Unchecked Development Erodes Abuja’s Green Spaces, Defies Master Plan– Town Planners Warn

Town planners and other built-environment professionals have raised concerns over the gradual loss of Abuja’s green spaces, indiscriminate development and increasing disregard for the city’s original master plan.

They spoke at the 2026 Annual Town Planners Day organised by the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners (NITP), FCT chapter, with the theme: “From Garden City to Concrete Jungle: Planning Livable Communities.”

The participants called for renewed commitment to the Abuja Master Plan, stronger enforcement of planning regulations and greater professional courage in resisting developments capable of undermining the sustainability and livability of the nation’s capital.

The chairman of the occasion, Zaliha’u Ahmed, described the theme as an indictment of the current state of Abuja, asking what had happened to the vision of a garden city where development and nature would coexist.

Ahmed, a former Director of Urban and Regional Planning in the FCT, said the Abuja Master Plan deliberately incorporated parks, green belts, recreational spaces and ecological conservation areas as essential components of the city.

She, however, lamented that green spaces and designated open areas were steadily disappearing, while public and institutional spaces were being converted to private developments.

“Today, however, we must ask whether we have maintained and are faithful to those ideals,” she said.

According to her, mature trees that had grown for decades were sometimes felled within hours without credible replacement, while recent developments, including the redesign of land around Jabi Lake Park, the conversion of a district hospital site to residential use and indiscriminate commercial activities on walkways and buffer zones, threatened the integrity of the Abuja Master Plan.

Ahmed urged town planners not to blame politicians alone for the distortion of the city’s planning vision, stressing that professionals in the built environment also had a responsibility to uphold planning regulations.

“Political interference is real. However, the distortion of Abuja Master Plan also requires professional participation — a proposal prepared, a drawing endorsed, a recommendation written, an approval processed, an infraction overlooked, or a professional body choosing silence when issues speak up,” she said.

She warned that professionals who used their expertise to circumvent planning safeguards could not be regarded as innocent bystanders.

“If professionals in the built environment lend their expertise to distract the safeguards they were trained to uphold, we are not innocent bystanders to concrete jungle. We are among its enablers,” Ahmed said.

The town planner stressed the need for professionals to attach greater significance to their signatures and seals, warning that technical competence without ethical courage could become an instrument of destruction.

“It is not enough to know the regulatory standards. Our signatures must mean something. Our seals must mean something. Our professional seals must not become instruments for illegality,” she said.

Ahmed called on the NITP and other built-environment professional bodies to rediscover their public voices by scrutinising major departures from approved plans, publishing evidence-based positions, protecting professionals who resist improper directives and disciplining those who knowingly facilitate serious violations.

She said a professional code of ethics that was not enforced would amount to mere ceremonial practice.

According to her, the journey from a garden city to a concrete jungle was neither inevitable nor irreversible, but reversing the trend would require competent leadership, collective action and professionals committed to protecting the integrity of the Master Plan.

She also linked recent flooding and earth tremors recorded in the FCT to the need for strict adherence to planning standards.

“Standards and regulations are to safeguard lives and properties. If we don’t safeguard and protect lives and properties, we are not worthy of the profession we call ourselves,” Ahmed said.

She urged professionals to place the public interest above private interests, warning that history would ultimately judge what they did while the city’s planning vision was being eroded.

Earlier, the chairman of the NITP FCT chapter, Queen I. Phillips, in her welcome address, said the theme was conceived in response to growing concerns over the disappearance of Abuja’s green areas, non-adherence to planning standards and disregard for provisions of the Abuja Master Plan.

Phillips recalled that the theme of the 2025 Town Planners Day was “Regional Development in the FCT: Rethinking Public Sector-led Development of Abuja Satellite Towns.”

She said the discussions from the previous event, coupled with concerns raised by residents and stakeholders over the loss of green spaces, had further exposed the increasing pressure of development on the environment and quality of life in the FCT.

She disclosed that the FCT chapter had established committees to examine specific environmental and planning challenges associated with development pressure and the loss of green spaces.

According to her, reports from the committees had been forwarded to the national body of the institute for consideration and appropriate action.

Phillips added that the chapter had also reported, and would continue to report, observed infractions of town planning laws and regulations to the Town Planners Registration Council of Nigeria (TOPREC).

“Our commitment is to ensure that development and environmental protection go hand in hand, through planning that promotes sustainable growth, social inclusion and improved quality of life,” she said.

She urged participants to contribute actively to the discussions, noting that the outcome of the event would be captured in a communique to be published and shared with relevant stakeholders.

Phillips also stressed the importance of the participation of young town planners, describing them as critical to the future of Nigerian cities and the planning profession.

She said the NITP remained committed to promoting orderly, sustainable and inclusive development and would continue to use its professional knowledge, institutional platforms and advocacy role to protect Abuja’s planning legacy.

“Is the FCT we want still within our power to build? Can we grow without losing what makes a city worth living in?” she asked.

“Because at the end of the day, a city is not measured by its towers, but by the quality of life of its people.”

Delivering the keynote paper, the Guest Speaker, Prof. Laraba Rikko of the University of Jos, said Abuja had recorded significant infrastructure development and had grown into a major city of global repute.

She, however, warned that the capital had expanded ahead of the provision of adequate services and had witnessed the fragmentation, degradation and, in some cases, privatisation of spaces originally intended to form part of its green structure.

Rikko said the city was designed to manage expansion through planning but had increasingly witnessed developments that were inconsistent with its original vision.

She also criticised the proliferation of unapproved building plans and developments, urging professionals to exercise greater caution in the use of their signatures and official seals.

“If you don’t guard your signature, if you draw it anyhow and sign whatever document and stamp whatever document that passes before you, you are contributing immensely to the concretisation of the city,” she said.

According to her, professionals who approve inappropriate developments contribute to reducing the integrity and sustainability of Abuja.

Rikko said the challenge facing Abuja was not only physical but also ethical, urging town planners, architects and other built-environment professionals to examine their individual roles in shaping the city.

“The sustainability of this city is compromised and it is already in danger. Therefore, I am hoping that from this lecture that we will go back home with changed hearts, transformed as we want the city to be transformed,” she said.

She stressed that transforming a city would require a transformation in the attitudes and character of the people living and working in it.

“A city can never be transformed when the people living in it are not transformed. Because the character of the city reflects the people that live in it,” she said.

The professor also raised concerns over inequality in Abuja, saying the original philosophy of the capital was to create an inclusive city that accommodated both high- and low-income residents.

She argued that a truly livable Abuja must provide space and opportunities for all categories of residents, including those who provide essential services to wealthy residents.

“Who washes your car? Who cooks for you? Who drives your car? Where do they sleep? Where do they go to market? What do they eat? How do they survive?” Rikko asked.

She urged planners and architects to incorporate the needs of low-income residents into the design and development of communities.

“A livable community would have them included in the city,” she said.

Rikko also cautioned against solving Abuja’s planning challenges solely through demolition and replacement of structures, stressing that the focus should be on creating inclusive and sustainable communities.

She concluded with a moral challenge to the professionals and other stakeholders, “If God treated us like we treat one another, who would have been here today?”

The event brought together town planners, government officials, academics, professional bodies, private-sector stakeholders, civil society organisations, young professionals and other stakeholders to deliberate on the future of Abuja and the need to preserve its identity as a planned and livable capital city.