Nkwerre

Nkwerre is a town in the Orlu area of Imo State and the headquarters of Nkwerre Local Government Area. According to local history, the town traces its founding to the 17th century, when it was established by Eshi, a migrant from Arochukwu, as an autonomous Igbo community. Nkwerre is historically renowned across Igboland for its blacksmithing tradition, earning the praise-name "Nkwerre Opia Egbe" ("Nkwerre, the manufacturer of guns"). Its smiths produced ironwork, tools and firearms and were regarded as capable of making almost any implement a community might need, while Nkwerre traders carried these goods, along with beads and gunpowder, on long-distance routes reaching as far as Opobo, Etche, Ikwerre and Bonny in what is now Rivers State, and into Bayelsa, Delta and Ebonyi. The trade declined under colonial rule after arms-production bans (including an 1893 prohibition on breech-loading rifles and cannons) and competition from cheaper imported European ironware.

Nkwerre is reached by road from Owerri and from Orlu.