Beware of Port Harcourt, for it is a sneaky place. It hides behind thick Lagosian accents as “Pathankot”, which happens to be a municipal dispensation in northern India I visited for a recent assignment. When the Nigerian Pathankot reveals itself as Port Harcourt, a glance at the map elicits a groan, especially when one’s final destination happens to be the city of Yenagoa, one state and a three-hour drive away, through what was once the heart of Nigeria’s oil-region troubles



The Port Harcourt airport, like most airports in Africa, is under construction. We enter a parking lot through a series of air-conditioned tents, and find ourselves a driver who will take us through to Yenagoa for the equivalent of about $55 each. (This, on top of $230 one-way plane tickets from Lagos, makes for an expensive trip). The ride is spectacular, unmatchable, video-game worthy. It takes the passenger from River State to Bayelsa at roughly the speed of sound, along roads that range from perfectly paved to bombed-out moonscape – all of it framed by jungle so fecund that you can practically feel the fungus growing between your toes as the ride progresses. The Yenagoa road – and please keep in mind that this is the capital of one of the more oil-rich districts in the entire continent – is an emblem for how poorly the area has been managed, and how the drain of petroleum wealth has compromised Nigeria’s development. Crushed vehicles lie rotting in the roadside jungle, and the trucks and busses zooming at us head-on, with intent, suggest that were our driver to shift his attention to one of his two smartphones, the only thing that would save us is a band of rampaging kidnappers. For the most part, they are no more.

Bayelsa itself is the result of a controversial administrational revamp of the delta region that occurred in the mid-90s. The state dates back to 1996, and Goodluck Jonathan rose from governor to the presidency during a two-year tenure that kicked off in 2005. Jonathan considers the region home and it should be unsurprising that oil-soaked local elites hold such political sway in Abuja. Equally unsurprising is the fact that Bayelsa and its environs have always been considered the ground zero of Nigeria’s endemic rot. Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, an army hack who governed between 1999 and 2005, was found with £1 million in cash in his London home, a city in which he owned a further £10 million worth of property. Timipre Silva, the most recent incumbent, was removed due to a court order, following a suspected fallout with Jonathan. Now: the reign of Seriake Dickson, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart and a man firmly in the Jonathan orbit.


http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-04-23-letter-from-nigeria-the-niger-river-delta-looks-at-life-after-oil/

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It takes the passenger from River State to Bayelsa at roughly the speed of sound, along roads that range from perfectly paved to bombed-out moonscape – all of it framed by jungle so fecund that you can practically feel the fungus growing between your toes as the ride progresses. The Yenagoa road – and please keep in mind that this is the capital of one of the more oil-rich districts in the entire continent – is an emblem for how poorly the area has been managed, and how the drain of petroleum wealth has compromised Nigeria’s development.

^^^^^Sorry, the bolded is hysterical!!!