Port Harcourt is the capital and largest city in Rivers State, 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 Niger Delta. As of 2016, the Port Harcourt urban area, had an estimated Port Harcourt's 2023 population is now estimated at 3.5m, up from 1.4m as of 2006. 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. Historically it has been known as "Ígwúóchán" in the Ikwerre language, also Obomuotu Country within which a few other smaller areas were called Diobu.
Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari was a Nigerian politician who was the first democratically elected president of Nigeria, after the transfer of power by military head of state General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1979 giving rise to the Second Nigerian Republic.
Rivers State, also known as Rivers, is a state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria. Formed in 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include: Imo to the north, Abia and Akwa Ibom to the east, and Bayelsa and Delta to the west. The State capital, Port Harcourt, is a metropolis that is considered to be the commercial center of the Nigerian oil industry.
The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 1962 and is the oldest degree-awarding institution in Nigeria. Through its graduate network, the University of Ibadan has contributed to the political, industrial, economic and cultural development of Nigeria. The history and influence of the University of Ibadan have made it one of the most prestigious universities in Africa.
The Edoid languages are a few dozen languages spoken in Southern Nigeria, predominantly in the former Bendel State. The name Edoid derives from its most widely spoken member, Edo, the language of Benin City, which has 25 million native and secondary speakers.
Kay Williamson, born Ruth Margaret Williamson, was a linguist who specialised in the study of African languages, particularly those of the Niger Delta in Nigeria, where she lived for nearly fifty years. She has been called "The Mother of Nigerian Linguistics" and is also notable for proposing the Pan-Nigerian alphabet.
Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi, best known as Ola Rotimi, was one of Nigeria's leading playwrights and theatre directors. He has been called "a complete man of the theatre – an actor, director, choreographer and designer – who created performance spaces, influenced by traditional architectural forms."
Elechi Amadi was a Nigerian author and soldier. He was a former member of the Nigerian Armed Forces. He was an author of plays and novels that are generally about African village life, customs, beliefs, and religious practices prior to contact with the Western world. Amadi is best regarded for his 1966 debut novel, The Concubine, which has been called "an outstanding work of pure fiction".
Ikwerre, sometimes spelt as Ikwere, is a type of Igboid language spoken primarily by the Ikwerre people, who inhabit certain areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. It is the biggest Igboid variety along with Ngwa of Abia State.
Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa, was a Nigerian author who has been called the mother of modern African Literature. She was the forerunner to a generation of African women writers, and the first African woman novelist to be published in the English language in Britain. She achieved international recognition with her first novel Efuru, published in 1966 by Heinemann Educational Books. While never considering herself a feminist, she was best known for recreating life and traditions from an Igbo woman's viewpoint.
Elele is a town in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Madonna University is located in Elele in Ikwerre local government area. Elele, one of the major cities in Nigeria, is a medium-sized town in the Rivers region. It has a population of about 20,620. The distance between Elele and Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers, is roughly 42 kilometers distant. It takes 445 kilometers to get from Elele to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
The Ikwerre is one of the Igbo Subgroups in Rivers State. They are the biggest ethnic group in Rivers state.Traditional history has classified Ikwerre into seven groups called "Ikwerre Essa". They are Elele, Isiokpo, Rumuji, Emohua, Choba, Aluu, Igwuruta and Obio group. This division was recognized by Forde and Jones; (1950) in their ethnographic study of the Igboid speaking peoples of Eastern Nigeria. It was also in line with this grouping those seven customary Courts were established in Ikwerre during the Colonial administration. These Courts were located at Elele, Isiokpo, Umuji, Emohua, Choba, Aluu and Obio in Ikwerreland.
Government College Umuahia, or GCU, is an independent secondary school for boys located on Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road in Umuahia, Nigeria.
Michael Abiola Omolewa is a Nigerian diplomat, scholar, education historian, and civil servant. From September 2003 to October 2005, he served as the 32nd president of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). While president, Omolewa led UNESCO to adopt the International Declaration on Human Genetic Data and the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. From January 2000 to August 2009, Omolewa served as permanent delegate and ambassador of Nigeria to UNESCO. At University of Lagos, on Wednesday 6 February 2019, Omolewa delivered the 5th Enoch Adeboye Annual Birthday Public Lecture; titled: Peace: The Global Quest.
Obi Wali was a minority rights activist, politician, distinguished senator, literary scholar, and an orator from Nigeria. Among his achievements, he fought for the cause of the Ikwerre ethnic minorities and argued that African literature should be written in African languages.
Joseph Atubokiki Ajienka is a Nigerian professor of Petroleum engineering, educational administrator and the seventh vice chancellor of University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Under his leadership, the University of Port Harcourt was ranked 6th in Africa and 1st in Nigeria in Research Influence by Times Higher Education (THE).
Onigu Otite was a Nigerian sociologist. He was among the first set of students to attend the first indigenous Nigerian university - University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He wrote several books including The Urhobo People, On the Path of Progress, Ethnic Pluralism and Ethnic Conflicts in Nigeria, and Introduction to Sociology which he co-authored with William Ogionwo. The Urhobo Studies Association USA Chapter regard him as one of the earliest Urhobo scholars to focus attention on the culture and history of the Urhobo People of the Niger Delta.
Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is a Nigerian author and educator, whose published work includes novels, poetry, short stories, books for children, essays and journalism. She is the winner of several awards in Nigeria, including the Nigeria Prize for Literature.
Samuel Onyuku Elenwo was the Anglican Bishop of Niger Delta in Niger Delta Province of the Church of Nigeria.
Choba, Port Harcourt is a neighbourhood in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. It is located 16 km (9.9 mi) to the northwest of the Port Harcourt central business district, on the eastern bank of the New Calabar River.
