Port Harcourt (Pidgin: Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa) is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is located in the oil rich Niger Delta.
As of 2023, Port Harcourt's urban population is estimated at 3,480,000. The population of the metropolitan area of Port Harcourt is almost twice its urban area population with a 2015 United Nations estimate of 2,344,000. In 1950, the population of Port Harcourt was 59,752.
Port Harcourt has grown by 150,844 since 2015, which represents a 4.99% annual change.The area that became Port Harcourt in 1912 was before that of a farmland of people of Rebisi (Ikwerre). 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.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 modernization such as overpasses, city blocks, and taller and more substantial buildings.
Oil firms that currently have offices in the city include Shell and Chevron.There are a number of public and private tertiary institutions in Port Harcourt. These institutions include Rivers State University, University of Port Harcourt, Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic, Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic, Ignatius Ajuru University, Rivers State College of Health Science and Technology, Madonna University, PAMO University of Medical Sciences, National Open University of Nigeria.
The current mayor is Victor Ihunwo.
Port Harcourt's primary airport is Port Harcourt International Airport, located on the outskirts of the city; the NAF base is the location of the only other airport and is used by commercial airlines Aero Contractors and Air Nigeria for domestic flights.
Rice, egusi soup with eba or fufu, pounded yam, papper soup, ogbono soup.
There is great night life here.
Try Cheers Bar in GRA every Sunday! Place is absolutely packed with guys and girls being treated to awesome music by Nick and Smart. Food is great, service is friendly and the beers are cold!
Also on weekends Wine Bar, Bunga Villa (as the locals call it) and Aristo House are great!.
Port Harcourt generally known as the 'PH City' is one of the beautiful places to visit in Nigeria. Port Harcourt was formed in 1912. In 2016, Port Harcourt was home to about 1.2 million people.
