The creation of Abuja

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2019

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why Nigeria came to build a brand new capital from scratch.and created one of the world 's fastest growing cities. During the 1970s oil boom, Nigeria's military rulers wanted to create a new symbol of national unity and decided to spend billions on constructing a new capital in the geographic centre of the country. Alex Last speaks to Professor John Paden of George Mason University, a veteran political scientist and expert on Nigeria who was hired to advise the American consortium tasked with planning the new city.

Photo: Getty Images

Transcript

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1:10.0	Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last.
1:17.0	And today we go back to the 1970s and 80s to look at how Nigeria came to build a brand new capital from scratch and created one of the world's
1:26.0	fastest growing cities. It's the story behind Abuja. future.
1:33.0	It was a monumental project.
1:37.0	It really has to be seen to be believed.
1:39.0	Young people from other parts of the country go there now.
1:42.0	They just assume this has always been
	...

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