Port Harcourt (Igwe Ocha)
‘Iguocha’ from the ‘Ikwerre’ borrowed from Igbo “Ugwu Ocha” is the former name of one of the largest metropolitan cities in Nigeria, Port Harcourt. It means ‘bright skyline’ in Igbo. Port Harcourt is the largest city of Rivers State. The area was part of the farmlands of the Diobu Village of the Ikwerre people, a sub-group of the Igbo ethnic group. Port Harcourt has the major oil-refinery in Nigeria with two main refineries that process about 210,000 barrels of oil a day. The colonial administration created the port in 1912 to transport coal from Enugu. In 1913, Lord Lugard named the Port after Lewis Vermon Harcourt who was the secretary of state for the colonies at the time.
