Great! The City Sight Seeing is a global sightseeing bus franchise which operates tour bus services globally using typical London-like buses with open top deck. The Abuja City Sightseeing is the first of its kind in Nigeria, second in the African continent after South Africa.
The City Sight Seeing bus is a double-decker bus which has an open top designed to give persons on board a panoramic view of the city through over 24 interesting sights and 14 routed stops including the Silver Bird Galleria, Wonderland Amusement Park, National Zoo and Park, Art and Culture Market, National Mosque, National Church, National Assembly, International Conference Center, National Stadium, Ceddi Plaza, Ecowas Secretariat, Aso Rock, Millennium Park, Unity Fountain, Transcorp Hilton, Federal Secretariat and Eagle Square. There is security personnel on the bus, tour guides as well as live commentary on the history and events surrounding each of the stops.
I joined the Abuja Tour Bus at about 10am from their take-off Spot, the SilverBird Galleria and dropped off at same spot after about 3hrs of total undiluted fun. I was impressed by the courtesy of the good-looking bus hosts/Tour Guides. They scanned me just before I boarded the bus as a form of security measure. I live in Abuja but I was immensely impressed by the vast information I gained from the commentary on the bus. I took pictures like never before, I felt like I was outside Nigeria!!!
I guess the motivation behind the City Sightseeing concept was to bring Nigeria at par with other international cities in the world that showcase the beauty of their locality. Therefore, tourists, visitors and residents of Abuja are availed the opportunity to enjoy the splendour of the Abuja city. So far, Nigerians and visitors alike are gradually warming up to the concept. The general concerns of E-bola and Boko Haram are gradually being erased. There is good support from the Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC)
I also learnt there is provision for group tours for organisations, schools, Embassies, Churches, Hotel guests, etc as well as exclusive tour packages when desired. It goes at a conveniently affordable price of N2,990 for adults, N1,500 for children. Tickets are available to be purchased on the bus, from City SightSeeing office at the ABC terminal Utako, as well as from the Silverbird Cinema stand.
The operations have commenced with 2 buses scheduled to be at each stop every one hour, based on the Hop-on, Hop-off routine as done in other cities of the world such as London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Washington D.C, New York, Cape Town, etc. The Abuja Franchise is structured to international standard.
All Nigerians ought to commend this laudable project and provide continued support from especially necessary government agencies, the media and FCT Ministry to ensure that tourism is adequately promoted in Nigeria.
LONG LIVE ABUJA! LONG LIVE NIGERIA!!!
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