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News...
Theme parks Abuja
Proposed African History Theme Park to be built
in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on land granted
by the government. Heritage City will also be known
as the African Kingdoms and Empires Theme Parks and
Resorts.
A 17,000, $50 million Theme Park is to be built on the
outskirts of the Nigerian capital, Abuja on land granted
by the government. Heritage City will also be known
as the African Kingdoms and Empires Theme Parks and
Resorts. The project will feature representations of
vanished African kingdoms such as the Oyo, Nubia, Ashanti
or Songhai and the monarchs who ruled these empires,
Nefertiti, King Jaja or Shaka the great Zulu warrior.
The Park will also feature statues of colonial and post-colonial
leaders like Nelson Mandela and Patrice Lumumba.
The features are hoped to showcase Africa's rich history,
particularly Nigeria's, in attempt to give young black
people and the world in general a sense of Africa's
past majesty.
Ekwo Emakwu, a native of Nigeria is putting together
the financing for the Project, he is one of the authors
of the project. Emakwu is also the executive director
of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S.-Africa Technology
Council which is serving as the planners of the Project.
Ekwo Emaku came up with the idea while working for a
bank in Washington DC about ten years ago, while working
on a Black History Month project, celebrated in February.
The Park hopes to showcase Africa’s vast and rich
history. As eloquently put by Emakwu “A lot of
kids growing up have no memory or any point of reference
for Africa's rich heritage. They don't know about the
kingdoms and the royalty that once existed. If they
look at the media they think Africa is just about war
and disease… We wanted to do something more permanent
and something where the references were not just limited
to slavery and colonialism,”.
The Africa Technology Council has been in the business
of helping entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Africa do business
on the other side of the Atlantic. The Council generated
the research that will inform the historical elements
of the theme park, like representations of the vanished
African kingdoms in Oyo or Nubia or Ashanti or Songhai
and the monarchs who ruled some of these empires.
Heritage City will include vacation homes, a movie production
studio, a huge water park and an amphitheater designed
to incorporate elements of a Nigerain Yam Festival.
The project slated to open sometime in 2007 will be
carried out in three phases.
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