The Secretary, Federal Capital Territory Legal Services Secretariat, Ms Ima-Obong Okpongete, has expressed the readiness of the FCT administration to collaborate with professional groups, whose activities can facilitate the economic upliftment of the territory and also boost its tourism potentials.
Okpongete-Douglas stated this when she received a delegation of the Abuja chapter of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) led by its chairman, Mazi Afam Osigwe, in her office.
The secretary, who spoke alongside the Solicitor-General of the FCT administration, Mrs. Helen Oloja, stated that activities such as conferences among other socio-economic engagements help to boost the existing tourism potentials of the city which , she noted the authority was ready to latch on to transform the image of Abuja.
She assured the NBA that the administration was ready to support it particularly in the areas of security, transportation and other logistics, during the association’s forthcoming 2012 National Conference, billed to hold in Abuja.
“We are interested in revolutionalising the developmental strides of the city. We want to take Abuja to another level. So, we are open to all groups that will want to join hands with the administration to move the Abuja project forward.
“The Bar is a force to reckon with, and we are ready to work with all other willing groups to facilitate the transformation of the nation’s capital city,” she added.
In his remarks earlier, the NBA Chairman, Mazi Afam Osigwe said the visit was “to intimate the FCT minister that the Unity (Abuja) Chapter of the NBA had won the bid to host the 2012 NBA Annual General Conference in Abuja” and also solicit the support of the FCT administration towards the conference, scheduled to hold in August.
The Chairman said the conference which is expected to attract over 12,000 lawyers “would require over N200 million for the local organising committee to put so many things in place,” including accommodation as well as honorarium for the volunteers for the one week event among others in Abuja.
“The conference will see a gathering of more than 12,000 lawyers and we will need a whole lot of support in terms of logistics including security, traffic management and control as well as any other assistance that will facilitate a successful conference.
“A whole lot of money will be required for this conference. But the good thing is that whichever city that has hosted this conference in the past, and whatever amount spent has a way of being recouped because when twelve thousand lawyers come into a city and spend one week, the local economy benefits in so many aspects,” he said. ?