[2] As of 2022, the Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board estimated the population of Okrika LGA at over 379,000, distributed across 143 communities.
It regained commercial relevance in 1965 with the completion of the Port Harcourt refinery and the construction of pipelines to a jetty on Okrika Mainland.
The town also engages in local trade of fish, oil palm products, processed salt, cassava, taro, plantains, and yams.
[9] Before 1913, the Okrika Kingdom was composed of nine traditional towns: Kirike, Ogoloma, Ogu, Bolo, Ogbogbo, Ibaka, Ele, Isaka, and Abuloma.
The Kalabari and Okrika people, as part of the Ijaw ethnic group, share cultural ties that have developed over time, though their exact origins remain uncertain.
These connections are reflected in shared elements such as language, traditional practices, attire, dances, songs, religious beliefs, and social structures, including marriage customs.
The Iya marriage, traditionally associated with kings and chiefs due to its higher cost, granted significant inheritance rights to the wife and her children.
For example, the Okrika Ya marriage includes the symbolic tying of a raffia cloth (Okuru) as a nuptial knot, representing a lifelong bond, a tradition not observed in Kalabari.
Additionally, Okrika women who marry outside their families generally lose inheritance rights in their natal homes and are buried in their husband’s community.
Virgins are presented and kept in the fattening room, where they are taken care of for the festival[11] - Aberepikima The Okrikans like all other Ijo sub-groups of the Niger Delta are organised into autonomous and co-equal War-Canoe houses (Omuaru-wari).
Characterised by strong kinship ties, the Furo is composed of grandfathers, parents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces.
Also, Fishing is another popular economic activity engaged in the by the Okrika people as with the area's many rivers and tributaries making them being rich in sea food.
Farming is another occupation that the Okrika people are known for with the cultivation of several crops which include cassava, oil palm, yam, and plantain.
The daily outcry or agony of the Okrika people is that they are in the grip of death and short life span as a result.
Their aquatic foods such as freshwater fishes, periwinkles and oysters are going into extinction because of oil-related chemicals from the Port – Harcourt Refinery.
Air pollution is another hazard in the area as it is caused by the flaring of gas in the oil and gas refinery which could cause large quantity in greenhouse warming of gases that could lead to acidic rain and ozone layer depletion, meanwhile the men production capabilities are weakened by this activity.
Also, the Okrika kingdom aquatic life suffers greater threat of species extinction due to the continuous spill of oil mostly caused by bunkering and pipeline vandalism in the region and this results to poor economic sustainability as a large number of residents and indigenes are Fishermen.
[16] As of March 2017, residents have complained of soot in the air due to the destruction of makeshift illegal refineries that have sprouted all over the state.