₦airaland Forum

aribisala0:
your brother posted a link to a version of Iwerre history on the previous page there are two books read them but are you retracting your claim that ohafia people introduced the term ,

aribisala0:
the reason i cited my 20 years  in PH was to show my knowledge of the layout which it is clear you do not  know

if you did you will not talk of diobu and cliffs.

aribisala0:
there are so many villages that make up the ikwerre part of PH and they have all been in existence before lugard came so it is a fallacy to say PH developed from Diobu.

aribisala0:
diobu is part of REBISI  which along with several other communities came to be known as port harcourt after the PORT not after iguocha

aribisala0:
more importantly the actual TOWN  centre is Not on IKwerre land.

aribisala0:
neither is the port it is NOT in Diobu . i repeat the port is NOT in Diobu, the railway terminal is a different matter

aribisala0:
none of the history of the IKWERRES uses that word. NONE

aribisala0:
ezeagu you are just avoiding the truth.  i am not stating anything only challenging the ludicrous claims you make which you cannot substantiate and then you try and confuse people.

aribisala0:
1.you  are the one claiming that ikwerre are igbo. personally i do not know the truth but i know that there is a dispute and i know that the ikwerre language has been recognized as a distinct language by Nigeria.

aribisala0:
2.i know that some people claim that PH developed from IGUOCHA this is  at best an error and at worst a lie and i challenge you to provide ONE Ikwerre source to corroborate this claim.

aribisala0:
there is no record of Ikwerres EVER using this term the simple refutation is PROVIDE ONE

aribisala0:
these are the only issues i am interested in everything else is NOISE and a futile attempt to confuse.

deal with the issues and stop this rigmarole.

naturally i know you and your cotravellers have NO ANSWER to the issues and so i expect more personal attacks and fustian rhetoric

aribisala0:
you already claimed that iguocha was the name used by ohafia people  for what exactly and why was that name NOT SUITABLE.

why did not the colonialists consider any other names to be NOT  suitable across the whole of Nigeria
i have a theory but let us leave it at that

hercules07:
I have witnessed more containers going to the North than the East, a port in Onitsha will benefit the SE no doubt, but, it will not have an effect on Lagos.

GAR3TH:
Lagos is not the only city that has a deep sea port, you also have warri, port harcourt, Onne and calabar. If anything its warri, port harcourt, onne and calabar that will be affected not Lagos. But i don't think Onitsha port has the capability to make a dent in any economic system. Onitsha river port is alot smaller than the other ports in the nation due to the fact that its a River port which means it will carry alot less traffic.

GAR3TH:
[color=#006600]The river Niger CAN NOT carry cargo ships because its not deep enough even though it has been dredge. Most likely ferries or barges will be used to carry the cargo, which means the cargo ships will have to dock at lagos or onne and the goods will be transfered onto a ferry or barge which will then take it to onitsha.

GAR3TH:
[color=#006600]Add to the fact that Onitsha river port doesn't YET have any direct rail connections like Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt or Onne (u/c) I don't think onitsha port will be taking away any economic activity nor decongesting any other port in the nation.

the only thing the port will do is bring economic activity to onitsha and asaba..

hercules07:
@eze

I guess your question is indeed silly but I will answer you, there is technically no Lagos - Asaba road, but I have travelled from Lagos to Asaba before and Benin to Asaba is a modern road, Benin Ore is bad, Ore Sagamu is not too good, Sagamu Lagos is just there, so I have answered your question.

Eko Ile:
Are you offering us the new definition for SEA? Why is it always so hard for you people to be honest with yourselves, you no there is no damn sea in that are so why keep making the sea references?

The place can not function as a seaport simply because it's a river, it's too shallow and dredging only cleared a narrow path for small boats to sail trough. 


lol @ the BIGGEST, LARGEST MARKET IN BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE AFRICA, AND SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR,  You people sabi brag over nothing sha.

redsun:
Really?Are u line with reality at all?

Most of the goods that comes through lagos that the igbos use to move by road between lagos,mid west and the south east by road will now go down to onitsha by ship and you are still saying it is not going to shake up lagos economic systems.

hercules07:
The opening of the port in Onitsha will enable more goods to come in to the country, it is not going to affect the Lagos economy, the ports are federal properties anyway and importers will not ship goods meant for the SW to Onitsha just because of some tribal patriotism. There are so many ports in the South South that should have been receiving goods for the SE, why has this not happened?

aribisala0:
guy you are funny you quote a fictitious letter and ask me to look for it. is that how your schorlarship works?

truth is there is no agreement where this igweocha or whatever it is comes from.scroll up the page and see what chinenye has to say on the subject. why should i accept any particular version.

at any rate the  port i know in PH is NOT in Diobu it is in town not far from abonema wharf . it is NOT an Ikwerre community

The Government House,State Secretariat and Civic Centre are NOT in Diobu
the old GRA Port Harcourt CLUB
the area every one knows as TOWN ; lagos street,creek road,aggrey road are NOT in Diobu
the Teaching Hospital (old general HospitaL)

Diobu is a small part of The Rebisi Kingdom that was dominated and still is by Igbo traders
so Rebisi is more significant than Diobu and only goes to buttress my point that most accounts of PH are NOT from natives but form others with their own agenda.
Post office all built by the colonialists or Eastern Region government are NOT in diobu. these areas are the CORE of PH
at any rate lugards intention was to build a Port NOT a city.
of course the unintended consequence is that so many areas e.g Choba where UNIPORT is,rumuokwuta,rumueme etc are now being called PH.
but these places were in existence before PH they did not develop from PH . they were not  uninhabited.
in a sense it it like calling Orile Lagos. it is not.

Oletunow:
I thought 'Ahumgi' is more like 'I see you or I saw you'?

I did not see you, should sound more like, 'Ahumrogi', my spelling might be way off, but it appear you are missing the negation,

aribisala0:
even the ikwerres do not use that word IGWEOCHA. i NEVER heard that word in the 20 years i lived in PH. ikwerres tend to have Ezes so can you identify any EZE igweocha

for your info the ikwerre parts(Not all PH is ikwerre) are Obio,Rebisi,Apara,Evo Ogunabali ,Diobu.

Iguocha NOT igweocha is a controversial story which has little to do with what is known as PH

there is no community known as iguocha but some igbo writers have stated that this is the name of some white reefs by the river.

at any rate the riverside areas of PH are NOT Ikwerre but owned by Okrika and Kalabari communities
.

Onitsha river port – at last!

From all indications, there is every reason to hope that at last the river port facility at Onitsha will soon be completed and put to use. The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, while inspecting the level of work at the site recently, disclosed to newsmen that President Goodluck Jonathan is likely to cut the tape to activate the port in October this year.

Work on this port was resumed in earnest on December 12, 2009 under the President Umaru Yar’ Adua regime with an award of contract valued at N4.182 billion to Inter-Bau Construction Ltd to ensure the installation of all facilities and equipment necessary for harbour operations. According to the minister, “with the speed with which the contractor is working on the project, it is expected that (it) will be completed in a few weeks. The completion of this project was one of the campaign promises made to Nigerians by Mr. President during his presidential campaign. We will invite him to come and see things for himself.”

This comes as cheering news given the sad history of this project. It was established over 30 years ago under the regime of President Shehu Shagari. But when the military intervened, the project was one of those abandoned nationwide. However, some commentators have voiced the view that ethnic and sectional politics was the major bedevilling factor behind the abandonment of the project. There seemed a conspiracy in some quarters to frustrate the development of new ports and rehabilitation of old ones, in spite of the fact that the Lagos ports had become perennially congested with attendant hardship to the economy and port users.

Several attempts made to dredge the River Niger became enmeshed in ethnic politics as some groups vowed to frustrate the dredging. However, the government of the late President Yar’ Adua rose above 30 years of ethnic and sectional bias and preceded full steam with the dredging of the Niger through to Onitsha, Lokoja and Baro. The government of President Goodluck Jonathan has kept faith with his predecessor’s determination by firmly taking this project to its logical conclusion. Hope has risen on the establishment of similar ports at Lokoja in Kogi State and Baro in Niger State.

With the completion of this waterway project, the years of waste to which the River Niger had been subjected would come to an end. A great natural resource would begin to play its role in the economic transformation of Nigeria, as boats and barges would be floating up and down the great river, bringing goods and people from the coast to the hinterland and back again.

New job opportunities would be created and a lot of pressure would be off the road network, thus contributing to their longer years. Most importantly, the heavy burden imposed on Lagos ports would be eased off and the commercial environment in the South-East, South-South and North-Central will be enhanced.

We commend the Federal Government, especially the regimes of the late President Yar’ Adua and the incumbent President Jonathan, for their patriotism and commitment to justice and even development of the country. We also commend the Minister of Transport, Senator Umar, for his obvious resourcefulness towards the expansion of the port network in Nigeria. We have since taken note of his doggedness to ensure the actualisation of the deep seaport project at Ibaka in Mbo Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State.

We urge both the federal and state governments to continue to cooperate to ensure that all our sea and river ports in Lagos, Olokola, Koko, Warri, Port Harcourt, Onne, Calabar and along the River Niger are constructed and maintained in readiness for the envisaged economic boom which many have prognosticated for Nigeria within a few years.

The roads, waterways, airports, Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and railways are great instruments not only for economic prosperity of nations but strong means of national integratino. We are glad that the Federal Government has decided to invest heavily in this direction, and urge them not to relent.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/onitsha-river-port-at-last/

ikechukz:
@ezeagu are u from anambra cos i've never seen anybody answering my surname apart from my family members.

jason123:
@ Ezeagu
Just saw your reply and all I can do is "lol". No hard feelings as I want SN regardless of the e-fights between Yorubas and Igbos but believe me when I say BENDEL will not, in anyway, shape or form, join Biafra. My people are not that silly! If there is no Southern Nigeria (if there is a split, that is. ), we will form Bendel rep or Oodua ([b]Old west but with federalism)[/b]. There are no two ways about it. I'll kindly advise you to forget the idea of of us joining Biafra. Again, no personal beaf. Just saying it as it is. The internet can be deceiving but you have to believe me on this.

asha 80:
really you are arguing with becomricch

chamber2:
This argument is becoming childlike.

So, owerri is douglas road and wetheral?

Nonsense

presido1:
please are these igbo words? "Ohna and Ohnuhnu" what are their meanings anyone? and how are they pronounced

Abagworo:
I will like to know the 3 things Oha represent.If you notice,the article I posted area was on Ikwerre and they used "Oha nu Eze" to refer to the entire people of the towns of Ibaa and Obelle.

What is the meaning of "Chileke Oha" if not "God of Oha" or "God of the people"?

The Igbo titles Enyioha, Ochioha,Omereoha etc. do they refer to a particular section of people or the entire people.

chy101:
You must be a bloody fool. We are not here to compare states, but if you insist on comparing Anambra to your small owerri which is not even up to one single estate (Udoka Estates Awka or Omagba Phase 1 & 2). Anambra has three big major cities (Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi) either of them can pass for a state capital. What does Imo state have except painting of roads and street walls and trees without providing the real infrastructure. There is one question I kept asking about Imo state, does Imo state starts and ends with Owerri?? Why does the successive govts in imo failed to expand owerri to befit a growing state capital?? Why does the govt not developing Orlu and Okigwe to become useful to the state. Why has the rural areas in imo state been neglected to waste away with no assess roads. Today Anambra has the best road networks not only in Awka and Onitsha but to all the rural areas of the state. All the rural areas in Anambra are opened up with development due to good roads unlike in Imo state where the rural areas are no-go areas.

ChinenyeN:
Can you prove otherwise? Quite frankly, I see no evidence of a shared identity before the 20th century; no evidence of a shared name until we became "Igbo". Is there something you or anyone else knows that you'd like to share with the rest of us? Something in our traditions that you or anyone else supposedly knows that our parents and grandparents chose to withhold?