Environmental expert and retired Air Vice Marshal Kenneth Iyamu has blamed the drastic reduction of Abuja’s green areas for the capital’s growing vulnerability to flooding and climate-related challenges.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, Iyamu said Abuja was originally designed with extensive green spaces to regulate temperatures and protect the city’s environment, but much of that provision had been lost since 2023, explaining that the the original Abuja master plan was designed to accommodate the city’s environmental peculiarities, including its heat and rainfall patterns.
“40% of Abuja was green areas. Since 2023, this one has been decimated to almost 70%, if you look at the case Abuja Master Plan, 1979, when it was being designed by the Association of Planners.”
He said the master plan provided a general framework for the development of the capital while Japanese architect Kenzo Tange took the design further by creating distinct zones. “Now, they gave a general planning of Abuja, general planning to say, this is how Abuja will look like. But Kenzo Tange took it further, developed all the area, the various zones, and everywhere, and all the boulevard and everything, and situated all the development around the Aso Rock.”
According to Iyamu, the planners deliberately incorporated green areas because of Abuja’s climate, with the spaces helping to create a favourable local environment. “Now, what was important there is that he created zones, and made sure that, because of the peculiarity of Abuja, because of the heat and everything, he created green areas.”
He also said the original design included a lake intended to help regulate the city’s temperature and contribute to its environmental balance.
“And because of that, they also created a lake. What does a lake do? It helps the temperature not to flood it.”
Iyamu said Abuja’s original design was intended to protect the city from flooding because of its terrain, green spaces and other environmental features. “Now, Kenzo Tange promised them that Abuja can never be flooded. It can never be flooded, because the relief was there.”
He said changes to the city’s natural environment had compromised the system, at a time when Nigeria was already experiencing increased rainfall linked to climate change.
“What we are having now, Abuja and Nigeria at large, have a lot of challenges, because we are in the agricultural zone, and we are climate-sensitive, which is bringing much more precipitation now.”
Iyamu said the problem had been compounded by the alteration of Abuja’s natural relief and environmental structure. “And because the relief land has been compromised, has been compromised, so we are having, you see, nature is a balanced entity.”
He warned that development could become counterproductive when it ignores environmental limits and begins to worsen hardship and insecurity. “If you are doing development, which we all appreciate, but if the development is now sending more people to destitute, and more to the poverty regime, is closing business, is making people to lose jobs, is closing services, and additionally, it is increasing destitution and desperation, and people are getting frustrated, it is no longer development.”
He said such failures could ultimately turn an environmental and development problem into a national security challenge. “What you are now doing, you have moved from national development to national security challenges.”
Iyamu also raised concerns about waste management in Abuja, saying garbage had become increasingly visible on the streets following the recent flooding. “Since the Saturday event, I expected Abuja Environmental Protection Agency to be on the streets, clearing the garbage, clearing the gutters, because garbage has almost taken over Abuja.”
“They are now spilling to the roads. Nothing of that has been seen at all.”
The retired military officer said leadership should respond to environmental disasters by taking responsibility, learning from previous events and implementing corrective measures. “I would say that the whole mark of leadership is to serve, is to take responsibility.”
He said the authorities needed to recognise that Abuja’s environmental challenges were not isolated incidents but problems that required long-term planning and corrective action. “Nations grow by looking back. They don’t bury events. They look back, make corrections, and forward it into the future, to be able to make a very big nation.”
On measures to address the flooding, Iyamu urged the Federal Capital Territory Administration to return to the original Abuja master plan. “One, go back to the master plan. Go back to the master plan. It is very, very important.”
He warned that continued interference with the natural environment would inevitably produce consequences. “Because you can’t continue to constrict nature and expect nature not to react.”
Iyamu also called for the upgrading of Abuja’s environmental infrastructure, particularly drainage and sewage systems, which he said were already blocked in several areas. “Then, the second one, upgrade your facilities.”
He said the condition of sewage and flood channels across the capital required urgent attention. “Because if you move around Abuja, the sewage lines are all blocked. They are all blocked, Even the flood line, they are all blocked. They are blocked.”
The environmentalist further called for greater public education to prevent residents from contributing to environmental degradation and to encourage more proactive responses to climate risks. “Then, the third one that we are going to do is to make sure that people are educated.”
He said authorities needed to move away from reacting to disasters after they occurred and instead adopt preventive measures. “So that we don’t create a situation that will become reactionary instead of being proactive.”
Iyamu also stressed the need for pragmatic leadership and stronger enforcement of environmental regulations. “Because, see, what is lacking here is pragmatism.”
He said leadership needed to combine practical action with long-term environmental planning.
“Pragmatism and idealism. If you don’t combine the two, you will never be able to make progress.”
The retired officer also argued that authorities must enforce environmental laws against individuals and developers whose activities undermine the city’s environmental safeguards.
“No, we have to apply sanctions to anybody that is not following the environmental laws.”
Iyamu’s comments came amid growing concerns over flooding in Abuja, with the environmentalist warning that the capital’s original planning principles must be restored if the city is to withstand increasing climate pressures. “Kenzo Tange deliberately designed Abuja as anti-Lagos. Everything that failed in Lagos, he wanted to put in place in Abuja. Today, Abuja is fast becoming Lagos. So, the human factor is there.”
Erizia Rubyjeana
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