Port Harcourt

Port Harcourt (Igbo: Ụ́gwụ́ Ọ́chá;Pidgin: Po-ta-kot) is the capital of Rivers State, Nigeria. It lies along the Bonny River and is located in the Niger Delta. According to the 2006 census, the Port Harcourt urban area has a population of 1,382,592.

The area that became Port Harcourt in 1912 was before that part of the farmlands of the Diobu village group of the Ikwerre, an Igbo sub-group. The colonial administration of Nigeria created the port to export coal from the collieries of Enugu located 243 kilometres (151 mi) north of Port Harcourt, to which it was linked by a railway called the Eastern Line, also built by the British.

In 1956 crude oil was discovered in commercial quantities at Oloibiri, and Port Harcourt's economy turned to petroleum when the first shipment of Nigerian crude oil was exported through the city in 1958. Through the benefits of the Nigerian petroleum industry, Port Harcourt was further developed, with aspects of modernisation such as overpasses and city blocks. Oil firms that currently have offices in the city include Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron.

Port Harcourt (disambiguation)

Port Harcourt is the largest city in Rivers State, and the second largest commercial city in Nigeria.

Port Harcourt may also refer to:

See also

Port Harcourt (local government area)

Port Harcourt Local Government Area (PHALGA) is a local government area of Rivers State in southern Nigeria. It is one of the 23 local government areas created for the state. Its administrative seat is located in Port Harcourt.

Geography

Port Harcourt local government area is located 52 kilometres (32 mi) southeast of Ahoada and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Bori. It is bounded to the south by Okrika, to the east by Eleme, to the north by Obio-Akpor and to the west by Degema. It has a total size of 109 square kilometres (42 sq mi).

Neighbourhoods

Government

The local government area is part of the Rivers East Senatorial district consisting 20 electoral wards. The Mayor, who is the highest-ranking official in the Port Harcourt local government is elected by popular vote and presides as both head of wards and head of the local government council.

Port Harcourt Cemetery

Port Harcourt Cemetery is a city-owned and operated public cemetery located along Aggrey Road in the Old Township district of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. It is the oldest cemetery still in use in the city and is notable as the burial site of activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and his associates. It also contains one commonwealth burial of the 1939 - 1945 World War.

Interments

See also

References

External links