Living in Abuja vs Port-Harcourt

 Deciding where to settle down as a young person is mentally, physically and financially draining, especially when you live on allowee, or your first low paying job. I have had a taste of two cities (Abuja & Port-Harcourt) the two being top of the list of choice cities the youth migrate to in droves, and they really do come with their own share of difficulties, even if it is in varying degrees. I’d be comparing both using my own experiences; 

1. Availability of Electricity: Electricity in these cities ought to be better than other places Nigeria, right? Wrong. Living in the outskirts of Abuja (Lugbe) the electricity is fair. There is power about 60% of the time and considering that it is the outskirt, the amount of supply it gets is remarkable. Comparing Lugbe to Maitama, leave little to imagination how much constant electricity residents of Maitama enjoy. Port-Harcourt on the other hand, power outages send people into a crazed frenzy that sends them yanking at their generators almost immediately. can be heard all over the estate, meaning that there is always light, at least 80% of the time, even villages like Umuagbi Ndoki and Bonny Island enjoy the constant supply of Electricity. So, in this round Port-Harcourt wins 

2. Prices of Food: Food prices are a core factor to consider when moving to either cities. The prices of food items in Abuja markets can be ridiculously cheap, especially when buying from markets on the outskirts. I bought an entire basket of oranges and onion for N500 and N700 respectively. Port-Harcourt on the other hand, is too expensive. A hand full of onion will cost you about N300 to N400. Other food items are equally expensive. Residents of Port-Harcourt are used to these inflations, but first timers to the city could be frustrated by this. So, in this round, ABUJA wins. 

3. Cost of Renting an Apartment: This part comes with its heartaches. I moved to Abuja during my youth service and when I almost shit my pants when I was house hunting. Letting a self-con apartment in a decent environment in places like Lokogoma, Life Camp, Lugbe, Kubwa can cost you an outrageous N350k to N400K, and the sizes of the apartment are no bigger than shoe boxes. Same type of apartments inside of the city (Maitama, Garki etc), could cost you N450k - N600k at best. Port- Harcourt on the other hand, housing on the outskirts of PHC can be as much as N140k depending on the location. In town self-Con apartments can cost you up to N300k - N400k again, depending on the location you happen to be looking for your apartment. Port-Harcourt wins. 

4. Security: Another relevant factor to consider when going for those ‘more affordable’ options. They might be cheaper as a compensation for the lack of adequate security. Just like the landlord is cutting you some loose ends for what he knows you’d lose while you reside there. Security in Nigeria is generally subpar, with cases of recent kidnapping, Boko-haram, attacks on the citizens by

"unknown gunmen", etc. and I am not one to mess with my security and my life. In Abuja, I lived in an estate in Lugbe so the security as ok, but generally Abuja is a somewhat secure area given that thing like robbery, etc aren't so crazy there. You can go for a night out and still get back in one piece at 2am in the morning. Port - Harcourt on the other hand, given the activities of cult boys and armed robbers, police and other security personnel's can be seen crawling the city once it is 6pm. And by 10pm, if you are going out, you definitely need God's grace. Robberies can happen at any time. So in this round ABUJA wins this round. 

5. Entertainment: This is an area where this towns are in competition. In Abuja there is an assortment of clubs, fast foods and hangout spots that are legit FABULOUS, the customer service there is always top notch and sometimes when you get into the venues, you feel like you are transported to another city because the scene is absolutely breath taking. Port-Harcourt on the other hand also has an array of clubs, fast food and hangout spot and it's absolutely amazing, but the services are meh. Sometimes it can be fairly good, other times uninspiring. And whatever relatively club there is to attend are either in GRA, or Odili road. Sparsely distributed. Soon this category, Abuja wins again. 

6. Road Network: The road network in Abuja is one of the best I have seen in Nigeria. There is absolutely no way to describe how good it feels to drive in Abuja. Port-Harcourt has done a good job with rebuilding the road network and on this note, I would like to praise the River State government on this, Although the construction of the bridges there is causing a lot of traffic in the city that sometimes it’s a pain but the good thing about it is that it's nowhere as bad as Lagos state. There's no telling how good the road network will be by the time all the constructions are over. But for now, Abuja is one to beat in terms of good network. So, in this round Abuja, yet again wins.

So there are definitely ups and downs living in this two cities, but in my opinion, Abuja is the best place to stay.