Celebrating The Garden City At 100

Port Harcourt, popu
larly called ‘’Garden City“, is 100 years old.’’
Otonti Nduka, a Professor Emeritus of the University of Port Harcourt, remembers the city as a young man in the 1940s.
‘’ Port Harcourt was such a fine city and I remember visiting the present old GRA, where Europeans, mostly colonial officers lived.
‘’The status of the city has not changed, but it is rather improving daily,’’ he said.
George Feyii, Secretary to the Rivers State Government, at the centenary celebration of Port Harcourt, recounted how the city got its name during the colonial period.
‘’ It all started in 1913, when Viscount Lewis Harcourt, then Secretary of State for Colonies, wrote a memo to Sir Fredrick Lord Luggard, Governor-General of Protectorate of Nigeria.
In response to Harcourt’s request to give a name to the city in August 1913, Luggard wrote: “In the absence of any convenient local name, I would respectfully ask your permission to call this Port Harcourt.’’
The  journey of  Port Harcourt city continued when on Jan.1,1949, the colonial authority gave it the status of a first-class township, thus becoming the second city in Nigeria after Lagos to attain that status.
Feyii said the city had lived up to expectation and  deserved to celebrate its centenary, being the major oil and gas hub in West Africa.
The special attention given to Port Harcourt by the colonial administration was as a result of large deposits of coal found in Enugu in 1909 by geologist Albert Ernest Kitson.
“The colonial government caused the people of Diobu to cede their land and by 1913 the building of a port-town was started.
“Other villages that were later absorbed into the city included Oroworukwo, Mkpogua and Rumuomasi
“In the creeks to the south of the original port were the fishing camps and grounds of the Okrika-Ijaw group.’’
The economic importance of Port Harcourt increased after the discovery of crude oil in Oloibiri in 1956, as the first shipment of crude oil was exported through Port Harcourt in 1958.
The Garden City, therefore, “reaped benefits of its associations with the petroleum industry by undergoing modernisation and urbanisation.
Port Harcourt’s growth was further due to its position as the commercial centre and foremost industrial city of the former Eastern Region, attracting investors and tourists.
Presidential Hotel, constructed by the  defunct Eastern Region Government, under Dr Michael Okpara, remains one of the best hotels in the city.
From an area of 15.54 square kilometres in 1914, Port Harcourt had grown to an area of over 360 square kilometres.
Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, whose administration created Rivers in May 1967, said the status of Port Harcourt as the capital of the state had continued to rise.
‘’ We are proud to be associated with the creation of Rivers State , especially with the role played by Port Harcourt in the development of the nation’s economy.’’
The former head of stated that since it became the capital of Rivers State, Port Harcourt has lived up to expectation as a city for Nigerians and citizens of other countries.
The commercial and economic role of Port Harcourt in the past 100 years has not escaped the attention of analysts and observers.
Prof. Nimi Briggs, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt, said that the rail lines built by the colonial administration served as an economic route.
‘’The railway was used as a major route for the export of cash crops by the colonial administration. For instance, before oil was discovered, coal, cocoa, ginger, groundnut, palm oil were transported by rail through Port Harcourt and eventually, exported by sea to Europe,’’ he said.
Briggs also reiterated that business was boosted in Port Harcourt as the city also became home to major oil and gas companies following the commercial discovery of crude oil in the late fifties.
Speaking at the centenary celebration, Gov. Chibuike Amaechi, said that his administration would the necessary infrastructure in Port  Harcourt to ensure it maintained it status as leading city in West Africa.
One of such facility is the Mono Rail Project under construction.
When completed, the Mono rail would ease traffic in the heart of the city and afford residents the opportunity to use rail transport as available in some cities of the world.
The governor also announced the intention of government to develop a new town to be called Greater Port Harcourt City.
The Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority Bill was passed into law by the Rivers State House of Assembly in 2009.
Amaechi said the Greater Port Harcourt City master plan ‘’ is a holistic plan for the development of the Greater Port Harcourt Area, which spans eight local government areas.
‘’ They are the whole of Port Harcourt and parts of Oyigbo, Okrika, Ogu/Bolo, Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre, Etche and Eleme local government areas,’’ he said.
Mrs Aleruchi Cookey-Gam, Administrator of Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, said the new city covers an area of approximately 1,900 kilometres or 190,000 hectares, covering the eight local government areas.
‘‘The new city is planned to be a modern comprehensively serviced urban area with 24 hours of electricity supply, network of reticulated water supply, bulk sewage system, network of good roads/ streets,’’ she said.
Cookey-Gam also said the new city would have “public transportation system, storm water management, waste management and disposal system , integrated urban security/surveillance systems, well laid out residential, commercial and industrial areas and parks’’.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who also spoke at the centenary celebration, recounted his youthful days in Port Harcourt, where as a resident, he boarded commercial buses and taxi to go to work.
The President, represented by Mr Oronto Douglas, an adviser, said the Federal Government would assist in the development of the city.
One of such measures already taken by Federal Government is the rehabilitation of the railway line from the northern part of the country through Enugu to Port Harcourt.
Port Harcourt is already a commercial hub, there is, therefore, the need to sustain the on going partnership between the Federal and Rivers state government to fast-track the development of infrastructure in the oil city.
Mbonye writes for News Agency of Nigeria.

Mike Mbonye

Rivers State Governor,Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (middle), watches as General Anthony Ukpo (left) and Group Capt Sam Ewang (rtd), exchange pleasantries, at the Centenary Dinner/Award Night in Government House, Port Harcourt