Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Encyclopedia : F : FE : FED : Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
| Federal Capital Territory Nickname: Centre of Unity | ||
| Location | ||
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| Statistics | ||
| Minister (List) | Mallam Nasir el-Rufai (PDP) | |
| Date Created | 3 February 1976 | |
| Capital | Abuja | |
| Area | 7,315 km² | |
| Population 1991 Census 2006 est. | 378,671 5,000,000 | |
| ISO 3166-2 | NG-FC | |
The Federal Capital Territory is the home of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The Territory was formed in 1976 from parts of former Nasarawa, Niger, and Kogi States. It is in the central region of the country.
The territory is located just north of the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers. It is bordered by the states of Niger to the West / northeast, Kaduna to the northeast, Plateau to the east and south, and kogi to the southwest.
Lying between latitude 8.25 and 9.20 north of the equator and longitude 6.45 and 7.39 east of Greenwich Meridian, Abuja is geographically located in the center of the country.
The Federal Capital Territory has a landmass of approximately 8000sq km, of which the actual city occupies 250sq km. It is situated within the Savannah region with moderate climatic conditions.
The territory is currently made up of six area councils namely; Municipal, Abaji, Gwagwalada, Kuye, Bwari, Kwali.
History
ABUJA, virgin land turned Nigeria's Federal Capital and symbol of unity, wields much more in infrastructure and commercial investments than meets the eye.
Created in 1976 by the Federal Military Government of the late General Murtala Mohammed via decree No. 6 of the same year; the city has unequivocally revolved as Nigeria's second best inspirational realization after independence from colonialism.
Prior to its creation, Nigeria was administered from LAGOS as its capital, which was constitutionally recognized and empowered to function as a state. This was due to the fact that the main seaport, industrial and commercial activities were all centered in Lagos. This resulted into perennial cases of traffic jams, intolerable congestion, inadequate infrastructural and social amenities as well as lack of land for further expansion. These put together rendered the city ineffective as seat of Government.
The search for a new capital for Nigeria began in earnest on 9th August, 1975, when the Federal Military Government set up the Justice Akinola Aguda panel to examine the dual role of Lagos as both Federal and State Capital and advice on the desirability or otherwise of Lagos retaining that role.
The Aguda Panel was mandated to, among other things, recommend which of the two governments, Federal or State, should move to a new location in the circumstance of finding Lagos not suitable for its dual role. Where it decided that the Federal and not the State should move, the panel was to recommend a suitable alternative site as the new Federal Capital. The panel submitted its report in December 1975 and declared Lagos incapable of shouldering the dual role of being the nation's Capital as well as that of State in addition to being the commercial and industrial nerve-centre of the country. It therefore recommended that the Federal Capital of Nigeria be removed from Lagos and be sited in a vast, virgin territory in the country's heartland.
The choice of Abuja by the panel was determined by factors such as: centrality of location, easy accessibility from all parts of the country, healthy climate conditions, low population density, availability of land for future expansion, physical planning convenience and ethnic accord.
External links
- [Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and City of Abuja] official site
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| Abia | Abuja Federal Capital Territory | Adamawa | Akwa Ibom | Anambra | Bauchi | Bayelsa | Benue | Borno | Cross River | Delta | Ebonyi | Edo | Ekiti | Enugu | Gombe | Imo | Jigawa | Kaduna | Kano | Katsina | Kebbi | Kogi | Kwara | Lagos | Nassarawa | Niger | Ogun | Ondo | Osun | Oyo | Plateau | Rivers | Sokoto | Taraba | Yobe | Zamfara | |
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