Trifter

When one talks about a garden city, the image that readily comes to mind is that of a serene environment much like the biblical Garden of Eden. Is it still possible to find a city that is close to nature in today’s Nigeria? The answer is yes. Where could this haven be found? Try Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s foremost oil city. Many will disagree but it is only because they have not seen the real garden city in Port Harcourt.

The only one they know is the Rivers State capital, affectionately called the treasure base of the nation. They know that Port Harcourt is perhaps the fastest growing metropolitan city in the country today. After Lagos and Abuja, Port Harcourt ranks as the third most sought after city in Nigeria, especially for those looking for greener pastures. Like a pot of honey, those with good taste buds are swarming into the city to quench their taste.

Those who miss the garden city, come looking for an acclaimed oil city. Do you blame them? It would be wrong to do so, for Port Harcourt is indeed an oil city. It is one of Nigeria’s 36 states created from the then Eastern region in 1967. Before that historical rebirth, the territory was known as oil Rivers protectorate, deriving from its abundant wealth in oil and gas deposits. The area is the heart of the hydrocarbon industry in Nigeria. Statistics show that it is responsible for a huge chunk of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings. “It is accountable for over 48 per cent of crude oil produced on- shore in the country and 100 per cent of the liquefied gas that Nigeria is currently exporting to several countries of the world,” states a Rivers State Government publication.

This is certainly inviting for oil merchants and fortune seekers, who would be drawn by the magnetic effect of crude oil and the wealth it holds. In an environment so blessed, job seekers would come in droves and merchants will be falling over themselves to secure a foothold in the land of plenty.

Now, you may ask, but where is the “garden” in this city of oil? That is the intriguing part. Only only those who have eyes for nature find the “garden”. Remember that in 2001, the world found its beauty queen in Port Harcourt. Miss Agbani Darego, a student of the University of Port Harcourt, was discovered and crowned Miss world. How did that happen? It was possible because the world looked beyond the surface. Beyond the hustle and bustle of an urban environment lies nature’s beauty. The story of Agbani Darego is the story of garden city. Like the beauty queen, those with an eye for nature’s beauty see the garden in Port Harcourt. To discover

Port Harcourt, you must go beyond the city lights and the concrete jungles that line the streets.

Just as Agbani’s beauty came from the backwaters of Abonema, a riverside community, Port Harcourt’s beauty lies hidden in the sleepy riverside communities surrounding it. So, if you are looking for the “garden”, don’t go to the city center. Go instead to Abonema, Buguma, Okrika, Opobo, and Andoni.

Why should you go to these places rather than the Hotel Presidential in the heart of the city? Simple. Beauty lies beneath the surface. All the cosmetics in the world wouldn’t have given Agbani Darego a miss World crown. What gave it to her was nature’s beauty.

Beauty rides on a lion. As is often said, it lies in the eyes of the beholder. Like everything in accord with nature, beauty is the result of a perfect economy. Just like the cell of the bee is built at that angle which gives the most strength with the least wax; the bone or quill of the bird gives the most strength with the least weight, so also is beauty “the purgation of superfluities,” in the words of Michel Angelo.

Agbani Darego caught the eyes of the world for one unique reason; her simplicity. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, for the simple reason that she hails from the treasure base of the nation. Nowhere can be closer to nature and treasure than Abonema. Agbani’s success brings home one very important point. Beauty is at its best when it is natural. If you have a black skin, wear it proudly like Agbani and be at peace with nature. She demonstrated that bleaching the skin and abusing the body with chemicals couldn’t buy beauty.

As Waldo Emerson would say “the felicities of design in art, or in works of nature, are shadows, or forerunners of that beauty, which reaches its perfection in the human form”. All men are its lovers. Wherever it goes, it creates joy and hilarity, and everything is permitted to it. It reaches its height in women.

Now, you can understand why many have missed the beauty of Port Harcourt. For those who want to drink from the fountain of the “garden”, lets, take a trip to Opobo for instance. On arrival at the Port Harcourt international airport, pay little attention to the dilapidated infrastructure. Don’t be irritated by the touts who would arrange a taxi for you. Just keep your cool and accept some of the irritants as the price to pay for a journey to paradise.

The drive through the airport road into town is smooth except for some portions where construction is still going on. Traversing the town to join the Eleme Refinery Road may be unpleasant. Don’t worry. As you get past the Refinery in Eleme, you wonder at the pollution from gas flares. Still don’t worry. You are taken through Ogoniland and you remember late Ken Saro-Wiwa, the famous environmentalist. Thereafter your taxi ride terminates at Cornor Water-Side. It is here that you board a small boat that will take you to Opobo, the land of the legendary king Jaja of Opobo.

Now, you can open your eyes to savor the beauty of garden city. The boat ride through the creeks is a wonderful experience. Here, you behold nature in its unadulterated form. When you land at the jetty, don’t ask for another taxi, because there is none. From the jetty you have to walk into the town. The cars and trucks have no place in this community. It is back to base and you have no option but to enjoy it.

Opobo, being and ancient kingdom founded by King Jaja, is a tourist paradise. Exploring it brings you closer to nature and its abundant beauty. Opobo is particularly interesting to visit during the Christmas holiday season. That is the period when the famous Nwaatam festival is held annually.

For a newcomer, you may think that we have left Port Harcourt for the interior. Well, the Rivers men, as they love to be called, share a common heritage in Port Harcourt. It is their lifeblood and a point of convergence. The city plays such a central role in their lives that those chairmen of local government areas in adjourning communities reside in ort Harcourt. They drive to their headquarters from their palatial residences in Port Harcourt. So for the Rivers man, garden city is more like Rivers State as a whole, rather than just Port Harcourt. In the light of this, therefore, the treasures of Opobo form part of the much talked about garden city.

Now, why would one spend his Christmas season visiting Opobo? Here is why. It is the period the descendants of King Jaja of Opobo celebrate the annual Nwaatam festival. Nwaatam is a masquerade, which could be likened to the Ekpe in Calabar. Like the Ekpe masquerade, it could be seen as a cult group. Nwaatam is so important to the Opobo man that when they are preparing for it, you would think that they are going for a pilgrimage. Indeed, it is a carnival that no one wants to miss.

So, imagine that you are on your way to visit Opobo at the time of this carnival. At the jetty, you already begin to have a feel of the fiesta. Not even the rusting rails of the jetty will spoil your view of men and women resplendently decked in the traditional wrapper and etibo (gown). As you make your way further into the town, you are likely to see others that are even more elaborately and lavishly dressed. Here you see bowler hats of all shapes and sizes. You see all kinds of stylish walking sticks and of course you see beads in a cascade of colors.

This air of festivity envelops the whole Opobo Kingdom throughout the Christmas season. The highpoint of the celebrations is the seventh day of the Nwaatam festival. This is the day that the masqueraders display their skills on rooftops. Yes, the roof is to Nwaatam, what water is to fish. The celebration is taken to the roofs of houses.

Why do they take their celebrations to such dangerous heights? Enyinna Brown, a proud son of Opobo, said that the roofs provide the ultimate test for Nwaatam. According to him, Nwaatam is expected to purify the men who participate in it. They would not sleep with any woman for the seven days before the performance. They would also not eat any food prepared by a woman within that period. Brown said that if anyone had not kept to the rules, dancing on the roofs might be a dangerous adventure. The defaulters may likely tumble to the ground. Therein lies the excitement.

During Nwaatam festival, the whole town is agog with pomp and ceremony. Lavish entertainment is never in short supply. For seafood lovers, Opobo beckons at Nwaatam. While you savor the excitement of Nwaatam, you may find yourself falling in love with the simplicity of Opobo. You don’t have to worry about vehicular traffic. The stone-paved streets are meant for human traffic. Most of the buildings are ancient and the corrosive effects of salty ocean water are evident on the corrugated zinc roofs.

A one-kilometer walk from the jetty to the central square brings you face -to -face with the statue of the great King Jaja of Opobo. Beyond that, you are bound to admire the simple village setting. Now, add this to the effect of being surrounded by creeks, beaches and ocean water. This experience leaves you with a feeling of oneness with nature and arguably brings your search for garden city to an end.

PORT HARCOURT IN THE BIGGINING…

Port Harcourt, the capital city of the oil-rich Rivers State basks more in the glory of its past than in the gains of the present. Up until the late sixties, it was proudly known as the garden city. The fond memory of those days still linger, so does the name.

Today, one is not so sure that garden city is a fitting name for Port Harcourt. Perhaps the home of oil and gas would be more appropriate. The government of Rivers State proudly proclaims that it is the treasure base of Nigeria. There is no disputing the fact that it is one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in Africa.

A peep into the past reveals a city born out of economic necessity. According to the British Colonial masters, the initial purpose of the port city was to export coal, produced in large quantities in Enugu, to the north of the country through the Bonny Rivers.

The British founded Port Harcourt in 1912 on land originally inhabited by the Igbo who called it Igwe Ocha and Ijaw. They named it after Lewis Viscount Harcourt, Secretary of State for the Colonies (1910-15)

You can be sure that this historical account by British authors is not the last word on this port city. The Ikwerre man will certainly not agree with this version. Firstly, they want to distance themselves from their Igbo origin. Secondly, they cherish a distinct identity as Ikwerre people. Their deep animosity against the Igbo manifests in a spirited attempt to rewrite the history of their homeland. For the Ikwerre man, the town formerly known as Obigbo is now Oyigbo. Umu-Okoro is now Rumuokoro; Umu-Igbo becomes Rumuigbo etc. In fact the “RUMUS” are as many as there are Igbo names in Port Harcourt suburbs. Another group that lays claim to the old Port Harcourt Township is the people of Okrika. Actually, their villages are only separated from the Port Harcourt Township by creeks.

Whatever stake the Igbo had in Port Harcourt was obliterated at the end of the Nigeria Civil war in

1970. Most of the choice property in the heart of the city, which belonged to Igbo people, was dubbed abandoned property.

Today, Port Harcourt is a cosmopolitan city with a population of about 1,133,400 million people (as of 2004). It is Nigeria’s second largest commercial and industrial center, with the second busiest seaport in the country. Port Harcourt has a busy international airport with regular local and international flights. The city is also a rail terminus, which links the eastern part of country to the north.

Port Harcourt boasts of two universities, two refineries, a petrochemical plant and a liquefied natural gas plant. Port Harcourt, as the de facto headquarters of the petroleum industry in Nigeria, attracts one and all.