Itunta is a village in

Ibere Ibere is a clan located in the eastern part of Ikwuano Local Government Area, Abia State, Nigeria. It borders Oboro to the west, Bende to the north, the Isuogu ( Ariam/Usaka and Oloko) to the south, Itumbauzo and Nkari (a clan in Ini LGA, Akw ...

Ikwuano Ikwuano is a Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is in Isiala Oboro. The name 'Ikwuano' etymologically indicates that there are four different ancient kingdoms that make up the community called Ikwuano. These include ...

Local Government Area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

Abia State Abia is a state in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. The state's capital is Umuahia and its most populous city is Aba. Abia is bordered the west by Imo, east by Cross River, south by Rivers, northwest by Anambra and northeast by Enug ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. Itunta falls under the Umuakoo Autonomous Community. The Eze of Umuakoo is HRM Eze Monday Unadindu Okoro in whom is conferred with the title of Akoo II of Umuakoo. Itunta is renowned for her vast cocoa production.

Origin

The natives of Itunta are said to be part of the

Itu The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...

diaspora, a dispersion of peoples of partial

(

Ibibio Ibibio may refer to: *Ibibio language, Niger-Congo language of Nigeria *Ibibio people an ethnic group of southern Nigeria *Ibibio Sound Machine, an English electronic afro-funk band who sing in Ibibio See also * Ibiblio, a digital library and ar ...

) ancestry across

Igboland Igbo land ( Standard ) is a cultural and common linguistic region in southeastern Nigeria which is the indigenous homeland of the Igbo people. Geographically, it is divided into two sections, eastern (the larger of the two) and western. Its popu ...

. A notable community of Itu origin is Itumbauzo in Bende.

LGA LaGuardia Airport ( ) – colloquially known as LaGuardia or simply LGA – is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, situated on the northwestern shore of Long Island, bordering Flushing Bay. Covering , the facility wa ...

in present-day

Akwa Ibom State Akwa Ibom is a States of Nigeria, state in the South South, South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It borders Cross River State to the east, Rivers State and Abia State to the west and north-west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The state ...

is the

homeland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...

of the Itu people.

Culture

The people of Itunta mark the Inyang festival annually. They are the only community in Ikwuano who perform this event. It is quite distinct from the usual

Ekpe Ekpe, also known as Mgbe/Egbo ( Ekoi language: ''leopard''; derived from the Efik term for the same), is a West African secret society in Nigeria and Cameroon flourishing chiefly among the Ejagham. It is also found among a number of other ethni ...

festival in which every other Ikwuano community celebrates. Members of this community are mainly peasant farmers and deal mostly in

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and cocoa.

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

is widely practiced. English and the

dialect of

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...

are the languages spoken in Itunta.

Economy

Itunta is situated in a cocoa-producing belt, hence, it is a major cocoa production site in

. The community generates as much as 10 tons of cocoa yearly. They are also adept in plantain,

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

and

cucumber The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

Schools

* Itunta Community School

References

{{reflist Populated places in Abia State