On this day 31 years ago, Nigerian military ruler, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida physically moved the seat of power from Lagos to Abuja. Lagos had functioned as Nigeria’s political and economic capital and served as the country’s center of power from 1914 to 1991.
On 3 February 1976, General Murtala Muhammed announced that the Federal Capital would in the future move to a federal territory location of about 8,000 square kilometres in the central part of the country. But the idea was not implemented until 1991, under military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
Several nations have experimented with moving their capital cities around the globe. Brazil, for example, relocated its capital from Rio de Janeiro to the purpose-built Brasilia in 1961; Kazakhstan moved its capital from Almaty to Astana in 1997; and Cote d’Ivoire transferred its capital from Abijan to Yamoussoukro in 1983. Nigeria shifted its capital from Lagos to Abuja in 1991, joining the group of nations that had previously relocated their capital cities for various reasons.
To actualise the idea, General Murtala Mohammed’s military government, formed a 7-person panel with Dr. Akinola Aguda as its chairman to study the question of Nigeria’s future capital city. The Federal Capital Development Authority was founded by Military Decree No. 6 of 1976 to oversee the planning, designing, and development of the Federal Capital Territory at the recommendation of the panel following its study (FCT).
The unsuccessful but brutal coup of 1976 that took his life prevented the Murtala administration from finishing what it had begun. While succeeding governments made their contributions during their terms in office, it wasn’t until the military regime of General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida that the ideal became a reality in 1991.
No comments:
Post a Comment