Africa's planned green capital — Aso Rock, the National Mosque and a city designed from scratch
Abuja is the capital of Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and largest economy — a planned city built on an uninhabited plateau in the geographic centre of the country and declared the new capital in 1991, replacing Lagos. The result is one of Africa's most modern and well-organised capitals: wide boulevards, zoned neighbourhoods, a dramatic central monolith (Aso Rock, a 400m granite outcrop dominating the city), and major institutional buildings including the National Mosque and National Christian Centre which stand equal distances from the Aso Rock Presidential Villa as a deliberate sy…
The 1976 decision to move Nigeria's capital from Lagos to a site called 'Federal Capital Territory' in the centre of the country was driven by Lagos's extreme congestion, coastal vulnerability, and the political symbolism of choosing a geographically neutral site not associated with any of Nigeria's three major ethnic groups (Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa-Fulani). American architect George Ikem designed the master plan in 1979; the city was built through the 1980s and officially became the capital in December 1991 under President Ibrahim Babangida. Abuja's design is notable for its three-zone layout (M…