Millennium Tower and Cultural Centre Abuja Set for Completion

By: Prudence Okonna

The Millennium Tower and Cultural Centre Abuja is set for completion as the FCT Administration and the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture’s efforts to bring investors to begin to yield a positive result.

This milestone was achieved when Information and Culture Minister, Alh. Lai Muhammed led a delegation of Indian investors to the FCTA.

Alh. Lai Muhammed said the efforts of wooing investors are beginning to yield results, ‘’because, after the last visit, we had enquiries from some serious investors and this time around, I’m here with the members of the Nigeria India Business Council.’’

“The NIBC is made up of Nigerian businessmen and Indian businessmen and they’ve been here to look at where they can invest in areas of power, infrastructure, medicine and of course, they also came with their investors from the creative sectors – from the film industry”.

The Minister added that the visit by Nigeria/Indian Business Council to the FCTA was to further discuss the Millennium Tower and Cultural Centre Project, which will focus on the Nigeria creative industry and the possibility of establishing an Abuja Film School that is very similar to what is obtained in Bollywood in the Cultural Centre.

On his part, the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello, who was represented by the Executive Secretary, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Engr. Shehu Hadi Ahmad, urged the investors to take a critical look at the project, which makes up the cultural spine of Abuja with a view to opening the windows for more investment in the nation’s capital.

Mallam Bello stressed that the Millennium Tower project was very dear to the FCT Administration and he is optimistic that when completed it will not only open up the FCT and boost tourism and commercial activities but would also yield a lot of financial benefits for investors.

Speaking after a tour of the Millennium Tower, a member of the delegation and Creative Producer in Bollywood India, Aasia Abbas, expressed excitement at the benefits of investing in the FCT’s cultural edifice.

“The idea is to harness the talent here and to keep it here and then to make it like a global platform so that you can have Nigeria to stand on a global platform and you can have people and students from all over Africa coming here, studying, learning, developing and producing contents. People go to America, the New York Film Academy. Why shouldn’t they come to Abuja Film School”? she asked.

Also present during the tour were the Nigerian High Commissioner to India,Ambassador Ahmed Sule, the Director General Nigerian Film Corporation Dr Chidia Maduekwe, the Director General, National Gallery of Art, Mr Ebeten Ivara, the Chief of Staff to the FCT Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu and other senior officials of the FCTA and Federal Ministry of information and Culture.