NIGERIA @ 50 Marking Nigeria at 50, celebrating Abuja

As Nigeria celebrates its 50th anniversary as an independent nation, there is no doubt that one privileged landmark gloriously dotting the country’s historical and political evolution within the past 50 years is the conception, planning and actualization of the Abuja Federal Capital dream.

It is noteworthy that when Nigeria got her independence on October 1st 1960, that epochal ceremony took place in Lagos, the coastal city at the Southwest tip of Nigeria on the immediate shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean. Sequestered settlements that make up the marshy city, some almost lying below sea level, perch on islands and mainland on the border area between Nigeria and the French-speaking Republic of Benin.

When Nigeria got her independence, there was no thought whatsoever about the capital city moving from Lagos to another place. But as Nigeria trudged on as an independent country, the need for the development of a new Federal Capital began to manifest and that was how Abuja came into being. Precisely on 3rd February 1976, the Head of State, Gen Murtala Muhammed announced the choice of Abuja as the new federal capital of Nigeria.

Story By Nosike Ogbuenyi
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