Follow Us on Google
•8-year-old dispute on FCT Smart City project settled
From Idu Jude, Abuja
The protracted dispute between the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), the Federal Capital Territory Development (FCDA) and Centenary City, has been resolved. On Wednesday, April 17, 2024, Minister, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, met with the Centenary City PLC and FCDA to resolve lingering issues and court cases involving the parties, disputes that stalled the city project for eight years.
The meeting was sequel to May 10, 2023, meeting where the FCDA/FCTA and Centenary City managements signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to seal fresh cooperation.
on the project.
Managing Director, Centenary City, Dr. Ikechukwu Odenigwe Junior, confirmed the breakthrough last week: “After listening to a brief presentation by both sides, the minister advised the parties to resolve their differences and work together in the national interest as the Centenary City project aligns with the administration’s economic strategy to enhance private sector investment in tourism, and other non-oil sectors critical for boosting the country’s economy.”
He quoted Wike: “A free zone is a presidential directive that creates a designated area for special administration to attract foreign direct investment (FDI), create jobs, and enhance competitiveness and is here to stay in the FCT. Nobody, including himself, can challenge the primacy of Mr. President’s powers in FCT as that would amount to insubordination, while the laws and management of free zones are unambiguous, the FCTA/FCDA has a role to play.”
Odenigwe continued: “The idea of a new Smart City as part of Abuja’s urban renewal program arose from a review of Abuja’s capital city concept as a small administrative capital. The review highlighted the absence of necessary provisions for recreation, tourism, shopping, and urban middle-class accommodation, which
Abuja Centenary City was conceived and planned to fill the gap.”
Dr. John Ogbu, Director, FCDA, said: “The project is patterned after model cities like Dubai (UAE), Songdo (South Korea), and Shenzen (Peoples Republic of China). The Centenary City is expected to signpost the Nigeria of the future, leveraging world-class urban development as a tool for securing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and as a powerful catalyst that will trigger better social and economic development of Nigeria.
Following the desirability of this project and its huge capital requirement, the Federal Government directed that the city should be 100 per cent private-sector driven.”
On August 29, 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan declared the project site a free zone to be known as Centenary Economic City Free Zone. The control, management and supervision of the project became vested in the Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) by the NEPZA Act.
On June 24, 2014, Jonathan performed the ground breaking of the project with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Hailemariam Desalegn, as Special Guest.
Hassan Buruji, a stakeholder, said: “But it was because of the non-cooperative attitude of the Buhari administration, especially, the FCTA/FCDA, that Eagle Hills, who had already spent over $100 million on the project, were concerned that an investment of $18.6 billion could not be subject to regulatory uncertainty – eventually pulled out in 2018.
“There is no gainsaying that the economic benefits of the Centenary City are huge, the social benefits immeasurable and the political benefits cannot be imagined. The project is still going strong at a reduced pace while the management seeks a new well-healed foreign investor. The reconciliation will help in achieving this critical goal as the project continues to attract very heavy interest from investors – both foreign and domestic.”
Churchill Obatobiloba, a civil servant: “There is no doubt that Centenary City promoters and management, who have endured a lot to sustain the project and continue to reassure Nigerians that the project remains one that has inestimable economic benefits to Nigeria in terms of employment generation, Abuja urban renewal, foreign direct Investment (FDI) and foreign exchange earnings in the long run.”
Chief Olukolade Williams, said: “We commend Wike, for his courage, leadership and for the spirit with which he reconciled the FCDA and Centenary City in the national interest to move the project forward.
“We must also say that there is so much the minister has done in the FCT in terms of prioritising infrastructure development and having such success in a short time – something that is of greater priority for all of us in the FCT.”
