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In August 1975, the then Federal Military Government of Nigeria under the late head State, General Murtala Muhammad set up an Eight-man Panel under the late Justice Akinola Aguda to determine the desirability or otherwise of relocating the Federal Capital from Lagos. The committee at the end of its assignment recommended the shift of the Federal Capital to a more conducive central location which is today called Abuja. The name Abuja was taken from a major settlement at the edge of the Federal Capital Territory in the present Niger State which was subsequently renamed as Suleja; it is the town where a former Governor of Niger State in the Second Republic (1979-1983), Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim, hold fort as the emir.
In my piece on the 30th Anniversary of the assassination of the late head of state General Murtala Muhammad, the evolution of Abuja was described as the most prominent landmark achievements of his seven-month long regime. The decision to relocate the Federal Capital at Abuja is quite historic. Lagos was chosen as the Federal Capital by the British Colonialists principally because of its coastal location as the major port for the export of the nation’s vast mineral and agricultural resources to Europe. This reality is also perhaps what explained the decision of Tanzania to relocate its capital from coastal Dares-salam to Dodoma in the hinterland; ditto for Ivory Coast from Abidjan to Yamassokoro to mention a few examples. Lagos is geographically located in the extreme South-Western part of the Country remote from many state capitals especially from the East and North. Abuja is also located in an area not dominated by any of the 3 major contending tribes in the country; Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. The location where Abuja is sited is among the least populated in the country unlike the densely populated enclave of Lagos. For Geographical, Economic and Political reasons, Lagos was so congested with the city’s infrastructures almost stretched to their limits.
Despite all the advantages of Abuja, lots of controversies surround its development. There were those opponents of Abuja who took grudge in its “Northern” location. The hard fact is if we are not taking our capital to an Island out into the International waters, it must belong to certain Nigerian region and that we Nigerians should console ourselves that our late national hero and the “martyr of our Revolution” Murtala Mmuhammad and his former deputy, President Obasanjo, chose a relatively central location as the new Federal capital. In Ivory Coast, a sister West African Country, the late “Life President” (this word again), chose his home town Yamassokorou, up north of that country as the new capital. If you want to test the centrality of Abuja, these examples for you; it is closer to Lagos in the South-West and Calabar in the South-East than Maiduguri in the North. A charge of the existence of River Blindness in Abuja has long been dispelled by medical experts. Also long disapproved by Aviation experts, was the charge of Abuja Airport being unsafe because of the existence of Zuma rock within its approaches- the Airport now renamed as Nmandi Azikiwe after the country’s first President who died a couple of year’s ago, was infact described by experts as one of the safest in Africa.
Abuja no doubt is a Planner’s dream: a vast land measuring some 2,500 square kilometres was expected to be covered by the city with a target population of 3.1 million by the year 2000.But some 5 years or so away from that initial target year, Abuja’s population is believed to be far ahead of its projection. Unlike Lagos though, vast area for expansion should be available given its wide stretch and scanty population particularly before the post 1991 influx into Federal Capital Territory. The FCT itself covers an area of some 8,000 square kilometres. The Physical Development Plan of Abuja, otherwise called Master Plan, is quite ambitious; dual carriage ways and flyover bridges of ultimate designs were planned for the city. These designs obviously had the lessons of Lagos chaotic situations in mind. The city of Abuja is planned to grow in the form of districts. The six districts in the first phase are Garki, Wuse, Maitama and Asokoro. The city also has a Central Government District designed to house among others, the National Assembly, the Presidential Complex and the Supreme Court building.
As a planner though, one view the objective of making Abuja “the most beautiful city” as ironically the greatest undoing of the city. A number of costly projects based on foreign models and standards are provided for in the city’s development plan. The apparent mistake of Abuja‘s spatial and structural plans is the overemphasis of designs that do not reflect our cultural and economic realities. This brings us to the running battle between the Fedaral Capital Territory minister the energetic Nasir El-Rufai and the so-called illegal developers who were however driven by necessities. The other time, some writers notably my senior friend and a Daily Trust columnist Adamu Adamu, was innocently asking the bitter question whether the Master Plan was an ordained document and in turn got more than he bargained for from the El-Rufai men out to protect their handiwork. The fact is, there is no “Thumb Rule” in planning. But in all fairness to El-Rufai, so long as the Abuja Master plan remains, he has the right to enforce the legal document as an approved Master plan is supposed to be. The FCT Administration minister seems to enjoy the political backing and protection of his boss President Obasanjo to enforce the provisions of the master Plan which other development Control officials do not enjoy in the country and which basically makes Public Urban Planners, some of the most endangered professionals in the country. But the bottom line in the case of Abuja is this; as the developments of the city progresses, a running battle will continue with the casual residents of the city who must as necessity eke out a living since they provide ancillary services to it. The hard fact is, those occupants of “illegal” “temporary” or “ghettos” structures are destined to be part of the city even if not included in the original designs. We cannot build a city that is largely Euro-American in outlook, while the reality on the ground is African. Basic Principles of Urban Planning demands that local realities must be reflected in ones designs; Abuja cannot be an exception. We must plan with all the segments of the population in mind. The existing high cost of living in Abuja has a strong correlation with nature of land use arrangement in the city. During the recent Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP) Regional Workshop towards Vancouver Planners’ Conference coming up in June 2006, such issues cropped up. For instance, some of the Planners-delegates observed the virtual absence of eateries in Abuja which was attributed to the recent demolitions in the city. The authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration must take a regional approach to the development of the territory. The Satellite Towns Development Initiative is good particularly if it addresses the issue of proper functional linkages between the the Abuja city proper and the satellite towns. This is the alternative to producing squatter settlements outside a tenaciously “garrisoned” Abuja city center. It is not enough for instance to push the “unwanted” segments of Abuja to the fringes or across the borders to Nassarawa and Niger States in places such as Suleja and Karu and to claim a sustainable success; they will continue to “lay siege” on the city so long as it offers them real or expected opportunities. The issue is, Abuja can be “the most beautiful city” but not necessarily the most functional. But the Master Plan (it ought to be a Servant Plan), should always provide for periodic reviews like every five or ten years as the case may be. The Abuja master plan prepared by the American International Planning Associates (IPA) is overdue for a surgical review to make it more relevant, realistic and inward looking. The current stress observed in the FCT in terms of traffic hold ups in some sectors, water supply and refuse disposal are as a result of the city growing faster than originally plan. These are some of the issues which a thorough review should address. Others will include rising crime rate particularly as public sector employment opportunities becomes less tenable in a city largely dependent on government or corporate sector patronage.
Fundamentally speaking though, the nation’s multi-billion naira investments on Abuja is worthwhile. One cannot however justify the financial recklessness unleashed on the nation in the course of building the city particularly during the second republic era of “emergency contractors” when a national dream was nearly marred in acts of impropriety. Abuja is a national imperative; an investment on the city is investment into the future. The critics of Abuja ignore the long term political, economic and physical planning benefits of the new capital city. In a nutshell though, much as a lot of adhoc policies and controversies trail the development of Abuja, we have at least got an alternative to the overcrowding, chaos, traffic jam and the remoteness of Lagos. The parochial distortions of the Abuja Master plan by some past administrations of the territory were to say the least a national embarrassment with repercussion to the current happenings in the city as Minister El-Rufai’s bulldozers wreck havoc on both the innocent and the guilty land owners or developers who run foul of the Master Plan. As mentioned earlier, approved master plans are both technical and legal documents which can be subjected to systematic and periodic review based on current realities, not based on sheer greed or personal sentiments. Abuja is the most practical example of a successful new city development conceived, planned, implemented and fully functional within a span of only 30 years as though it has been there for several decades- this is an unbeaten African and perhaps Third World feat. For Abuja to remain the national “Dream City” and “the Symbol of Unity” envisaged by its founding fathers however, it must be able to accommodate our positive diversities, provide opportunities for all Nigerians to feel to belong and serve the needs of the people particularly the genuine or functional inhabitants of the city. While the city need not be too rigidly managed in terms of Planning and Development control since Urban and Regional Planning is a dynamic profession, someone must always be there to ensure compliance with the basic principles of a planned growth and development for sustainability, cleanliness and orderliness with or without Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and his bulldozers.
Garba A. Isa, Yekuwa Communications, Kano
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