Dr. Atumye Amos Alao

Abuja stands at a critical turning point. Not from war or disaster, but from deliberate choices that convert parks and green areas into housing estates and commercial plots. What is lost cannot be rebuilt with money or restored by future promises.

The Federal Capital Territory was planned to be different. The 1979 Master Plan reserved a substantial portion of the land, often cited as about one third, for green elements including parks, green belts, riparian buffers, and ecological corridors. These spaces were not luxuries. They were essential urban infrastructure designed to cool the city, absorb stormwater, protect biodiversity, and ensure long term liveability.

Today, this foundation is steadily eroding. Parks that once buffered the city against heat, flooding, and environmental stress are giving way to development. Recent actions by the FCT Administration, including the 2025 revocation of park licenses for policy violations and the demolition of misused sites such as Boulevard Park, reveal the scale of the problem. While these conversions promise quick revenue and increased housing supply, they distort ecological balance and weaken the city’s resilience.

Green spaces provide functions that cannot be replaced by buildings. Trees provide shade and cooling through evapotranspiration. Soils and wetlands absorb rainfall, reducing runoff and flood risk. Urban greenery filters air pollutants and supports ecosystems that keep cities stable. When these systems are removed, cities heat up, flooding intensifies, drainage systems fail, and air quality declines. These outcomes are documented globally and are already emerging in Abuja.

The early warning signs are clear. Urban temperatures are rising. Flash floods are becoming more frequent after heavy rainfall. Urban biodiversity is steadily declining. As permeable land is replaced with concrete, stormwater is forced into drainage systems never designed to handle such volumes. Infrastructure costs rise, public health risks increase, and the long term burden far exceeds any short term gains from land sales.

Global experience offers an unforgiving lesson. Cities that sacrificed green corridors and natural buffers for rapid expansion now spend billions attempting to recreate ecological systems they once removed. Money cannot repair what nature built over decades and destroyed in moments.

• Beyond economics, the consequences are shared by all. Whether rich or poor, we breathe the same air, endure the same heat, depend on the same rain, and face the same floods. Environmental collapse does not discriminate.

The conversion of green land is often justified by housing demand, population growth, or revenue needs. This is a dangerous simplification. Short term benefits create long term costs, including higher energy consumption, increased flooding, declining public health, and a city that becomes less attractive to investors, residents, and visitors. Once green land is built over, recovery is rare and often impossible.

Sustainable growth does not stop development. It guides it wisely. Abuja’s Master Plan reserved about one third of the land for green elements, and leadership must enforce strict protection of designated green belts, riparian buffers, and public parks. Any land use change should undergo transparent public scrutiny and rigorous environmental and social impact assessments. Where change is unavoidable, mandatory mitigation must apply, including on site ecosystem restoration, watershed wide offsets, and legally protected green compensation.

Cities endure not by how fast they expand, but by how wisely they are protected. The continued conversion of green areas into estates is not progress. It is deferred failure. With warning signs already visible and enforcement efforts underway, the time to stop, rethink, and safeguard Abuja’s ecological foundation is now, before the damage becomes permanent.

Dr. Atumye Amos Alao, President Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria, SLAN, writes from Lagos