Abuja, 30th June 2021
Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Honourable Minister of State for Education, met Silvano Bellinato, President of the Nigeria-Italy Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, and Olajide Ogodan, Vice President of the Chamber, to launch a Cultural Project concerning the Italian explorer Giovanni Battista Belzoni.
Giovanni Battista Belzoni, an Italian explorer (Padua, November 5, 1778 – Gwato, December 3, 1823), died near the current city of Benin City, capital of the Edo State in Nigeria, while he was going up the Niger river to Timbuktu.
The exact place of death has been lost over time and the initiative of the Minister of State Education together with the Nigeria-Italy Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, also involving the University of Padua in the project, wants to try to find out this place.
