Enugu

Understand

The name Enugu is derived from the Igbo words "Hill top". It is nicknamed Coal City mainly because of the discovery of coal on the plateau of the city in 1909 . Enugu developed rapidly as a result of the completion of the railway from the port in 1916. Enugu is located at the foot of the Udi Plateau. The area is on the railway from Port Harcourt, some 150 miles (240 km) south-southwest, and at the junction of roads from Onitsha, Aba and Abakaliki.

Industries in the city include the urban market and bottling industries.

Architectural design in Enugu's early years was in the hands of the British colonial administration; Enugu's architecture was consequently very European. English cottage housing and Victorian houses were used for housing Europeans and Nigerian colonial civil servants in the early 20th century until Europeans started trying to adapt their architecture to the tropical climate. Some other examples of these European styles are visible in churches of the colonial era, such as the Holy Ghost Cathedral with its Greco-Roman stained glass windows depicting Europeans.

In 1967, Enugu was declared the capital of the short-lived Republic of Biafra; for this Enugu is known as the "capital of Igboland".

Get around

The main forms of transportation in the city are taxi cabs and buses. Most transport enters and leaves the city through Enugu's Ogbete Motor Park, Garki Motor Park serves as a transport pick-up point as well. Unregistered taxis are known as Kabu Kabu and are differentiated with registered ones through the lack of yellow paint on the unregistered vehicles.

Coal City Cabs, which began to help in the eradication of poverty in the city, employ 400 registered Nissan Sunny and Suzuki taxis.

Coal City Shuttle buses run as public transport for Enugu urban.

See

The Polo amusement park is a funfair that is among the first generation of public parks in the city. Enugu's former coal mines, Onyeama and Okpara, are open to public visits. There is a National Museum north of Enugu, although it receives few visitors. It is managed by National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM).

Do

Two important Igbo traditional festivals take place in Enugu annually; the Mmanwu festival and the New yam festival. The Mmanwu festival takes place in November and features various types of masquerades that each have a name. This festival is held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium as a parade of carnival-like masquerades that are accompanied by music and it is supported by the Enugu Council of Arts and Culture. The second important Igbo festival, the New yam festival known as 'iwa ji', is held between August and October marking the harvesting and feasting of the new yam. The yam is a root vegetable that is the staple crop and a cultural symbol for the Igbo people. Enugu Golf Club, Mount Street, is a beautiful and challenging golf course.

Buy

There are three main urban markets in Enugu: Ogbete Market, Awkunanaw Market and New Market.

In Enugu most goods are sold in open markets or by street hawkers; a significant number of street hawkers in Nigeria are children. New Market is a major market for the sale of garri (cassava flour). Ogbete market is patronised by merchants from all over the surrounding area, including merchants from cities like Onitsha, Aguleri, Abakaliki and Aba. In Ogebete market non-food goods are also sold.

Eat

You can eat local and delicious cuisines like abacha, nkwobi, and ugba, and can drink freshly tapped palm wine.

Its famous okpa, "Okpa Enugu", is made from Bambara nut flour

Drink

Enugu has freshly tapped palm wine (nkwu enu) especially in Udi. This type of palm wine is popularly called Aneke Chime.

Sleep

Enugu has a good number of hotel accommodation for travellers and visitors to the city. Some of the prominent ones include the following:

Stay safe

Enugu State is generally considered calmer than many major Nigerian cities, but visitors should still take normal precautions, especially at night.

Connect

For most locations in the city of Enugu, there is coverage of the 2G/3G/4G mobile networks, but signal strength usually diminishes further away from the city center, and you might occasionally experience network outage for all or some of the mobile phone service providers in the remote areas of the city. Different networks tend to be more stable and reliable in different locations of the city at different times.

If you are planning a visit to Enugu, like many other places in Nigeria, you should probably consider having multiple SIM cards, preferably for all the mobile service providers, since you can't tell which will be more stable and reliable at a time in your location during your visit. And if you will risk not having any of them, you might be better off not risking the MTN network, because, from indications, it seem to perform well than the others, though its rates may be high and its offers and services might be stringent, but you are less likely to be concerned of erratic voice and data connection compared to others.

Airtel is another service provider which is fairly satisfactory for all you might need to connect to the world, including rates and network stability. Of course, Glo (or Globacom) boasts of fast network speed for internet browsing activities, only that you might not be able to enjoy the privilege in some locations. And 9Mobile (formerly Etisalat) usually also performs well in internet browsing speed too but with locational limitations, plus that data ra…