Historical Development: Rivers State was created on May 27, 1967 by a Military Decree and by 1996, Bayelsa State was carved out of it. However, agitation for the creation of Rivers State predated Nigeria 's Independence from Britain in 1960. During the Colonial period, Britain signed many treaties of protection with the chiefs of many coastal communities.

Some of these chiefs had hoped that with Nigeria 's Independence , the treaties of protection they signed with Britain would also lapse and thus, they would become Independent States. The 1958 constitutional conference which affirmed Nigerian nationhood dashed such hope, but agreed on some measures to allay the fears of the ethnic minorities in this area.

Between 1941 and 1952, an organisation known as the ljaw Rivers People's League had agitated for the creation of a distinct Rivers Province . In 1953, another body called the Council of Rivers Chiefs replaced the League and became the Rivers Chiefs and Peoples' Congress in 1954, and the Rivers Chiefs Peoples Conference in 1956.

The leaders of this organisation cooperated with the Calabar Ogoja Rivers (COR) State Movement formed in Uyo in December 1953, but later broke away to press their own case before the Willink Commission.

To allay the fears of the minorities under the dominant ethnic groups within the Nigerian nationhood, the British made one important concession by setting up a Commission headed by Sir Henry Willink to look into the misgivings of the ethnic minorities. The Willink Commission recommended the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) to address the problem of underdevelopment of the area.

NDDB did not meet the aspirations of the people and thus, some people attempted to take the extralegal route to achieve their goal. In February 1966, Isaac Boro, Sam Owonaro and Nottingham Dick with their supporters proclaimed a " Delta Peoples Republic ." Federal and Eastern Nigeria Governments brought this rebellion to an abrupt end. On May 27, 1967, Rivers State was among the twelve States created by the Gowon Regime. (Salawu, 1993).

The cries of political marginalisation, environmental degradation and economic pauperisation continued among the ljaws, such that the Old ljaw province was carved out of Rivers State as a distinct Bayelsa State in 1996 by the Abacha led military government of Nigeria .

Administrative Areas: As at 1967 when Rivers State was created, there were fifteen Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the State and when Bayelsa State was carved out in 1996, additional LGAs were created such that the present Rivers State is made up of twenty three LGAs. The State has many communities that organise community development efforts aimed at mobilising the local resources and assisting the State government in the maintenance of law and order.

The Rivers State Secretariat point block building

Administrative Structure: There are three arms of government in Rivers State and these are: The Executive Council; The Legislature; and The Judiciary. The State Executive Council is made up of the Governor, the Deputy Governor, and around 20 commissioners, special advisers and the Secretary to the State government. The commissioners are the overall heads of the ministries, while the permanent secretaries oversee the daily activities of the same ministries.

The parastatals are organs of the government charged for the establishment and running of certain key economic areas of the State government. They are placed either under the supervision of the Governor or the Deputy Governor. The special advisers are assigned responsibilities in the following areas to enhance productivity and accountability: education, information, hotels and tourism etc.

The Rivers State House of Assembly is the legislative (lawmaking) arm of the government. The thirty three members of House of Assembly were inaugurated in June 1999, with the Speaker of the House as chairman in all the proceedings. The judiciary is the body that interprets the law in the State. It is headed by the State Chief Justice. The second tier of government is the local government administration. This is the grassroots government that is closest to the people of the State. There are twenty-three local government councils and each is run by its executive council and legislature.

Ethnic Composition, Languages, Culture and the Arts: The ethnic composition of Rivers State is very diverse. These

Include Kalabari, lkwerre, Okrika, lbani (Bonny and Opobo) Ekpeye, Ogba, Etche, Khana, Gokana, Eleme, Ndoni, Abua, Odual. Linguistic scholars have grouped these communities into six major linguistic groups, namely ljoid, lower Niger (lgboid), Ogoni, Central Delta, Delta Edoid, and Lower Cross. The ljoid group comprises four groups of dialects namely eastern ljoid (Kalabari, Bile, Okrika, lbani and Nkoro).

The Lower Niger (lgboid) comprises dialects such as Ekpeye, lkwerre, Ogba, Egbema, Ndoni, Etche, and lgbo. The Ogoni group includes a large number of dialects which can be grouped into four Khana, Gokana, Eleme and Tai. The Lower Cross group has only one member in Rivers State , with the rest being in Akwa lbom and Cross River States. The language, Obolo, in this group, is spoken in Andoni and Opobo Local Government Areas (Salawu, 1993).

Rivers State , with its diverse ethnic and linguistic groups, is very rich in culture and the arts. Several cultural bonds exist, particularly in music, dances, plays and masquerades. Literature in Rivers State consists of the oral tradition of folk tales, legends, myths, proverbs, riddles and poetry in religious incantations, and so on. More modem literature includes the novels and peotry of writers like Elechi Amadi, Gabriel Okara and the late Ken Saro Wiwa. Production of traditional fired clay and bronze are also common.

Population density in the State is roughly 284 person's sq. km and against the national average of ninety six persons per sq. km., the state's population density is very high. The fact is that because of physical conditions of the state, the limited land area for agricultural practices and constant floods, Rivers State 's population is concentrated in a few towns and the state headquarters

( Port Harcourt ). The low density of population in the central and western parts (riverine area) is due to the limited dry and safe land area for settlement and agricultural practices. Over fifty six percent of the State's population is concentrated in eight LGAs and out of which five of them are in the upland region of the State.

Rural/Urban Settlement: The degree of urbanisation in the State is very low and only nine teen out of 1,079 settlements in the State have population above 20,000. Generally, urbanisation index is very low (0.24) while the main towns are Port Harcourt , Abonnema, Omoku, Okrika, Oyigbo, Elele, Bonny and Opobo.

According to the 1991 population census, the population of these towns constituted 28 per cent of the State population, and therefore the low urbanisation index of 0.24. With respect to urban-rural gender composition, Salawu showed that urban population had more males than females while rural population had more females than males. This is a possible reflection of the rural/urban migration which is male dominated.

The Problem of Urban Primacy: The primacy of Port Harcourt is not in doubt, as that city alone accounts for 14 per cent of the State population and 39 and 21 percent of state owned secondary schools and hospitals, respectively. It has the largest number of private secondary schools and hospitals and controls over 86 per cent of all manufacturing activities in the State. By 1991, the total population of Port Harcourt was 440,399 followed by Buguma (82,865) and Okrika (81,558).

Thus, Port Harcourt 's population is five times larger than that of Buguma or Okrika ( Nigeria , 1991). The creation of more LGAs, the number of which now stands at twenty three, economic development via industrialisation, the neglect of the rural sector and sustained rural/urban migration have all accelerated urban growth and development in Rivers State. The number of urban centers with population of 20,000 and above increased from one in 1963 to nineteen in 1991.