Abuja Travel Guide, Nigeria

Abuja Travel Guide – The Core of Nigeria

This Abuja travel guide will give you a complex and relevant perspective on the lifestyle, culture and economy of Nigeria’s capital. Abuja is located in the centre of the country in what is known as the Federal Capital Territory, an area formed in 1976 that currently lies right in the core of Nigeria. Abuja is a planned capital city. This means that due to powerful religious and ethnic conflicts the government thought of the best place to build a capital that would signify unity, especially since the old capital Lagos became excessively overcrowded and impossible to take to normal standards. Abuja was chosen due to its central position and, although the plans for the city were ready by the 1970s, the city only had a visible structure in the late 1980s and it was officially inaugurated on 12 December 1991. Although Lagos is still considered the commercial capital and Kano has some functions, since that date Abuja became the main city in Nigeria and has been functioning accordingly.

Abuja Travel Guide – The Best Purpose-Built City

The reputation of Abuja makes it the best purpose-built city in all of Africa, as the way it was conceived perfectly deals with its development and usage even today. Abuja is one of the wealthiest and most expensive cities in Africa, but the houses on the edge of the city that were initially planned for servants still have no running water and electricity, so people there live in terrible conditions. Still, population growth in the Federal Capital Territory went up to 20-30% per year and it is currently around 800.000 inhabitants. Abuja is split into three districts, each with its own distinct function, and is home to the headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States, a group of fifteen countries that struggle to obtain economic integration.

Abuja Travel Guide – 2014 Commonwealth Games Second Best Bidder

Most of the territory on which the city stands is actually a monolith left behind by water erosion, called the “Aso rock”, where “Aso” means victory. This victory applies both to the people living there and to the forests in Nigeria that still occur inside the FCT, in the natural rainforest form or as huge parks inside Abuja proper. The largest of these parks is Millennium Park, designed by a world renowned architect and inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II. A major event to be mentioned in this Abuja travel guide is that the city came very close to hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014, which would have been the largest sports event on the continent. Although Glasgow won the bid, the Abuja Airport is still to be modernized, so it can take up heavier traffic and offer better conditions for passengers.

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