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Six Flags considering new theme park location - in Nigeria

by Scott Carmichael (RSS feed) on Sep 28th 2009 at 2:00PM

When I read that Six Flags was actively working on a new park to add to their current 21 park lineup, I initially did not pay attention. Then I saw the location of this new concept - Nigeria.

The 250 acre Nigerian Six Flags is going to be built in Calabar, a city on the southeastern border, about 1000 miles from the nations capital.

A couple of things come to mind - the first is that Six Flags is currently in bankruptcy protection, but I'm guessing that expansion is one of the ways they plan to recover. The second is the location - Nigeria is a troubled country, and even the oil companies of the world are having a hard time keeping their investments safe. How Six Flags plans to keep its park and staff safe is bound to be source of major headaches.

I'm also curious how the Nigerians got the attention of Six Flags. Perhaps they emailed them out of the blue and told them the story of their previous president who had left them $250 million in a secret bank account, that could only be accessed if someone built them a roller coaster? (I kid, I kid!).

If the park does indeed become a reality, it'll be the first theme park in Nigeria, and the first Six Flags park outside the US, Mexico and Canada. In the late nineties, Six Flags attempted to conquer the European market, but pulled out after a couple of years to focus on their home market.

Filed under: Nigeria, News

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cynic Al Sep 28th 2009 2:54PM

They should sell tickets via Yahoo spam boxes -- that's where most non-oil investment to Nigeria comes from anyway.

Lola Sep 28th 2009 4:20PM

Same reason why Virgin Atlantic created Virgin Nigeria and the London-Lagos route is one of the most profitable routes on earth for airlines.

With upwards of 150 million people (most populous nation in Africa), and a whole lot of money in that country (albeit with a certain percentage of the population), the potential for turning around huge profits is extremely high.

Now navigating the minefield of street smarts in Nigeria before they can get to the money will be their biggest challenge.

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