We must save FCT green areas

In the master plan of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, green areas, also known as green or open spaces, were deliberately set aside for recreation, conservation and aesthetic purposes. These areas, mostly covered in vegetation, like grass, trees and plants, can be found in all the districts in the FCT. These don’t just beautify […]

In the master plan of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, green areas, also known as green or open spaces, were deliberately set aside for recreation, conservation and aesthetic purposes. These areas, mostly covered in vegetation, like grass, trees and plants, can be found in all the districts in the FCT. These don’t just beautify the capital territory; they also serve as water channels for sanitation purposes as well as to avoid flooding.

But as this newspaper report has uncovered, the green areas in the city, especially in highbrow districts such Guzape, Maitama, Central Business District (CBD), Katampe, Wuse and Kado, are being encroached upon, if not completely converted into purposes other than for which they were set aside. It is now common to see residential or commercial buildings in places used to be known as green areas.

Indeed, green areas, water channels and others, as the Weekend Trust report found out, have been allocated for residential purposes in the entire Guzape District, spanning up to 70 hectares. Similar or worse infractions have been identified in many other parts of the FCT.

Perhaps more troubling is the allegation that some government officials who have shown patriotism and insisted on doing the right thing are being victimised. According to the reports, a former Executive Secretary of the FCTA, Abdulhadi Shehu, an engineer, was allegedly suspended because he insisted that the right thing must be done in land allocation in the FCT.

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As the immediate past chairperson of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, FCT chapter, Lami Ayuba, noted, there are not a few rich and influential people that want to own properties in popular districts such as Maitama, Guzape and Garki and are putting pressure on  government officials to bend the rules in their favour.

She further alleged that pressure from various quarters was making some of the officials to violate the master plan by re-allocating green areas for other purposes or mixed use, as the case may be.

In a letter dated February 3, 2025, titled, ‘Conversion and Redesign of Green Areas to Mixed Use/Estate/Residential and Commercial Land Uses,’ the Nigerian Association of Town Planners, Abuja chapter, signed by Lami Ayuba when she was the chairman requested the honourable minister of the FCT to review the on-going process of redesign and conversion of green areas to mixed uses, residential, estate and/or commercial land uses. The letter said such places serve as storm drainage waterways, and any permanent development will block the storm-ways, causing flooding in due course.

Ayuba is not the only person to have raised the alarm over these infractions. In an article published recently in Daily Trust, Umar Shuaibu, a former Coordinator of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, also alleged that there was massive misappropriation of land in the FCT, urging the relevant authorities to act appropriately.

Certainly, these are warnings, which we ignore at our peril. Already, we have had experiences in the capital city where violation of the masterplan had led to perennial flooding leading to loss of millions of naira.

We call on the Minister of the FCT, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, to address the concerns with regards to the conversion of green areas to other use.  We are not convinced with the argument advanced by the FCT minister’s Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media, Lere Olayinka, that only the FCT Administration could determine which place constitutes green area and also has the liberty to re-allocate such for other usage when the need arises. He further added that the FCT administration had the right to allocate for a certain purpose, as well as change the purpose depending on the situation at a particular time.

Olayinka also cited instances where green areas approved for gardens and other recreation services were used as churches and other purposes in the past, adding that a problem could arise when officials abuse the reallocation process. While this may be true, the minister has a responsibility to ensure that the wrongs are addressed for the benefit of the whole nation rather than a few individuals.

This is certainly to the detriment of the environment and the well planned city.

In this regard, we urge the FCT Administration to appropriately empower the development control department of the FCDA, which is vested with the responsibility of monitoring adherence or lack of it to the master plan, while the authorities in the FCT will do well to free it of all stranglehold to enable it perform this role. This will stand the greatest chance of attaining the best result in rescuing the federal capital from the path of irreversible distortion

The Abuja master plan was created for a purpose: which is to ensure that residents live in harmony with the environment and ensure development in an orderly and safe manner. No material or selfish consideration should change this fact.