ADSC Urges Decentralisation, Investment to Tackle Abuja Traffic

ADSC Urges Decentralisation, Investment to Tackle Abuja Traffic

JOEL OLADELE, Abuja

The Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC) has raised the alarm over worsening traffic congestion in Abuja, calling for urgent investment and administrative decentralisation to prevent the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from becoming permanently gridlocked.

The group said the traffic situation has gone beyond daily inconvenience and now poses a serious governance and productivity challenge for the nation’s capital.

In a statement issued recently, ADSC President, Sir Victor Oluwafemi, said the position was based on the Centre’s policy research and urban systems analysis of traffic patterns in Abuja.

“Our findings are clear. Abuja’s morning and evening congestion has moved beyond inconvenience,” Oluwafemi said. “It is now a structural governance challenge with direct implications for national productivity, public service performance, staff wellbeing, investor confidence, and the long-term liveability of the capital.”

He explained that the daily gridlock is driven largely by the concentration of government offices and high-activity institutions within the city centre, forcing thousands of workers to commute along the same corridors at the same time.

“Every workday, the same pattern repeats itself. In the mornings, vehicles move toward the same central corridors, and in the evenings, the traffic reverses in one wave, creating daily paralysis that drains time, energy, and morale,” he said.

According to ADSC, the problem is not simply a lack of road infrastructure but the excessive clustering of institutions in central Abuja.

“Our research indicates that this problem is driven primarily by institutional concentration, not just limited road space,” Oluwafemi noted. “The more Abuja concentrates government activity into a tight centre, the more congestion becomes inevitable, regardless of how many interchanges are built.”

While acknowledging the importance of road expansion, he warned that it cannot serve as a stand-alone solution.

“Global urban planning evidence shows that increasing road capacity often brings only temporary relief before congestion returns,” he said. “Abuja must shift from a road-led response to a governance-led spatial planning strategy.”

The Centre therefore called on President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barrister Nyesom Wike, to adopt an evidence-based decongestion programme focused on satellite town development and administrative decentralisation.

“The FCT has substantial expansion potential across Kwali, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Bwari, and Abaji,” Oluwafemi said. “These areas should no longer remain peripheral settlements while the city centre carries an unsustainable load.”

He added that satellite towns should be developed as functional municipal centres where residents can work, access services, and invest without commuting daily into central Abuja.

Oluwafemi, who is also the Founder of the Douglas Development Institute (DDI), said ADSC recommends the phased relocation of selected non-sensitive and high-traffic government functions to satellite municipalities.

“Priority should be given to back-office directorates, training institutions, records and archives, logistics centres, and high-footfall service points that can operate efficiently as municipal hubs,” he said.

The Centre also stressed the need for accelerated digitisation of government processes to reduce physical movement across the city.

“When governance processes become digitally enabled, congestion reduces organically, service delivery becomes faster, and overall efficiency improves,” Oluwafemi stated.

In the long term, ADSC advocated the relocation of suitable federal institutions to other states to reduce Abuja’s administrative burden and promote balanced national development.

“Abuja must not wait to become permanently gridlocked before structural reform is undertaken,” he warned. “A capital that cannot move will eventually struggle to lead. The time to act is now.”