Need for recalibrating direction

The FCT’s 2023–2025 development trajectory favours capital-intensive infrastructure over essential public services, undermining inclusive growth and sustainability. When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Nyesom Wike, as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), expectations were high. Wike arrived with a tough persona and a reputation for executing high-profile capital projects. But halfway into his tenure, […]

The FCT’s 2023–2025 development trajectory favours capital-intensive infrastructure over essential public services, undermining inclusive growth and sustainability.

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Nyesom Wike, as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), expectations were high. Wike arrived with a tough persona and a reputation for executing high-profile capital projects.

But halfway into his tenure, a clearer picture has emerged—one that raises critical questions about development priorities, equity, and responsible governance.

A flurry of road construction, bridge expansions, and bus terminals now dot the FCT landscape. However, beneath the asphalt and painted curbs lies a troubling truth: this development surge has come with little to no investment in essential services such as health, education, and social welfare.

The N21 billion spent on completing the Vice President’s residence—after 14 years of abandonment—symbolises this misplaced focus. In the same city where maternal mortality is still a challenge and public schools lack basic learning materials, the emphasis on elite residences and conference halls reflects a disconnect between governance and citizen needs.

The bus terminals at Kugbo and Mabushi were launched with fanfare, yet no buses have been procured. There is no known policy framework for an integrated public transport system. Roads have been resurfaced, but many lead to nowhere meaningful—an echo of cosmetic urbanism that prioritises visibility over usability.

In a city grappling with rising food costs, youth unemployment, inadequate healthcare facilities, and overstretched rural infrastructure, there is no flagship policy initiative on agriculture, social welfare, or education reform from the FCT Administration.

Even more worrying is the quiet surge in land allocations and revocations. Public spaces previously earmarked for future use or environmental preservation are reportedly being parcelled out at an unprecedented rate. Residents and civil society actors have raised the alarm, calling the ongoing exercise a strategic redistribution of urban assets to political allies, masquerading as development.

When land becomes currency in political loyalty, urban planning is replaced by urban profiteering.

The consequences of these include alienation of citizens, especially in rural and peri-urban communities, waste of public funds on underutilised projects, widening social inequality within the territory, and loss of public trust in FCTA leadership and institutions.

To address these issues social spending should be reprioritised, and at least 40 per cent of the 2025 FCT budget should be allocated to health, education, agriculture, and job creation.

The FCT Administration should develop an Inclusive Urban Transport Policy and establish a functional public transport system with procurement of buses, route mapping, and pricing frameworks.

It should audit and regulate land allocations, publish a transparent digital registry of land transactions and revoke questionable reallocations.

Engage Area Councils in participatory budgeting and strengthen local governance by mandating that a minimum percentage of capital projects originate from area council proposals based on community consultation.

What Abuja needs is not a makeover—it needs meaningful transformation rooted in fairness, sustainability, and responsiveness. It needs roads, yes, but also hospitals. It needs terminals, but also functioning schools. It needs leadership that understands governance is not show business, and development is not measured by how many projects are commissioned in 19 days.

President Tinubu must recalibrate the FCTA’s direction.

Nigeria’s capital should not be a battlefield for egos or a trophy case of political extravagance. It must be a model of balanced development, driven by leaders who understand that true infrastructure begins with the people—not just concrete.

 

Khalid Danladi Musa wrote from Maitama, Abuja [email protected]