Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State otherwise called the Garden City, has in the last few years witnessed a lot of physical development and aesthetic upgrades. In this piece, SHOLA O’NEIL and BOLAJI OGUNDELE write about a city that has continued to grow in population and demands
THE Garden City of Port Harcourt, is perhaps one of the cities in the South-South region where business and pleasure mix most easily. The older folk (those who lived there before and shortly after the Nigerian civil war) refer to it as Pitakwa (or Pota); the locals just call it Potakot. Whichever you choose, you cannot be wrong in this wonderful city of endless possibilities and opportunities.
It is a city of many parts; each with its own unique history, landscape and denizens. “The parts of the city known as Town, Lagos, Diobu, and so on are the original Port Harcourt, from where the town started. You will also notice that those are the areas close to the waterfront and the port areas. The houses there are old and most of them are built without fence because in their times, there was no need for high security fencing. The city was peaceful,” James Nwokedi, an itinerant Igbo trader at the popular Mile 1 flyover told our reporter.
But times have changed and the city has changed with it. The GRA (Government Reservation Area) Phase 1 (Old GRA) houses the government quarters and some prominent Rivers families. The architectural designs of their houses and style sometimes tell of their histories or what some call old money. There are also Phases 2 and 3 GRAs with massive structures and architectural masterpieces owned by politicians, oil magnates and top flying business executives.
The Diobu area of the city is arguably the most planned enclave of the city, if not the entire Niger Delta region. Dominated mostly by the Igbo and other immigrants, this area, like Town (peopled by the Kalabaris), comprise of ancient apartment buildings in unfenced plot on well-linked network of roads.
Port Harcourt is also the undisputable oil capital of Nigeria; a position enhanced by the presence of dozens of oil and services companies from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) to Nigerian Agip Oil Company, Schlumberger, WEAFRI and others that fled Warri, Delta State in the heat of the Warri crisis found bases in Port Harcourt.
The relocation of such companies have attracted greener pastures seekers from all over the country to the city peopled mostly by the Ikwerre and a motley of other groups from within and outside the state.
With the growth in opportunities, the population of the Garden City (put at about 1.38 million in the 2006 census) swelled. The increase in population is fuelling a property boom that has opened up and linked the major Rumus (enclaves) of the city. The city has now extended from Emohua, headquarters of the local council through Choba, Mgbuoba into Rumuokuta, Rumuokoro, Rumuola and others, and turning it into a megacity.
The blessings of its status as a fast-growing cosmopolitan city come with the headache of knotty traffic jams that sometimes stretch for several miles and span hours. Driving through Port Harcourt can be quite chaotic and unpredictable. There are some junctions in the city that seem jinxed to always remain locked, defying the efforts and wisdom of traffic marshals thereby creating unpleasant driving experiences for road users, especially private car owners whose miseries are compounded by bus drivers and their taxi counterparts. The state government has since abolished the use of okada (motorcycles) and keke (tricycles) in the metropolis.
Governor Rotimi Amaechi, like his successor, has also made several efforts to tackle the perennial traffic problem in the city. A number of projects have been undertaken to free the roads, including blocking U-turn points at bottle-neck junctions. At some other intersections, more human traffic controls are introduced to augment either the traffic lights or already existing number of traffic marshals. In other places, the critical junctions get flyovers. Eleme Junction and the Agip Junction Roundabout are two examples of massive efforts at restoring sanity to the roads.
The current administration, at inception, embarked on decisive urban renewal efforts, leading to the widening of existing main accesses like the Ikwerre Road, which has been dualised with wide walkways, lying atop one of the most complex network of gigantic underground drains that empty into surrounding canals and creeks. Rumuola, NTA, Ada George and Elekahia roads, among others, have also been taken from the old to the new; dualised and widened with sidewalks.
But perhaps the most revolutionary transportation scheme is the multibillion naira Mono Rail project, which was undertaken by the Amaechi administration. When completed, the light rail is expected to convey thousands of passengers daily. Experts believe that it would help reduce the number of vehicles on the road drastically and by extension alleviate traffic bottlenecks.
Besides roads, new model primary schools and ultramodern healthcare centres have been built across the city. Those built close to the main roads accentuate the environment, printing some sort of serenity and beauty you only see in facilities belonging to multinational oil companies. At the Emenike Junction, in the Mile One area, along Ikwerre Road, St. Mary Primary School is outstanding with its lush green and impressive structures. This sight is replicated in different parts of the city.
The Garden City is a place to be when you think of relishing fun and good life. Being a very busy place, with an ever growing population, including those of varieties of foreign nationals, Port Harcourt is replete with fun spots: hangouts, hotels, nightclubs, cinemas and so on. You will find them all over the city.
There was, however, a time in the life of the city when a social dislocation, in the form of cultism or gangsterism, almost robbed it of the peace and fun it had always been known for, but the Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi administration made the restoration of peace and order its first task when he assumed office in 2007. This restored normal life to the city, including a robust and bustling fun and recreation.
The Abacha Road area of the city in the GRA Phase 2, parades an endless array of hotels, hangouts and club houses; Bourgain Villa, Aldgate Hotel, Casablanca, Aristo House, Elkan Terraces are a few of the places to be on Abacha Road. In some other parts of the phases of the new GRA you have places like Genesis Complex, which boasts of a state-of-the-art cinema and other facilities.
Along Aba/Port Harcourt Expressway, the iconic Hotel Presidential defines the skyline with its unique architectural design and beautiful landscape. Just a few meters away on Tombia Street, the panoramic view of the Polo Club with its verdure lawns backing the Hotel Meridien and Golden Tulip hotels on the background captivates.
“I could sit down here for hours just taking in the view; it is a wonderful city, this Port Harcourt,” Joy Nweke, a fashion designer who moved into the city in a few years ago told our reporter.
“I fell in love with the city at first sight and since then, I find it difficult to leave. The life is fast and some people would tell you it is expensive. But if you cut you coat according to your cloth, you won’t have any problem,” Nweke said with a smile.
The Silverbird Cinema is just a stone’s throw to the Old GRA, where you see the state’s version of the Three-Arm Zone; the Government House/state secretariat, the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex and the Judiciary Complex are located here. You can hardly exhaust touring the city in a hurry.
Perhaps it should be mentioned here that administrations in the current republic have devoted time and effort to restoring those features of the oil city, which bequeathed the status and appellation of the ‘Garden City’ on it, hence the heavy investments into reviving and resuscitating its greens, as well as its hygiene culture.
The Dr. Peter Odili administration started a programme of planting special green areas and parks at strategic spots, to serve the dual purposes of recreation points and landscape beautification. Samples of this abound across the city; adjacent the Port Harcourt Air Force Base, along Aba Road; there is the large space bordering the Port Harcourt Barracks, also along Aba Road; there are a few under the various flyovers dotting the city’s space.
Along most of the major roads, especially the recently dualised ones, the Amaechi administration planted trees, most of which are still growing. The move would not only beautify the city, but is a forward-thinking one that could reduce carbon dioxide because a tree is said to be able to absorb as much as 48lb of the pollutant in a year.
In the past few years, the city has shed the derogatory tag of ‘garbage city’, a corruption of the Garden City appellation. The unpleasant tag was engendered by the sordid sanitation culture of the people of the city. In those days, mountains of refuse became regular sights in open places, like on major roads, in different parts of the city, coupled with the disorganised management of markets, most of which were occupying between half and one-third of the major roads.
Today, the services of labourers saddled with the responsibility of sweeping the roads and clearing refuse from the roads everyday have now become recognizable as both drivers and pedestrians on Port Harcourt roads now have a semblance of real road.
