View source for Ntezi

{{copy edit|date=September 2023}}
{{Use Nigerian English|date=January 2023}}
[[File:Oviode Festival in Ntezi.jpg|thumb|Oviode Festival in Ntezi]]{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Ntezi
| official_name      = Ntezi
| native_name_lang   = Kórring
| settlement_type    = Town
| image_map          = Ebonyi State Nigeria.png
| map_caption        = Ntezi
| postal2_code       = 480002
| area_code          = 480012
| population_total   =
| population_as_of   = 2006
| area_rural_km2     =
| leader_title       = Olung
| pushpin_map        = Nigeria
| pushpin_mapsize    = 250
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Nigeria
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = {{flag|Nigeria}}
| subdivision_type1  = [[Ebonyi State]]
| subdivision_type2  = [[Enugu State]]
| native_name        = Eteji-Ogba
}}
'''Ntezi''' is located in the eastern outskirt of Ishielu LGA of [[Ebonyi State]] in [[Nigeria]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-11 |title=Lee obodo Ntezi kwenyere na ha bụ Igbo mana ha anaghị asụ Igbo |url=https://www.bbc.com/igbo/afirika-58169671 |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=BBC News Ìgbò |language=ig}}</ref> Ntezi is pronounced ''Eh-teh-ji'' ''(Eteji)'' by the natives, and belongs to the ''Orring,'' [[Oring language|Oring]] or ''Orri'' People. The dialect of Ntezi is ''K'eteji'' with the attached 'k' prefix given the name ''Keteji'', a sub-language of ''korring'' spoken by ''Orring'' people in their diverse dialects across their settlements in Nigeria and Cameroon.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ajifo|first=Nnamdi|type=Oral tradition and Archival documents|title=Intergroup relationship of Ntezi and her neighbours|journal=Nigerian Journal of History|pages=225|via=AHN, project topic}}</ref> Ntezi is an [[Korring|Orring]] sub-ethnic group.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aleke |first=Patrick |title=Idzem (Amuda) People |year=2012 |location=Enugu |pages=2–11 |language=English, Igbo, Korring}}</ref> The Orring people occupy a scattered heterogeneous territories coexisting in three states in three geopolitical zones in Nigeria which are Benue, Cross River and Ebonyi States. Orring people are the aboriginal [[Abakaliki]] people settling in the town of [[Ntezi-Aba]] living alongside their Mbembe and Ekoi neighbours prior to the coming of the later Abakaliki group.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nkamigbo |first=L. C. |date=2012 |title= Lexicostratigraphy: Tracing Geographical Location and Linguistic Change in Koring|journal=  Ogirisi: A New Journal of African Studies|volume=  9|pages=116–126 |doi=10.4314/og.v9i1.6 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Over the years, this proximity has led to beliefs and cultural exchanges, such as intergroup relationships through marriage, that have resulted in the creation of mixed civilizations.{{cn|date=March 2024}}
== Location ==
Ntezi is located in eastern part of [[Ishielu]] LGA, in [[Ebonyi]] state, [[Nigeria]]. The present settlements of Orring People of Ebonyi State are: Ntezi and Okpoto as found in Ishielu LGA, Effium in Ohaukwu, and [[Amuda people|Amuda]] and Okpomoro in the southern part of Ohaukwu,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ntezi Archives|url=https://guardian.ng/tag/ntezi/|access-date=2021-06-15|website=The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News|language=en-US}}</ref> Ntezi is bordered in the north by [[Ngbo|Ngbo people]], southwest by [[Okpoto language (Upper Cross River)|Okpoto]] people (an Orring community), northwest by [[Ishielu|Ezillo people]], northeast by [[Ohaukwu|Ezzamgbo people]], and southeast by [[Ezaa people|Ezza people]] and [[Amuda people]] (an Orring community).<ref>{{Cite journal|title=pamphlet-no-date|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-1260-0001|access-date=2021-06-15|website=Human Rights Documents online|doi=10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-1260-0001 }}</ref>
== Villages ==
Ntezi has five [[Oring language|Oring]] speaking villages namely: Agaga, Ulepa, Iyokpa, Amata and Biledeba. These villages are further made up of various hamlets, lineages called Lèmá and farm settlements; there are also two villages of Umuezeka and Umuezekoha settlements at the outskirts to the southwest and Southeast of Ntezi respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=pamphlet-no-date|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-1260-0001|access-date=2021-06-19|website=Human Rights Documents online|doi=10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-1260-0001 }}</ref>
Prior to Colonialism, to Nigeria Civil War, down to the present period, the Orring people of Ebonyi state simply identify with their counterparts as Igbo, bearing Igbo names and terms, cultural values, linguistic connectivity, and other identity factors. Orring to the average Orring person simply refer themselves as Igbo, and strongly maintain Igbiod personality across anywhere they found themselves.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-11 |title=Lee obodo Ntezi kwenyere na ha bụ Igbo mana ha anaghị asụ Igbo |url=https://www.bbc.com/igbo/afirika-58169671 |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=BBC News Ìgbò |language=ig}}</ref>
== Language ==
The language of Orring people is [[Korring]] which is further group dialectically according individual communities and clans of the Orring people.
According to A.E. Afigbo and A.I. Alagoa in Obaro Ikeme's "[[Groundwork of Nigerian History]]",<ref>{{Cite web|title=African Books Collective: Groundwork of Nigerian History|url=https://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/groundwork-of-nigerian-history|access-date=2021-06-14|website=www.africanbookscollective.com}}</ref> K'orring is classified understand the Benue Congo language family. While [[Greenberg]] classified K'orring language family as part of the [[Bantoid languages]] of the Cross River and Benue Congo language family which Igbo language forms a part.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greenberg|first=Joseph H.|date=1972|title=Linguistic Evidence Regarding Bantu Origins|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/180851|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=13|issue=2|pages=189–216|doi=10.1017/S0021853700011427 |jstor=180851 |s2cid=162665988 |issn=0021-8537}}</ref> This claim was further backup by the writings of Nnamdi, a historian from the department of History and International Relations in Ebonyi State University; and Offorka from the department of Linguistics in University of Nigerian Nsukka that came up with a concise agreement stating some fact and semantic relationship of Korring language and Bantu. Chief discovery of this assumption centers on the language similarities with the Bantoid "Kwararafa empire" which stretched from the Benue river far to the Cameron mountain. For instance, Bantu means 'the people'. This is the root of the Korring word for people called 'banuo ''(gbanuo)''<nowiki/>' and the Kukelle word ''ballot''. Such similarities support the works of Greenberg in classification of Cross-River languages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Greenberg|first=Joseph H.|date=April 1972|title=Linguistic evidence regarding Bantu origins|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0021853700011427|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=13|issue=2|pages=189–216|doi=10.1017/s0021853700011427|s2cid=162665988 |issn=0021-8537}}</ref>
The Kins of Ntezi in Ebonyi are Okpoto ''(Lame)'' in Ishielu LGA, Amuda ''(Idzem)'' and Okpomoro ''(Okpolo)'' in Ezza North LGA, and Effium ''(Uffium)'' in Ohaukwu LGA. Ntezi also have kins in Benue State, which are the Ogbia, Ufia and Utonkon; and in Cross River State are the Ukele, Wanikom, Wanikom, Izekwe, Wanikade, Akunakwina, among others. The Ukele speak a Korring dialect called ''Kukele (k'ukele),'' while Ufia of Benue speaks ''Kufia (k'ufia), K'idzem'' for Amuda natively called '''Idzem''<nowiki/>', and ''Kuffium'' for the Effium natively called 'Uffium'.{{cn|date=March 2024}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
* "Ntezi Archives". ''The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News''. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
[[Category:Igbo language]]
[[Category:Populated places in Ebonyi State]]
[[Category:Cross River languages]]
[[Category:Korring]]
[[Category:Orring people]]