{"id":23381,"date":"2025-04-16T10:02:34","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T10:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=23381"},"modified":"2025-04-16T10:02:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T10:02:34","slug":"need-for-participatory-communication-abuja-requires-strategic-plan-not-master-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=23381","title":{"rendered":"Need for Participatory Communication: Abuja Requires Strategic Plan, Not Master Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\"><b>By Audu Liberty Oseni<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The Federal Capital Territory Administration continues to rely on the restoration of Abuja master plan as a justification to carry out demolition and forced eviction. This government behaviour has resulted in the forced eviction of a greater number of persons from their homes. For instance, between 2003 and 2008, the Abuja authority demolished homes and evicted more than 800,000 inhabitants from their homes in the communities of Mpape, Dantata, Old Karimo, Jabi\/Kado, Chika, Idu Karimo, Kubwa, and Dei-Dei without adequate compensation and alternative settlement. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">It is not the best practice for Abuja authorities to continue to rely on a master plan designed in 1979 as a justification to carry out demolitions and forced eviction that have rendered many homeless, created huge poverty and social disconnection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">We have seen the reality in urban dynamics. Abuja is witnessing a population explosion, a geometrical rise of informal settlements, social, economic, and environmental changes that were not envisaged by the Master Plan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Therefore, the Abuja authority referring to the &#8220;restoration of the master plan&#8221; as a justification to carry out demolition exercises that have resulted in the displacement of many from their home without adequate alternative settlement is state failure and an abuse of citizens&#8217; right to adequate housing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">We must introduce a reform that will address this challenge. That should be the \u201cAbuja Strategic Urban Development Plan\u201d. This reform is urgently needed to address Abuja&#8217;s present-day realities, which include citizens&#8217; rights to adequate housing, access to basic infrastructure, and environmental sustainability.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Abuja authorities should know that planning is an evolving process. Implementing a master plan designed approximately 50 years ago cannot be suitable for the present FCT.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">In designing the proposed reform, Abuja authorities must deploy a participatory communication approach that will facilitate active citizens\u2019 involvement in its discussion and implementation. This is fundamental because citizens must actively participate in decision-making and solution on issues affecting them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Communication is not only about information dissemination but also the active involvement of people in issues affecting them, making participatory communication fundamental in the \u201cAbuja Strategic Urban Development Plan\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u2022Audu Liberty Oseni<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Director, MAWA-Foundation<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Capital Territory Administration continues to rely on the restoration of Abuja master plan as a justification to carry out demolition and forced eviction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[215,10197,615,10574,193,9855],"class_list":["post-23381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-abuja","tag-communication","tag-master-plan","tag-strategic-plan","tag-tinubu","tag-wike"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23383,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23381\/revisions\/23383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}