Port Harcourt
The Niger Delta is water pretending to be land. Every road across it is an expensive decision.
The city
The Niger Delta is water pretending to be land, and Port Harcourt is its port — founded a century ago to ship coal, remade by oil, and still the place where the wealth of the creeks meets the road network. Every road across the Delta is an expensive decision, which is why the one that works matters so much.
Port Harcourt in Ekene
Port Harcourt is a metropolis on the map, in the South South zone, at ƙ400,000 — the most affordable of the four, and for most companies the first metropolis within reach. A company founded in Umuahia sees it named on the founding card: Port Harcourt is the dream.
The special vehicle: the Okada
Unlocking Port Harcourt puts the Okada in your Motor Shop — no other city grants it, and it works from anywhere once earned. At ƙ5,000 it is the exclusive anyone can afford the moment they earn it: three slots, one passenger, short legs — and the sharpest speed in the shop's cheap end. Its fares are small and its trips are many; the Okada earns by never standing still.
In the motor park
The board is the Delta's. Crude oil waits heavy and valuable; periwinkle — the Niger Delta's signature — races the clock the way all perishables do, beside prawns, fresh fish, palm oil and stock fish. The Cross River gorilla turns up needing a hauler built for large animals, with parrots and bush babies from the same forests. And the river keeps its spirits: Mami Wata rides everywhere the water is worshipped, the Ojuju prowls the South East and South South, and the Masquerade — every culture has one — commands a premium fare here as anywhere.