Threats to Abuja road corridor reservations

All plots of land must be accessible by road. Thus, road corridors are land uses which changes have much wider implications than the other land use components. Because people cannot fly to reach their houses. Compromise on any land earmarked as a road corridor irrespective of the hierarchy, terminates the functionality of all the other land use components serviced by the road.

Ten lane ways are the highest hierarchy traffic network in the Federal Capital City. They are described variously as Expressways, Ring Roads, Parkways, Transitways and Civic Spine. The Abuja city land use plan identifies them as Outer Northern and Outer Southern Expressways (ONEX and OSEX), Inner Expressways North and South (INEX and ISEX), Ring Roads I, II, III, and IV (RRI, RR II, RRIII and RRIV), Parkways (Northern and Southern), Transitways and Civic Spine Roads.

Other than the Ring Roads, all the other expressways emanate from the Central Area District in the Phase I of the city and radiate outwards to the western direction across all the subsequent phases. The Civic Spine are the B-6 and B-12, otherwise referred to as Constitution and Independent Avenues. They commence from the Three Arms Zone and meet at the City Gate to form the Airport Expressway, otherwise referred as the Umaru Musa Yar’adua Way. The ONEX, OSEX and the Civic Spine all convey their traffics to the A-2 Federal Trunk Road at Zuba, Giri and Gwagwalada respectively.

With the exception of Ring Road I, ONEX and the Civic Spine, all the expressways in the Federal Capital City are only partly developed, with very long ways across all the phases of the city to arrive at their final destinations. Their corridors are reserved and always being protected with enforcements against encroachments. Otherwise, their actualisation would not be possible, and the functionality of the city would be destroyed.

In order to prevent the developments of slums and abodes for criminal elements in the city, the FCT Administration was allocating the reservations through the Parks and Recreations Department for temporary greening, pending the time the road would be implemented. Such allocations are subjected revalidation on annual basis upon reapplication. It serves as reminders that the allocations are not statutory and can be terminated anytime the land is required for the road development.

The challenges encountered is that the allotees don’t apply for the revalidations, at the same time they mischievously sale these types of Park Allocations to unsuspecting citizens, the temporary allocations were stopped.

Unfortunately, some of the FCT administrators could be ignorant of the FCT development plans, at the same time their conscience would be overpowered by greed for land ownership. These road reservations could, therefore, be viewed as vacant lands to grab, for statutory plots allocation. More so, all the lands allocated by Parks and Recreations Department would be mistaken as statutory green area lands. Unfortunately, such administrators have zero regard to green areas provision on the plan.

Our knowledge of the plans around the land recently being disputed between the FCT Administration and the military is that, it occupies the  Southern Parkway corridor reservation as it traverses through the Gaduwa District. This is evident from the formal communication in 2022, from the Park and Recreations Department to Santos Estate Ltd that was originally allocated the land in 2007, and four others, for parks development.

The request made by Santos was for confirmation and clarification of the status in respect of the allocation. In response it was categorically communicated that the land is a part of the city parkway system. As such it cannot be allowed for the development, management and promotion of ideal recreational parks which require huge financial investment.

Consequently, irrespective of the size and extent of financial investment on the land, it would be eventually removed for the implementation of the parkway. The government would never approve any development, otherwise it would be saddled with the payments of compensation.  The land can only be allocated for parks and recreation uses on temporary basis as earlier described.

The parkway runs through the centre of the Northern and Southern residential areas across all the phases of the city development. Within the Central Area it separates into two one-way traffic, the N8/S8 and N9/S9 roads with the Cultural Zone in between. The Cultural Zone contains the Shehu Yar’adua Centre, the National Mosque, National Ecumenical Center, Nigerian Television Authority and the FCDA Office complex among others from north to south.

The Northern Parkway was extended up to the Ring Road II many years back and is named after Sani Abacha. While the construction of the Southern Parkway, which was named after Bola Tinubu, has stopped at the Ring Road I, until the Durumi Village and other indigenous settlements that are serving as impediments for the continuation of the development are compensated and resettled. If there is any urgency it should be the activity of resettling the villages to pave way for the continuation of the Southern Parkway corridor.

For the avoidance of any doubt, relying on the veracity of the content of the 2022 response to Santos Estate Ltd, we would categorically state that, the allocations to anybody on that land are never sustainable. Whether by the Park and Recreations, or statutory, issued by the FCT Land Administration Department, by any past, or present FCT administration, so long as the allocation is located along the Parkway Corridor reservation.

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