Nigeria’s capital city builds a new iconic structure -Millenium Tower

Nigeria’s capital city builds a new iconic structure -Millenium Tower

The Millennium Tower and Cultural Centre project is located in the capital city of Abuja. The tower is designed by Manfredi Nicoletti, an Italian architect, and is part of the Nigeria National Complex which includes the Nigeria Cultural Centre and Municipal Building.

Construction progress

Rendering of completed tower and complex

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Video from inside the construction of the Millenium Tower

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About the City of Abuja, Federal Capital Territory
Abuja is Nigeria’s capital city. The City of Abuja is located in the Federal Capital Territory.
The FCT is bounded on the north by Kaduna State, on the west by Niger State, on the east and south-east by Plateau State, and on the south-west by Kogi State.

Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom on October 1, 1960. Nigeria became a Federal Republic on October 1, 1963.

The States Act No. 14 of 1967 (Creation and Transitional Provisions) dividing Nigeria into 12 states and named the city of Lagos as the Federal Capital of Nigeria and the Capital of Lagos State.

This dual role, of Lagos, understandably heightened the pressure on the infrastructural facilities that existed then.

Photos of Lagos, Nigeria (the former federal capital of Nigeria)

The Federal Government of Nigeria therefore decided to create a new capital city; due to the non-functionality of Lagos as the Federal Capital city.

On December 20, 1975, the Panel submitted its report to the Federal Military Government, headed by General Murtala Ramat Mohammed. It concluded that Lagos was incapable of playing the dual role of being the Federal Capital and Lagos State Capital. It also highlighted other points that guided it in arriving at the recommendation that the Federal Capital of Nigeria should be moved out of Lagos and located in a centralized area south of Suleja covering. The conclusion was that a centrally-located Federal Capital in a spacious area with easy access to all parts of the Federation would be an asset to the Nation and would help in generating a new sense of National Unity.

The government under General Murtala Mohammed accepted the recommendation in the committee’s report that the capital city of Nigeria should be relocated from Lagos to a new Federal Capital Territory in the geographic center of the country, at what is now Abuja.

The present Suleja was formally known as Abuja, a sparsely populated town with a population of about 500,000 people; it was completely rural with little or no infrastructure until the enactment of Decree No. 6 of 1976.

Before the 1976 Decree, a committee (‘The Aguda Panel’)was commissioned to go round Nigeria in search of a suitable location for a new Federal Capital with two major points of reference; a region that is sparsely populated and that is centrally located. And the region now known as Abuja met these requirements and hence became the recommended location for the new Federal Capital.

The acceptance of the recommendation of the committee, led to the enactment of Decree No. 6, of 1976, the Federal Capital Territory Act, and this became the blueprint for the re-location of the Federal Capital from Lagos to the new city of Abuja.

Under the Act, the Authority was charged with the responsibility for:-
a. The choice of site for the location of the Capital City within the Capital Territory.
b. The preparation of a Master-plan for the use of land within the Capital City and the rest of the Capital Territory.
c. The provision of Public Services within the Capital Territory.
d. The establishment of infrastructural services in accordance with the Master-plan .
e. The co-ordination of the activities of the Ministries, departments and agencies of the Government of the Federation within the Capital Territory.

The Federal Government of Nigeria established the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) as the sole agency vested with the responsibility of planning, designing and developing the new national capital city.

The master plan for Abuja and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was developed by International Planning Associates (IPA), a consortium of three American firms.
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Photos of growing Abuja

Abuja new freeway construction projects

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Video: Aerial view of Abuja

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