Eze Agba. The fact that until recently, Agba was not regarded as an ogbe in Onicha-Ugbo was emphasized by the ancient popular expression: ONICHA AKA OGBE ANO (Onicha-Ugbo of four villages). It is however, now treated as an ogbe for administrative purposes.
The major avenues in Onicha-Ugbo which run from Ogbe-Obi through Abu-ano to Ogbekenu, leading to Idumuje_Unor; from Umuolo, through Abu-ano to Ishiekpe and from ishiekpe to Ogbekenu leading to Idumuje-Ugboko are master pieces in town planning. They bear testimony to the ingenuity of the founding fathers of the town, if these were not tributaries of ancient rivers that have changed courses and have hence dried up. They are wide and remarkably straight. The roads make the Abu-ano (town's square) look like an observatory point for the four cardinal points of the town - symbolized by the four villages.