FCDA Federal Capital Development Authority

Federal Capital Development Authority was created to control the infrastructural and physical expansion (design, planning, and construction) of the new Nigerian Federal Capital, Making sure that it meets or exceeds the standards of new Capital cities around the world, paying exceptional consideration to inclusivity, functionality, aesthetics, and design.

ESTABLISHMENT

The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) is a conception of Decree No.6 of February 5, 1976 quoted as the Federal Capital Territory Act. The Decree, which bestowed ownership and control of all land in Abuja to the Federal Government also gives the FCDA the burden of handling the design, planning and construction of the Federal Capital Territory with the functions blow:

1)    To pick out a site within the Capital Territory for the location of the Capital City

2)    To organize a Master Plan for the use of land in the Capital City along with the rest of the Capital Territory;

3)    To provide public/community services inside the Capital Territory;

4)    To establish infrastructure for example roads, railways, bridges, reservoirs, water course buildings and other such works as may be required in the FCT

5)    To co-ordinate the activities and tasks of the Area Councils, Departments and other Agencies of the government of the Federation within the FCT.

The Management of the Federal Capital Development Authority

The Executive Secretary of the Authority is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who leads and runs the routine management of the Authority. In addition he is supported by an Executive Management Committee (EMC). The EMC comprise of Directors of Departments and Heads of Units of the Authority; there is also a 10 (ten) member Board constituted by the President to formulate guidelines and supervise the activities of the Authority on a part time basis.

The FCDA Board is headed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. But with the transformation agenda of the previous Administration of Mallam Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja from 16 July 2003 to 29 May 2007, the FCDA had its departments re-structured into nine (9) departments and four (4) Specialized Units as listed below:

Departments

1.     Finance and Administration

2.     Urban and Regional Planning

3.     Engineering Services

4.     Resettlement and Compensation

5.     Public Building

6.     Surveying and Mapping Units

7.     Mass Housing

8.     Satellite Town Infrastructure

9.     Procurement

Units

1)    Internal Audit

2)    Special Project/IT

3)    Legal Services

4)    Public Relations and Protocol.

The (Defunct) Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory

When the FCDA was formed in 1976 to supervise the development of the new Federal Capital City of Nigeria, it was administered by a Board that was initially chaired by Dr. Ali Mazauri.
Later in 1979, it was given the status of a Ministry which was the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT). This Ministry (now defunct) was then created by way of an official Gazette Extraordinary No.55, volume 66 of October 26, 1979 and charged with the following tasks:

     I.        Planning and development within the FCT;

    II.        Control of development within the FCT;

  III.        Arrangement for the provision of social services;

   IV.        Administration of the FCT;

    V.        Allocation of urban and rural lands in the FCT; and

   VI.        Relations with the FCDA

Even though the FCDA and the MFCT were literally merged to a point where both shared the same Departments of Administration and Finance, the FCDA still maintains its own management board. And this was the status quo up until the tenure of the 3rd FCDA Board (2002-2004) when an attempt at a de-merger was actually undertaken.

         On the other hand, in 2004, the then FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, obtained the President's endorsement to wind up the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT). And in line with that approval as contained in the Federal Capital Territory's (Establishment of functionaries and Departments) and the Federal Capital Territory's (Dissolution) order No. 1 of 2004, the MFCT stopped to exist on May 31st, 2004. The Ministry is now well-known and referred to as the Federal Capital Territory Administration-(FCTA).

       Barrister Nyesom Wike and Dr. Mariya Mahmud officially began their roles as the 17th and 12th Ministers of State of the Federal Capital Territory on August 21, 2023. Their inauguration, conducted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, took place at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Vision:

The vision is to build a first-class Capital City and Territory as good as the best Capital Cities and Territories in the world.

Mission:

The mission is to build Abuja City and the Territory in compliance with the Abuja master plan, taking into consideration all the aims that necessitated the movement of the Nigeria Federal Capital from Lagos, and to establish a result-oriented supervision with continuous emphasis on service delivery.