Requiem For The Man Who Built The Tide

An evening of tributes was held last Wednesday for Chief Okoma Kio Isokariari, a foremost indigenous contractor in Rivers State who built monumental complexes that include the current modern edifice of the Rivers State Newspaper Corporation (The Tide).
At an evening service of songs held in his honour at St. Cyprain’s Anglican Church, Port Harcourt, many spoke glowingly about the Ijaw- Kalabari born building contractor cum community leader.
Late Chief Isokariari rose from humble beginning as a railway worker, but resigned his civil service position and started building jobs shortly after the Nigerian civil war.
From a modest renovation and maintenance jobs, the former railway worker rose to become a colossus in construction works as he took jobs that included the Braithwaite Nursing Home and completed it.
It is believed that it was this feat that opened way for him to make his mark as he single-handedly completed the Buguma General Hospital in 1975 during the Commander Diete Spiff era.
In his memoirs, he recalled that, “The happiest day of my life follows the completion of the Buguma General Hospital as it was ceremoniously commissioned and opened by the Federal Commissioner for Health.”
Chief Isokariari’s legacies in the building and construction sector were numerous, and they include iconic buildings like the Pan African Bank headquarters at Azikiwe Road, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation zonal headquarters at Moscow Road in Port Harcourt.
Others were the NAFCON and Agip quarters, including construction of drain and storm water channels in parts of the city.
He wrote in his autobiography that, “The next major project which till this day has its stamp of modernity in the city of Port Harcourt and which I secured…was the Pan African Bank complex on Azikiwe Road.”
During the service of songs attended by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, legal luminary, Onueze (OCJ) Okocha, and former Commissioner for Works in old Rivers State, Arch. Harcourt Aduke, former and serving commissioners, eulogies were poured on Isokariari and his contributions to the development of Rivers State.
Sir. Gogo Dienye, President of Niger Delta Council of Knights, an organisation Chief Isokariari led for two terms, described the building colossus as an accomplished businessman and Christian.
Sir Dienye said, “He (Isokariari) was so distinguished in the service at the vineyard.”
The president of Niger Delta Council of Knights narrated how late Chief Isokariari contributed to the church buildings, adding that, “there is so much to be learnt from him. The life of our late brother can’t be summarized on a sheet of paper.”
His first son, Engr. Obelema Isokariari said his father was selfless and humane and as such his shoes was too big to be filled.
Obelema Isokariari said the family plans to sustain his legacy by ensuring that the new proposed parish building is erected in their father’s name.
Late Chief Isokariari lived for 87 years and would be laid to rest in his country home, Buguma in Asari Toru Local Government Area on the 5th of August after Christian obsequies.