Most of those who used to travel to other world cities, a typical example being London, always use the metro as a means of connecting from one destination in the city to another. Abuja prides itself as a modern city, yet these types of facilities are still not in place. The importance of railways as an efficient medium of transportation in the city can never be overemphasized. It is not because they were not thought of and provided for in the Abuja City plan.
At the beginning, it was the excuse of paucity of funds that prevented the commencement of the city railway project. But as many developments and expensive projects began sprouting, those earlier excuses became untenable, replaced by misplacement of priorities. Subsequent incidents showed that the clandestine interests of various FCT administrations in the lands reserved for the implementation of transportation facilities contributed to the neglect of this very vital proposal.
Over the years, we can categorically state that the commitment to the defense or protection of the Abuja Master Plan depends on the disposition of the reigning FCT Ministers. We should not expect persons with a propensity for wanton material acquisition to be honest in holding trust over the very expensive lands in prime locations in a city like Abuja without misappropriating them for further wealth amassment. What is witnessed in respect of the FCT lands in the hands of Nyesom Wike is the most destructive of all previous administrations.
Tpl. Jimoh Aare was my very respectable senior prior to my forced and unwarranted retirement, along with more than a hundred others in the service of the FCDA in 2004. He was among those who were lucky to escape that injustice. While he was in the Transport Secretariat in 2008, I believe as an Assistant Director at that time, we met at Development Control during one of my occasional visits as a private consultant. He told me that though I was outside, I was still giving assignments to those of them left in the service. He showed me from his folder a copy of my Eye on Abuja article of 28th May 2008, titled “Salvation of Our Transportation Facilities.” The then Minister, Aliyu Modibbo, highlighted a portion and directed the Transportation Secretary to act on it.
The highlights were three of the mega plots, each sized 1.6 hectares, earmarked in the Master Plan for transportation terminals along the N1 Arterial Road, between Arterial B-6 and B-12 in the Central Area District. Contrary to the Plan, these plots were already fenced, suggesting they had already been allocated by the previous FCT Administration before 2008 for private use.
Truly, the Master Plan is a product of human intelligence, not divine, and as such, it isn’t infallible. However, spurious excuses must not be used as cover or manipulation for the satisfaction of selfish aggrandizement. Policies, departments, and agencies were established to guide the implementation of the Master Plan to ensure the building of the city we all desire.
If we violate the extant laws, policies, rules, and regulations guiding city development, we will not make any meaningful achievement. Rather, we would end up with an urban jungle as the capital of our great nation. Instead of earning the respect and commendation of our international visitors in many other areas, we would become a laughingstock. Let us not forget that some of our sister African countries are using our success as a model and are still making attempts to emulate our achievements in this venture but are still lagging behind.
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning (URP) under the FCDA started as the Land Planning and Survey Department. All the departments in the FCT Administration that deal with land and land-related matters sprouted from the URP. All lands in the FCT, and in particular the Federal Capital City, are appropriated and allocated according to the rules guiding their required sizes and have specific activities assigned for their uses.
Thus, land uses and their sizes are very critical attributes of land management. Also, cities are developed for the benefit of people; as such, targeted populations and their facility requirements for their well-being are specified by Master Plans. The violation of sizes or land uses spells doom for any city.
Being the Federal Capital, this explains the special importance attached to the defense of the Abuja Master Plan, as always declared by any FCT Administration upon assuming office.
In order to ensure the management of available land, it must be allocated to deserving persons or organizations relative to needs and in compliance with land use and building development guidelines and regulations.
With respect to the various residential densities, wherever a high-rise is required to accommodate 6–8 families, as in high-density developments, it must be complied with. Otherwise, the targeted population would not be achieved for the neighborhood, the district, and ultimately the city.
The level of compliance with the guidelines for city development determines the extent to which we meet the projected population in accordance with the Abuja Master Plan.
To be continued.
