It is the often stated vision of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua to see Nigeria develop into one of 20 biggest economies in the world by 2020. But judging by the President’s expectations for Abuja, those he has saddled with the challenging responsibility of administering the Federal Capital Territory cannot afford such luxury. Abuja cannot wait for another 13 years to join the league of the world’s great capital cities. There are many reasons for this but the most pressing is the fact that Abuja is a candidate city for the 2014 Commonwealth Games which presents the urgent need for the city to achieve all the intents of the President’s seven-point Agenda in less than seven years.

For a city to host a fiesta of that magnitude there are minimum infrastructural pre-requisite it must attain in terms accommodation, sports facilities, public transportation, security, power supply, water supply, health facilities, emergency preparedness among a long list of other musts.

And since Nigeria is bidding to win, 2014 imposes upon the managers of the territory an anticipatory clarion call to exponentially scale up the growth of the territory towards sustaining what is already achieved and adding the missing links, assured of the abundance of impetus to do the needful for the near and long terms.

It is imperative to look that far in order to see closely. Fortunately the founding fathers of the city had left us with a roadmap: the Abuja master plan. When the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar assumed office about at the end of July, he had made it clear that he had come to enforce the sanctity of the Master Plan with the determination to inject the community spirit into the city. It was his conviction that it is possible to construct for Nigeria, a capital that is people-centred not just in architecture and but also in governance. And that he has set about in earnest.

From the onset this FCT administration has put the rule of law and due process at the heart of public policy implementation without necessarily over-looking wrong deeds. For instance many Nigerians who watch television were aghast and many angered in June when the development control arm of the FCT pulled down two buildings adjudged to have been put up where they ought not to be by Daar Communications, owners of Africa Independent Television and Raypower FM in Asokoro. The repeated telecast of footages of the said exercise gave a negative impression about the particular action and also tainted the perception of the public about the work of the administration and its officials.

To shorten the story, which is already in the public realm anyway, Dr Moddibo, as he is called, on his second week day as Minister invited the management of the media house to his office and the next day the matter was resolved amicably in the public interest to the satisfaction of the both parties.

Perhaps the public may not even be aware that correction of land use abuses has not stopped under the new administration. Officials of the FCTA have been removing offending buildings including one inside the FCT Police Command Headquarters without bloodshed or uproar.

As soon as consultations are concluded with the National Assembly and other stakeholders, a high powered citizens panel will be set up to provide regular input into the process of implementing the Master Plan.

To be frank, the difference here is in the style. That is why more than a thousand houses that had earlier been sold have been delivered to new owners without noticeable public outcry. Even though quit notices earlier served sitting occupants were executed on a large scale, nobody is was assaulted or insulted.

The Modibbo administration at the FCTA inherited over 500 lawsuits against it, most of them concerning land title revocation or eviction from accommodation. That is the maze that the minister is navigating at the moment.

Following consultations with the judiciary, he is working hard to resolve as many of the litigation as possible through Alternative Dispute Resolution or outright settlement out of court. The rest hopefully will be taken care of by a combination of his intelligent leadership skills, street smarts and native intelligence... or sheer Fulani charm.

The minister envisage a safe and friendly city where productivity can be optimised and life enjoyed in a seamless symbiosis. For understandable historical reasons, Abuja has been largely a government and civil service town. But that is about to change in a big way with the strategic shift of emphasis to the accelerated development of the Central Business District. Abuja in due course shall have a defining character.

An important step in this direction is the construction of the two Boulevards which are the dual spines of the CBD. A few metres of the eight lane roads currently exist on either side of Eagle Square in between the Federal Secretariat buildings. When completed, all things being equal in the life of this administration, the two roads will run for about six kilometres each between Eagle Square and around the National Hospital.

The significance of the roads is that, like Oxford Street in London or Champs Elysee in Paris, they will constitute the downtown of Abuja where the huge malls, cafes, and other commercial activities will concentrate with easy access to buses and the metro rail system that will also be put in place.

With that the accelerated development of the CBD, the appropriate land use provisions will be enforced. That may not be as easy as it seems as many of the developments in the CBD at the moment are not in accordance with the land use. Developers are put on notice that that will be corrected.

Around existing roads and recreational spaces, we hope to be able to integrate facilities for games and relaxation especially in communities in order to engage the young ones constructively and encourage older people to embark on health promoting activities. Still talking about giving the city a character, it would be nice if visitors to Abuja especially foreigners go back home with some memento. That is why the FCT administration will provide art and craft markets around big hotels in the city where art works from all parts of Nigeria would be sold.

As envisaged by planners of Abuja, the city centre and the satellite towns ought to have been developing pari-pasu. Needless to say, this didn’t happen. The consequence of this has been acute shortage of accommodation especially for the low income bracket bringing to the front burner the urgent need for aggressive ministerial intervention in the satellite town. FCT Minister of State, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe is personally leading that charge.

It is however evident that none of these will make much sense in the absence of adequate security of life and property. Without mincing words, the security situation in Abuja had become worrisome by the time the present administration assumed office. That explains the vigour with which the Modibbo administration devoted human and material resources to battle to rid the territory of hoodlums.

Working with a multi-service security committee he had been able to map out and resource a crime fighting strategy.

Knowing that the implementation of the strategy would yield best results if knowledge based, the minister appointed as security adviser a tested retired soldier Colonel John Madaki who had been military governor of Katsina state. But also realising that local know-how will broaden the knowledge pool for crime detection and prevention, he brought on board Alhaji Ali Kwara who has been helping the police in the fight against highway crime in the northern states.

With the introduction of the 550 policemen strong Abuja Crime Control Squad (ACCOS) kitted with vehicles and communication gadgets as topped with the helicopter donated by the FCTA to the Nigeria Police, crime rate is plummeting by police accounts.

Side by side with the task of keeping Abuja safe are the regular municipal challenges of keeping the communities clean, green and fully functional with good quality water supply, flowing traffic, jobs in addition to world-class educational and health facilities. Simple good life, that is.

Cities that are adjudged successful around the world are just about that. We do not ask for more. But nothing less either.