•Gridlock in Abuja
The Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC) has urged the federal government to relocate selected government institutions and decentralise administrative functions as part of urgent measures to address the worsening traffic congestion in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The centre said findings from its policy research and urban systems analysis showed that Abuja’s persistent gridlock is no longer a mere transportation challenge but a structural governance problem driven largely by the excessive concentration of public institutions within the city centre, reports Saturday Guardian.
In a statement yesterday, ADSC President, Victor Oluwafemi, warned that the daily traffic pattern in Abuja now poses risks to national productivity, public service performance, staff wellbeing, investor confidence and the long-term livability of the capital.
Oluwafemi explained that every workday, vehicles move en masse towards the same central corridors in the morning because government offices, service points and high-activity institutions are clustered in the city core, only for the traffic to reverse in the evening.
According to him, ADSC’s research indicated that the problem is rooted primarily in institutional concentration rather than limited road infrastructure.
He said: “The more Abuja continues to concentrate government activity into the same tight centre, the more congestion becomes inevitable, regardless of how many interchanges are built.
“While road expansions and corridor upgrades remain important, they are insufficient as a standalone solution.
“Global urban planning evidence shows that where traffic demand is generated by concentrated destinations, increasing road capacity often produces temporary relief before congestion returns as demand rises to match the new capacity.
“Abuja must therefore shift from a road led response to a governance led, spatial planning strategy that reduces the daily need for mass commuting into the city centre.”
He called on President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, to adopt an evidence-led decongestion programme anchored on accelerated satellite town development and administrative decentralisation.
Oluwafemi noted that towns such as Kwali, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Bwari and Abaji have significant land and expansion potential but remain largely residential spillovers, thereby increasing commuter pressure on the city centre.
“The solution is to build them as functional municipal centres where people can work, access services and live without being compelled to enter central Abuja daily,” he said.
The ADSC president recommended the phased relocation of non-sensitive and high-traffic government functions to these satellite towns, including back-office directorates, training institutions, conference facilities, records and archives, logistics centres, procurement and compliance units, and other high-footfall service points.
He also stressed the need for accelerated digitisation of government processes to reduce physical movement associated with approvals, file routing and inter-agency coordination.
Beyond Abuja, Oluwafemi advocated the relocation of suitable federal institutions to other states to ease the long-term administrative burden on the capital and promote balanced development across the federation.
“Abuja must not wait to become permanently gridlocked before structural reform is undertaken. The time to act is now,” he added.
