Nick Ashton-Jones, with Oronto Douglas and Susi Arnott

“ The city is the future. When we look at Port Harcourt we see not only the lives of people now but also we see what life will be like for mankind in the 21st century. And, it is not an encouraging picture. ”

“ The paradox of so much poverty amongst such plenty is often commented upon by residents of Nigeria and visitors alike and nowhere is this paradox more evident than in Port Harcourt where the fabulous wealth generated by the oil industry (at home and abroad) and the riches of the surrounding country contrast so strongly with the grinding poverty of the city. (All clichés, but nonetheless true) . Because of poverty the mass of the citizens have little economic power so that their needs are not met and consequently the social infrastructure of the city and its environment are very poor. ”

“ If modern cities are the result of humanity's struggle to improve its conditions over the past few hundred years, then that struggle should be judged to have failed dismally.
Yet, despite this gloomy picture, the human spirit, in its potential for optimism, joy and love, is as evident in Port Harcourt as it is in any place where people live together. ”

“ Port Harcourt has failed to even attempt to provide decent housing to its citizens. This is because economic power does not lie with the majority of citizens who are poor and who therefore cannot affect the free market in housing: the minority of citizens are rich and it is their spending power that influences housing policy. Because income is so badly distributed capital investment for housing is concentrated on building a few large houses for the elite minority, and no small houses for the poor majority. ”

“ The inhabitants of Port Harcourt suffer psychological stress because of social dislocation, poverty, the poor urban environment, and a sense of failure. Such stress reduces physiological efficiency, induces depression which lowers intellectual energy and efficiency, causes irrational and violent behaviour (sometimes in terms of the "mob") , and encourages some people to withdraw from society altogether. All this not only has an economic cost to society as a whole, but also conspires to destroy the Joy of Living, defeat hope and to cripple human happiness. ”

“ Poverty in rural areas (exacerbated by the city itself which consumes a disproportionate amount of limited development capital) is the reason why most people come to Port Harcourt, and on arrival poverty stares them in the face. This poverty is real because most incomes are way below the level needed to support even basic needs: we estimate that a family of six needs an income of N15,720 per month for food, water, fuel and rent only ”

“ Also, growth is rapid and extends into areas that are unsuitable for human habitation. Houses in most areas are overcrowded while basic public services such as treated water, sewage and refuse disposal, and electricity supply are either basic, erratic, or non-existent, in even the most salubrious areas; and pollution levels are high.
The destiny of Port Harcourt is to become the centre of a major conurbation the impetus for growth of which is the oil industry and the continuing rapid regional population growth. ”

“ From the foundation of Port Harcourt in 1913 there has been very little participation by local people in its planning and management: it has known repression, indifference and occasionally, even misguided benevolence, from colonial, military and civilian rulers alike. No organic democratic institutions have been allowed to develop so that the city has been inefficiently planned on a European model unsuited to African social institutions and for the benefit of the economic elite. ”

“ Health facilities are poor and unable to cope with the "alarming" spread of Tuberculosis caused by over-crowded accommodation, poor diet and economic stress, or with the wide range of diseases caused by the poor sanitation. Although the basic facilities and staff numbers are adequate, and staff skills are good, health services are under-funded and suffer from the inadequate supply of basic services that is common to the whole city: thus it cannot operate efficiently and staff moral is low. ”

“ House-building activity is a major economic engine and we saw no house building activity outside the GRAs. However a noticeable feature of self-employment is the predominance of people from Imo and Abia States who not only seem to choose self-employment in preference to being employed but also seem to succeed well at whatever they choose to do. They probably enhance the economy of Port Harcourt for its 'Third World' citizens more than the oil industry or the government. ”

“ Also, the physical impact of human settlement in addition to the associated commercial and industrial activity readily destroys the viability of the Brackish-water ecozone because of its comparatively low biodiversity. The stinking, sewage-strewn, plastic-riddled, polluted and dead mud flats along the Bonny River near Port Harcourt (many of which are now human settlement sites) were mangrove forest a few decades or even only a few years ago. Ironically there is a well-meaning but ignorant policy to sandfill most of the Brackish-water ecozone around the city. ”

“ The problem is not so much the amount of toxic wastes that the industrial city produces but that within a culture of poor and corruptible management there is always the risk that control standards will be lax and circumnavigated. For the same reason, and because Port Harcourt is a port, there is the ever present danger of the illegal importation and dumping of toxic wastes from Europe. ”

“ The long term economic health of the area will depend upon five factors:
industrial diversification, so that the economy is not entirely dependant upon oil; successful rural development in terms of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, so that economic development throughout the region is balanced, which will reduce the rural-urban drift; maintenance of the ecological integrity of the Niger Delta as a whole by integrating environmental management into the development process, and thus conserving the valuable resources of the Niger Delta that contribute to the wealth of the city ”

“ Moreover, because the majority of the citizens of Port Harcourt are poor, the wealth generation capacity of the city is low. Housing is a good example where the low rents do not represent an economic return on the landlord's investment so that there is no free market incentive to build houses for poor people. ”

“ The minority who work securely in the oil and related industries have much higher salaries of up to ten times the civil and public service rates.
Thus Port Harcourt is an economically schizophrenic city containing a small minority of First World citizens and a large majority of poor Third World citizens. It is no wonder that people resort to corruption and crime to raise their incomes. ”

“ It is not a normal place to live. We are grown up. Our body can survive it but the children cannot. It can affect their life. If I have money I will leave and go and stay in my father's compound as the first son.
Port is a good place of living before. It was good before. Before, I go NPA, I go high sea, I have money, I feed my children, but now no way. It is not a good place for me any more. That is why I want to go.
The E. family give the impression of being happy and united despite their condition. ”

“ The waste products of Port Harcourt have a dramatic impact on the Brackish-water ecosystem of the city, especially as the wastes are not easily flushed out of the system into the sea because tides tend to push them back up the Bonny Estuary. Organic products, such as oil, human sewage, and vegetable and animal refuse, may to a certain degree have a positive impact by enriching the nutrient source at the beginning of the food chain. ”

“ Despite the perseverance of the extended family and its benefits the conditions of overcrowding and of high unemployment mitigate against the health of the family structure. Married men who are not heads of households often have to live without their families and families often split up when the head loses his job. Nonetheless the family spirit rises above many of the disadvantages of living in Port Harcourt. ”

“ Because the social infrastructure of Port Harcourt has developed in response to the needs of the economic elite the urban environment is poor.
Domestic Water and Sanitation standards are low because there is no sewage treatment, no treated water, no piped water (for most of the time) , and garbage collection and treatment is badly managed. As a result easily preventable diseases such as hepatitis A, diarrhoea, gastro-enteritis, typhoid, intestinal parasites and food poisoning prevail and, because of poverty and poor health facilities, can be fatal especially amongst children. ”

“ However building methods are better because of the landlord's security of tenure and population densities (800-1,000 persons per hectare) are not amongst the highest in the city because the buildings are single storey and the layout is anarchic, although open space is severely limited. Rents are around N300 (1994) per room per month, which is why so many of the city's residents prefer to live at the waterside.
In contrast to Ikwerre Road, the compound at Abakaliki Street is more typical of the housing developments that took place in the city before the frantic growth after the civil war. ”

“ One aspect of the recent history of Port Harcourt has been the inter-cultural conflicts, however without being able to delve too deeply into these sensitive issues we encountered more cooperation than conflict, and we conclude that inter-cultural conflict is the result of outside organisation. ”

“ Environmental hazards associated with the work-place are common in Port Harcourt because of the wide occurrence of unregulated commercial and industrial businesses, because much work is done at home, because the work place is often the road-side, and because public health standards are easy to circumnavigate. ”

“ As a result many children grow up without any contact with their cultural roots or wider families, and an extensive entirely urban-orientated younger generation is developing, that is to a large extent economically, socially and emotionally deprived, forming the basis of a culture is to some extent anti-social. Common antidotes to the cultural privations of Port Harcourt life are religion and drugs. ”

“ No less of a danger to an industrial area such as Port Harcourt is the export of dirty industries from Europe where strictly enforced environmental controls make them uneconomic (the Aluminium plant at Ikot Abasi is a good example) . ”

“ Modern Port Harcourt is typical of a medium sized industrial and administrative city in the developing world. Thus large areas of the city are officially laid out for residential, industrial, commercial and administrative purposes, but the majority of the residents live, and much of the commercial and industrial activity takes place in unplanned and unofficial places. ”

“ Non-degradable or slowly degradable man-made products, such as plastics, become physically incorporated into the soil structure; but more serious are inorganic compounds, such as heavy metals, which are the by-products of industrial processes, which build up and concentrate down the food chain possibly to toxic levels, and particularly in the filter feeding arthropods and molluscs. There may be excessively high levels of the heavy metals cadmium and lead in the Bonny River. ”

“ Tens off thousands of people live in the waterside settlements forced into them by extreme poverty, and although many live hopeless lives, a number have good jobs in government and private service but are nonetheless paid grossly inadequate wages. ”

“ Conditions vary from unemployed deserted wives with children to feed; to happy-go-lucky close-knit families who make a living in all sorts of legal and illegal ways; to young single men and women hopeful of some success in life; to old people waiting to die in squalid and hopeless conditions.
Some of the statements made by the residents can be found at the end of this chapter. ”

“ Port Harcourt is a prime concentration of industry most of which may be said to be environmentally hazardous, including the oil and petroleum industry, metal fabricating, fertiliser, engineering, food processing, paint, plastic, tyres, enamelling, gas bottling, and glass manufacture. ”

“ The conservation of the ecologically sensitive and valuable mangrove forests around Port Harcourt and along the Bonny Estuary is important for the health and economic well being of the city and its region, and for food such as periwinkles. ”

“ The general condition of the buildings, like most in the waterside is very poor and is particularly noticeable in the roof, which is a mass of small bits of corrugated galvanised sheets that are rusting away fast. Nonetheless because of the position, ventilation is good, although offset by the obvious sewage smell coming from the nearby polluted creek at low tide. ”