The Rivers State Government has said that the recently concluded 17th National Sports Festival tagged Garden City Games 2011 has announced the return of Port Harcourt and the entire state to both national and international limelight.

The commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs Ibim Semenitari who said this during The Tide Editors’ Roundtable forum also said that the benefits from the festival cannot be quantified.

According to her, the event was the first in the history of Nigeria to be watched round the world, also said the ceremony has improved the local economy of the state, as a lot of internal businesses benefited during the festival.

The commissioner also said that government is working towards making Port Harcourt media hub of the South-South.

She stated that part of the plan includes the digitalisation of the state owned media organisations pointing out that once this fact is achieved people at the rural parts of the state will be strategically placed to assess information from the government.

“This government is committed to announcing to the people, how it is governing Rivers State and to get a feedback from the people on the kind of things they want, so if you look at the plaque of our policy, if it is good government, good governance and to make Port Harcourt the media hub of the South-South,” Semenitari said.

She also said that the ministry of information and communication is working hard to ensure that people are properly informed of government activities through the establishment of e-library while the publication unit of the ministry has been strengthen to which has seen the regular publication of press releases.