Author(s)

Bons N. Obiadi¹, A. M. Ezezue¹, Peter Umo Uduak²

¹Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
²Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Uyo, Akwa, Nigeria.

Abuja, Nigeria as a befitting Federal Capital Territory, centrally located, without the defects of Lagos was spawned in 1975. The site was chosen for its location at the center of the nation, its small population and for political reasons. In the process, a Master Plan was developed. However, subsequent governments in Abuja abused the integrity of the Master Plan and that resulted in Abuja urbanization and housing inadequacy. The most vulnerable is that, the urban poor had to arrange, on their own, where to live and that resulted in shanty settlements, hence “spatial dialectics,” informal volumetric and unvolumetric combination now called the “spatial house”, “open house” or “house without limit”. This work aimed to document the problems associated with inappropriate implementation of the Abuja Master Plan that resulted in Abuja urbanization and housing inadequacy and proffers solutions to the Abuja housing problems. The authors adopted content based analysis, qualitative research method that involved data from primary and secondary sources. The Abuja Master Plan was elaborated to put in place, sustainable urban spatial environment for all groups and activities to be carried out in the Capital Territory. It provided low-income settlement areas, to be built by the government and occupied by the public servants; the private sector servants did not appear to be properly provided for. The current Abuja housing settlements are not integrated. There is need for the formal, informal settlements and the Abuja urban actors to be talking and link with the Central City infrastructure to create a diverse economy and economic empowerment of all.

Spatial, Urbanization, Economy, Housing, Population

Obiadi, B. , Ezezue, A. and Uduak, P. (2019) Abuja: Nigeria’s Spatial Economic Turmoil and Urban Development Disarray. Current Urban Studies, 7, 371-398. doi: 10.4236/cus.2019.73019.