The Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter, has called for a return to the original Abuja Master Plan, blaming the current urban crises in the capital city on illegal developments, blocked drainages, and allocations made without professional consultation.
The call was made during a combined commemoration of World Habitat Day and World Cities Day, held at the Old Parade Ground in Abuja on Saturday.
The event, themed under the global ‘Urban October 2025’ banner, featured a novelty football match between Team Young Town Planners and Team Youth Assembly of Nigeria.
The FCT chairman of NITP, Tpl. Queen Phillips, in her welcome address, highlighted the timeliness of the 2025 themes: ‘Urban Crisis Response’ for World Habitat Day and ‘People-Centred Smart Cities’ for World Cities Day.
“Our cities are under increasing pressure from population growth, inadequate infrastructure, informal settlements, climate-related stresses, and conflicts over land use,” she stated.
She noted that in the FCT, the challenges manifest as urban sprawl, housing in flood-prone zones, the proliferation of informal settlements, and challenges of waste management.
Phillips emphasised that a ‘smart city’ must be people-centred, declaring that, “Technology should serve people, not drive exclusion.”
Speaking with journalists after the event, Phillips provided a more pointed analysis of the FCT’s urban problems, identifying specific flood-prone areas like parts of Asokoro, Guzape, and the Trademore area, attributing the challenges to a disregard for planning layouts.
“The master plan of FCT was well planned. All we are saying as professionals is, can we just try to go along with the zoning?
“If there is anything that needs to be changed, can we make a recall to the designers of this layout and to the organisation, and seek some advice?” she said.
She revealed a key institutional failure, stating that the professional bodies responsible for layouts were often sidelined.
“Who am I going to hold responsible? Who am I penaliaing? At times, we are not even directed. It comes like that and you just see it happening. You don’t have a say,” she said.
To address this, the chairperson disclosed that the Institute was seeking an audience with the FCT Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike.
“We have sent our letters to seek an audience with the Minister of the FCT. We understand that he really wants to see the FCT that was planned initially; he wants to see the Master Plan restored. As much as we, the professionals, the town planners, want to see the restoration of that master plan, we are trying to get across to him.
“We are hoping that he will give us an audience very soon. At the same time, we appreciate the work he is doing in the FCT, the infrastructure, the roads he is constructing are all very good. But we need to complement this effort he is making because he can’t be doing all these great things while we are having flooding and displacement of people from their communities. It will hamper the good work he is doing.
“So, we want to have a chat with him and put our own professional advice across so that we can further cement the good things which he is doing, and we won’t have flooding hindering the good work,” she said.
Echoing the sentiments, the immediate-past National President of NITP, Tpl. Nathaniel Atebije, issued a stark warning on the consequences of ignoring physical planning.
“One of the things that planning stands for is to ensure that there is order. The human settlements on the Earth’s surface are not just in trouble, but it has now reached a crisis point because of disorder.
“I want to let everybody know that they should either buy into planning or we perish. That is the very, very dangerous thing that we are doing to ourselves. Therefore, we have to arrest this crisis and make our cities livable and sustainable,” he said.
The event culminated in a novelty football match, symbolising a partnership between professional planners and youth groups. Tpl. Phillips declared the match open, expressing hope that the camaraderie would inspire “deeper reflection and action” towards solving the FCT’s urban challenges.
