ABSTRACT
The emergence of Abuja as urban centre today is traceable to the quest for a new
capital city for the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Being a new artificial creation, it should
be expected that the inhabitants whose land had been acquired for the development of the
new capital city be justly compensated and resettled .
However, since the promulgation of the enabling Decree that created the new federal
capital in 1976, the question of resettlement and compensation to the original inhabitants of
the affected areas had remained unresolved . While the initial conception was to relocate all
the affected inhabitants elsewhere outside the city this has not been so owing to failure of
government to strictly implement the resettlement and compensation programmes.
Consequently, the displaced communities are today widely dispersed within Abuja and
neighbouring states such as Nasarawa, Kogi, Niger and Kaduna, and are faced with a glaring
crisis of identity which tends to call to question the import of the entire Abuja project.
Thus being an integral part of the Abuja project, this study has arisen in order to
come to terms with the resettlement policy and its implementation.
