Port Harcourt Local Government Area (PHALGA) is a Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State in Southern Nigeria. It is one of the 23 local government areas created for the state. Its administrative seat is located in Port Harcourt. Although the LGA consists of two different ethnic groups, the Ikwerre and Obulom (Abuloma)[1][citation needed]. The Abuloma people of Rivers State speak 'Obulom- Ochichi' language.[2]
Geography
Port Harcourt local government area is included in the Greater Port Harcourt region. It is situated 52 kilometres (32 mi) southeast of Ahoada and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of Bori. It is bounded to the south by Okrika, to the east by Eleme, to the north by Obio-Akpor and to the west by Degema. It has a total size of 109 square kilometres (42 sq mi).[3][4]
The total population in the area was last recorded at 638,360 people in 2011 from 538,558 in 2006.[3]
The 2023 population of Cities in Nigeria, according to The World Population Review,[5] Port Harcourt is ranked 4th on the list with a population of 1,865,000.
Government
The local government area is part of the Rivers East Senatorial district consisting of 20 electoral wards. The mayor, who is the highest-ranking official in the Port Harcourt local government is elected by popular vote and presides as both head of wards and head of the local government council.[6]
The current mayor of Port Harcourt is Hon. Ichemati Ezebunwo [7]
Rivers State University currently has its main campus at Nkpolu Oroworukwo, although plans are in progress to relocate the institution to a new 524-acre (212 ha) site within the Greater Port Harcourt urban centre.[10]
Primary and secondary
Many private schools including some government schools are located in and around this area. Primary education in many cases starts at the age of 4 for majority of Riverians. Students spend five or six years in primary school and graduate with a school leaving certificate. At the secondary level, students spend six years, that is 3 years of JSS (Junior Secondary School), and 3 years of SSS (Senior Secondary School).
The following are primary (elementary) and secondary schools (high schools) operating within the Port Harcourt local government area:
Nimi Briggs, Academic, scholar and Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology,and the 5th vice chancellor of the University of port Harcourt. He died last month April, 2023
^Wright, Tony (2002), "Doing language awareness", Language in Language Teacher Education, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 113–130, retrieved 27 April 2023
^Wright, Tony (2002), "Doing language awareness", Language in Language Teacher Education, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 113–130, retrieved 27 April 2023
