Revisiting FCT’s original inhabitants

In February 2022, following my posting to undertake my mandatory one-year national youth service at a community-based organization (CBO) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, I was assigned to represent the CBO at a programme to kick start a project being launched by the Socio-Economic Research and Development Centre (SERDEC) aimed at “Promoting the economic rights of the original inhabitants of the FCT.” The event offered insights into the plight of the FCT’s original inhabitants in spite of glamour of a beautiful capital territory that Abuja is pictured in our eyes.

This prompted me to conduct a little research about the original inhabitants of the FCT. Who are they? Why do successful administrations hardly or genuinely prioritise their issues? The evolution and growth of Abuja as Federal Capital Territory dates back to mid-1970s when the late Gen. Murtala Muhammed military regime muted the idea of relocation of Nigeria’s capital from Lagos.  Precisely on February 3, 1976, late General Murtala Muhammed announced the decision to relocate the capital of Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja through the promulgation of Decree No. 6 of 1976 (Federal Capital Act) thereby giving birth to a new city from the lands of Niger, Plateau and Kwara states. Accordingly, a ‘virgin land’ was acquired in 1976 in the geographical center of Nigeria with the intention of building a new FCT because of the need to create a center of unity as publicly articulated.

The decree also established the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) as the first institution created to monitor the preparation of a comprehensive master plan for the city which stands on 8,000 sq.km of land approximately two and a half times the size of Lagos (Adebanwi, 2006).

Abuja was formerly inhabited by nine ethnic groups, namely: Amwamwa, Bassa, Egbira, Gade, Ganagana, Gbagyi, Gbari, Gwandara, and Koro. Now, the FCT has six areas councils; Abaji, Abuja Municipal (AMAC), Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali with over three million people living there as at 2020.

Under the Abuja master plan, the OIs were to be resettled within the FCT or outside the FCT. While some of the OIs were already resettled, the government later prioritised developing infrastructure over completing the resettlement. Resettlement wasn’t the only compensation listed in the master plan. It also includes equal access to citizenship and opportunities. Today some of the OIs have relocated to neighboring states, others move further inwards to enable them live their simple life of farming and end for their families away from the city. In spite of these, it can be seen that the OIs have been highly marginalized and economically deprived which should not have been case. Many civil society groups have been working towards helping the OIs reclaim their rights. I therefore urge FGN to do the needful for FCT-OIs.

Muyideen Morenigbade,

Good Governance Team (GGT) Nigeria