Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Abuja City

Nicknamed, "Second London", Abuja is Nigeria's new capital. It is a beautiful city with clean roads, The idea was conceived in 1975 and the seat of government formally moved to Abuja from Lagos in 1992. It was intended to be developed in four phases. The first phase had so far been completed. In a few years the city will have a few million inhabitants, but right now there are only a few hundred thousand. This means that the city is pretty spread out and there are a lot of half empty spaces. There aren't a whole lot of sights in Abuja (yet), the main Mosque is pretty enough, but muslims are not allowed in and the guards are not always very welcoming. Close to Abuja you find Zuma Rock, which looks like a pale version of Ayers Rock. The local population used to attribute magical power to the rock. You can see it on the way from Abuja to Kaduna - the same road brings you to Zaria and Kano. Abuja has an ultra modern Airport - Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport named after the first president of Nigeria. The first phase of the international wing had been commissioned and is now operational while the smaller domestic terminals have been in operation since the early 80s. Abuja is located at the center of Nigeria and is bounded by Kogi, Niger, Kaduna and Nassarawa States. Its indeed a beautiful place to be. Abuja is known as the center for unity as a result of its rich culture based on the lifestyles and people from different tribes.

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