The Abuja of today is far from the dream of its founders

Breach Of Abuja Master Plan: An Agenda For The New FCT Minister

The Abuja of today is far from the dream of its founders, and that may be endangering critical infrastructure of the magnificent capital city, TORDUE SALEM writes

Residents of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, recall with fond memories, the administration of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, as Minister of the FCT.

El rufai, now the Governor of Kaduna State, was credited with revamping the transport, roads and education sectors of the FCT.

His predecessor’s achievements, paled into insignificance in comparison to his developmental initiatives that eventually, snowballed into the carving out of several districts, some of which were well developed, before he left office in 2007.

But unfortunately, his developmental strides developed a downside, leading to the fundamental breach of the Master Plan. The 45-year old master plan, though was due for review since 1980, Abuja as an administrative capital, only became a reality in 1991.

Though Nigeria practiced a military Presidential system of government from 1985 to 1998, Abuja remained under the grip of a dictatorship, and the National Assembly or the Legislature, the bastion of democracy was not in full operation, therefore the idea of the review of the master plan was not mooted.

It was therefore surprising that from Ibrahim Bunu to Bala Muhammed, from 1999 to 2015, nobody is yet to present the masterplan for amendments and successive ministers have continued to implement the plan in breach.

Several buildings in Abuja, are either built on sewage lines or without sanitary lines. Locations for high-rising buildings are either littered with makeshift buildings, or built squarely on sewage lines or rights of way in breach of the plan.

In the Apo Legislators’ Quarters’ area for example, the residents have raised objections and written petitions to development authorities over the approval of buildings by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) on sewage lines and waterways.

The breach of the master plan, without due amendments, has put many buildings and critical infrastructure at risk in Apo and several other far-flung areas, including the metropolis.

In Apo for example, both serving and former members of the National Assembly, have mounted protests, and even threatened to sue the federal government, because of the blockage of drainage systems by gigantic buildings on green areas and sewage lines.

Former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Bassey Effiong Etim, last week threatened to drag the federal government to court over alleged violation of the master plan for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The former House of Reps members who issued the threat at a press briefing, said the Apo residential area where he resides and the entire Abuja metropolis was heavily-hit by the alleged violation of the master plan by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).

He raised the alarm that his residence at the Apo Legislators’ Quarters was on the verge of collapse, because of a drainage system blockage caused by FCDA’s authorisation of infrastructure developments on sewage systems.

“It’s either the federal government would refrain from the authorization of indiscriminate buildings on sewage lines, and the threat to buildings in Apo Legislators’ Quarters, including mine. I would be forced to go to court and claim charges”, Etim threatened.

According to him, “It’s either the federal government would propose amendments to the master plan or religiously adhere to the provisions of the extant one for sanity in the Federal Capital Territory”.

Etim claimed that “over 100 buildings are sitting on sewage lines or blocking sewer lines, and would in a matter of little time, collapse and kill a multitude of people in Abuja.”

He also sought penalty to be meted out against alleged corrupt FCDA officials, who indiscriminately issue papers to developers to build in “green areas” and on sewage systems in the FCT.

Etim further said “the entire water in the quarters used to narrow into a chamber, just by the area the gigantic building is sitting”.

He also threatened to start filling legal papers against the government in a few weeks, if nothing was done to arrest the breach in the implementation of the development law.

He alleged that five things are critically bad with one of the gigantic buildings blocking a major sewage line.

For Abuja to take proper shape, and assume the standard of modern global cities, strict urban planning standards must be applied. The new minister must also endeavour to either stick to the master plan and implement it or send it to the National Assembly for repeal and re-enactment.

After the consummation of a Republic in 1963, the leadership of Nigeria began to tinker with the idea of a federal capital territory that would be located in the centre.

The idea of a middle-point capital underwent series of roundtables, conferences and talk shops before it was suspended by a gruelling Civil War that lasted for three years.

After the war and the ouster of the government of Gen. Yakubu Gowon, discussions resumed on the relocation of the capital from the coastal city of Lagos, to the vast and Abuja in the Savannah.

The case of Abuja also raised plausible reasons of neutrality and location was eventually approved for the centre of the country in 1974. The choice of Abuja was also tied to the overflowing demography of Lagos.

In 1973-4, the Late Justice Akinola Aguda panel, set up by former Military Head of State, Gen. Murtala Muhammed argued that because of the alarming growth of the population of Lagos, the overcrowding and its poor sanitary state, it had to be dumped for a new capital.

The logic was built on the Brazillian model. By 1973, the groundwork for Abuja began, but due to economic and political instability, work tarried until around 1980s.

The master plan for Abuja and the FCT was developed by International Planning Associates (IPA), a consortium of three American firms: Planning Research Corporation; Wallace, McHarg, Roberts and Todd; 9 and Archisystems, a division of the Hughes Organization. The master plan for Abuja defined the general structure and major design elements of the city that are visible in its current form. More detailed design of the central areas of the capital, particularly its monumental core, was accomplished by Kenzo Tange, a renowned Japanese architect, with his team of city planners at Kenzo Tange and Urtec company.

Most countries relocated their embassies to Abuja, and many maintain their former embassies as consulates in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. Abuja is the headquarters of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the regional headquarters of OPEC. Abuja and the FCT have experienced huge population growth; it has been reported that some areas around Abuja have been growing at 20% to 30% per year. Squatter settlements and towns have spread rapidly in and outside the city limits. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from makeshift settlements since former FCT minister Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai started a demolition campaign in 2003.