Location

As early as 1976, the Nigerian government took the decision to move the capital from Lagos on the coast to the center of the country and began creating the planned city on the drawing board. Japanese urban planner Kenzō Tange designed the planned capital. The city was built by construction companies from France, Germany, Netherlands, Italy and other countries. Financial problems, as well as slow progress in construction, delayed the government's rapid move. Most of the costs were covered by revenues from oil exports. Of the master plan once drafted for the city's design, only about one-fifth has been realized so far. The planned business center of the city, for example, with the main train station and pedestrian zones, is still largely wasteland. Politicians, however, keep emphasizing that the master plan from the 1970s can still be realized, and so construction work does indeed continue. Not far from the Sheraton Hotel on Sani Abacha Way, a shopping center with movie theaters was built in early 2009. Numerous roads are being extended or rebuilt.

(Source Wikipedia)