In 1974, Lagos was already choked. General Yakubu Gowon had made his infamous statement about Nigeria’s wealth. The cement armada was cooking. Lagos Island, the seat of power, was inaccessible from the Mainland, even after four hours of traffic congestion.
As a member of the Apapa Boat Club, I had the privilege of reaching the Island from Apapa by my speedboat. I had to anchor at Yacht Club to do my business in the island, including catching my programme at Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) over an expose on the desirability of moving the capital of Nigeria to the hinterland.
I robustly defended the movement of the capital out of Lagos on three counts. Traffic was unbearable. It was a coastal town that was vulnerable to foreign attack with little possibility of resistance. We needed a territory that was not owned save by the federal government of Nigeria for prosecuting the objectives of statecraft.
Lagos had acquired many functions that were no longer being efficiently prosecuted. She had overgrown her efficiency level. Very little resources were available for surgical change. It was necessary to disperse the population that was massing up over several roles which Lagos had to play. She was the commercial capital of Nigeria, industrial capital, chief port, main airline terminal, melting pot of cultures, entertainment capital, sports capital etc. Administration of the nation was suffering. The civil service cohabiting with the barons of industry and commerce was not healthy. A separate climate had to be created for civil service to quietly run the country without intrusion of negative influences purveyed by the world of commerce and industry.
My argument was complemented by a large number of others and the idea of moving Lagos was conceived. Arrangements were made for a Committee for Movement of the Federal Capital was formed. It was agreed that a location in the hinterland would be ideal. The current location of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was found and approved.
Kenzo, Tange and Urtec were commissioned to undertake the design of Abuja. It was ready in months, and surveys of all types connected with land development were commissioned. A plan was soon ready. It provided for a maximum civil service population of about 300,000. Elasticity was conceived to make population hit one million in a number of decades, provided industrial developments, which were components of the project, would keep pace with population and productivity.
It did not envisage an endless surge of people from all over the country to import the distractions associated with Lagos.
In the meantime, there is no industrial development in the territory worth its name. It is a massive consumption centre that has drained the economy of Nigeria through over-bloated public service. It is growing into carrion where all vultures congregate to feast on.
My lamentation is that my Igbo nation is the worst hit by this. Our leaders now make camp permanently after testing some government position or another to stay put and seek to continue the abuse of Abuja. It would have been expected that those who have served the nation should return to their pristine homes to help with spread of development with their experience. It would have been expected that those who had drawn huge resources from the public till should contemplate bringing a fraction of those resources home to uplift their grassroots.
No! They are never satiated with what they have accumulated. They hang in there because they did not have grassroots relevance to get there at first instance. Abuja empowered them for their nuisance value only. Their people did not send them there. Abuja has exported individuals to the hinterlands from where they came to pollute the hinterlands with false doctrines of relevance.
A huge army now exists of Ndigbo who prowl the fields in search of contracts based on those they can influence. The National Assembly, expected to make laws for the continuing betterment of the country, has worked itself into pseudo executive arm provided with humungous resources to conduct constituency projects. The entire show of constituency projects is a hoax meant to prepare a pool of funds for next elections.
The upsetting scenario is that politics has become expenditure of public resources in magnitudes that should compel the law to examine the sources of funds of all who have no business being in Abuja. Public funds are flagrantly stolen for private estates that have little bearing on productivity of the city as organic entity. Abuja has steadily become a centre of destruction of the common will of Nigeria. Most of our Igbo elite are now there with occasional visits to their homes for events like burials of relations or events which they consider necessary to keep them in public radar.
They approach younger people and warp their senses of judgement with peanuts. The little gratification blurs their senses. Soon they return home as corpses to be buried among their people.
Ndigbo that will be relevant are those who know their people by living among them. Abuja citizens should remain there. Their corpses should be buried there too, for the land of Ndigbo will no longer accept the corpses of those who did not show her reverence in their lifetime.
Abuja has ceased to be a new capital for positive evolution of the public service of Nigeria. It is now carrion for vultures to feast on. The will of the people has consequently been raped.