The Federal Capital Territory Abuja came alive yesterday as excited residents of the city, in their hundreds, were shown round world-class recreational facilities in the Maitama Amusement Park, the city's latest addition to the leisure and entertainment industry.

The occasion marked the official commissioning of the N5 billion recreational and entertainment facility, which was conceptualised and developed by SUBOTECH Nigeria Limited. It is Nigeria's largest park covering 18 hectares of land in the highbrow area of Maitama, Abuja, with different rides, games and activities.

The chief executive officer and managing director of SUBOTECH Nigeria Limited, owners of the park, Ambassador Saidu Pindar (OON), said the park was a product of his several trips to other countries of the world in the course of his public service career spanning over 35 years. "I have had the privilege of traversing the world as part of a tour of duty in the service of our nation. I have witnessed and experienced how recreational facilities, leisure and associated services have been used to turn cities into tourist havens and ultimate contributor to national wealth," said Pindar.

This realisation, he maintained, planted the initial seeds that encouraged his team to complement Nigeria's rising profile as a tourist destination of choice and, more importantly, to inculcate the culture of relaxation and leisure into the lives of Nigerians.

The SUBOTECH boss continued: "Over the ten-year period it has taken to conceptualise and develop this dream, I must say that by far the greatest catalyst for this project is the federal government's liberalisation of the tourism sector and the restoration of the Abuja master plan. This latter policy entailed, amongst others, the concessioning of green areas within the FCT for development into parks and recreational areas. We thus got the FCT administration's approval to build and operate an amusement and recreational facility on this 18-hectare land for an initial concessionary period of 50 years.

"The capital-intensive nature of this project, coupled with the very challenging topography of this site, made development a very uphill venture. We would not have been able to surmount the drainage and flood problems within the park without the assistance of the FCDA and AMMA (DPR). I am also glad to inform that several foresighted individuals saw the very high potentials herein involved and, coupled with our personal commitment, agreed to share in our dream for this venture. Thus far, we have invested about N670m to enable the commissioning of only the first phase, and have provided employment to over 100 Nigerians.

"We have an unparalleled advantage in this service, in that we are a wholly Nigerian concern, developed as a result of our desire to give back to Nigeria from the opportunities we have had and in response to the federal government's call for a private-public partnership as the most effective panacea to our national economic reengineering. We have 14 different rides, games and activities some of which are unique to us only, and we have a crop of dedicated staff that are enthusiastic and passionate about their job. We have a select group of private investors who are discerning enough to identify the huge potentials in this business and who, like me, share in the federal government's desire to turn Abuja into a tourist destination of first choice. In addition, we have partnered with Seven-Up Bottling Company and Sambest Bottling Company as our major suppliers of drinks while eateries like Bon Cafe, Indomie, UAC restaurants, Chicken Republic and Drumstix have all signed up to operate within the park. We also have about ten other partners offering various complementary services.

"The second phase of the development of the Maitama Amusement Park will commence and continue concurrently even as we open the Phase One for public use. Our future plans include modern food court, cinema theatre, roller coaster and 20m Ferris wheel.

"An extensive water game, which includes rides and slides, and a wave pool, is currently being designed to take advantage of the stream running through the park. A mini zoo is already being constructed while a Jurastic park with animatronics and dinosaurs is also planned. We anticipate that the FCT authorities will allow us build a modest tourist hotel to fully complement services being offered. All these will be available in the second phase. We envisage investing an estimated N5 billion on this 18-hectare land to achieve the comprehensive plan and provide employment to some 500 Nigerians."

Commissioning the facility, President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, represented by the minister of tourism, culture and national orientation, Adetokunbo Kayode, said the project was a demonstration of the creative spirit of Nigerians.

The whole essence of his administration's seven-point agenda, Yar'Adua maintained, "is to bring the spirit of empowerment and creativity; if a project like this can be established in every city, we would be looking at about N10 billion in the next ten years and, by that time, one out of every ten Nigerians would be lucratively engaged in the tourism sector."

He tasked state governments to partner with the private sector in the project that could create jobs for thousands of Nigerians and raise their standard of living.

Yar'Adua stressed that his administration was reviewing the nation's fiscal policy and tax system to engender a safe and secured business environment for investors.

In his remark, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar, said the FCT administration places high premium on achieving a unique character for the city, which informed his decision to designate 135 hectares of land by the children's zoo as Abuja Central Park, adding that the FCT was working on a N50 billion boulevard through public-private partnership.

Modibbo further said that his administration was going to review the whole idea of concessioning land. "I think entrepreneurs should not be tied down to concessioning, so I have been reviewing that process and I think I ought to give you your certificate of occupancy. I really do believe that the concessioning of FCT needs to be reviewed," he stressed.

Concessioning, he said, creates room for corruption, as the business of the FCT is to collect levies and provide services, and advised the park's management to ensure traffic is controlled at all times.