The Africa Development Studies Centre (ADSC) has called on the Federal Government to urgently relocate selected government institutions and decentralise administrative functions to address the worsening traffic congestion in Abuja.
The centre said its latest policy research and urban systems analysis revealed that persistent gridlock in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has moved beyond a transport challenge and has become a structural governance issue caused by the heavy concentration of government activities in the city centre.
In a statement issued on Friday, ADSC President, Victor Oluwafemi, warned that Abuja’s daily traffic congestion now threatens national productivity, public service efficiency, staff wellbeing, investor confidence, and the long-term livability of the capital.
He explained that traffic congestion peaks every workday as workers and service users move en masse into central Abuja in the morning due to the clustering of government offices and agencies, with the situation reversing in the evening.
According to Oluwafemi, ADSC’s findings show that the core problem lies in institutional concentration rather than inadequate road infrastructure.
He noted that expanding roads and building new interchanges may provide temporary relief but will not solve the problem in the long term.
“The more government activity remains concentrated within a small city core, the more congestion becomes inevitable, regardless of how many roads are expanded,” he said.
Oluwafemi added that global urban planning evidence shows that increased road capacity often leads to increased traffic demand, causing congestion to return after a short period.
He urged the Federal Government to adopt a governance-led and spatial planning approach that reduces the daily need for mass commuting into central Abuja.
The ADSC president called on President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to implement an evidence-based decongestion strategy centred on administrative decentralisation and accelerated development of satellite towns.
He identified Kwali, Gwagwalada, Kuje, Bwari, and Abaji as areas with significant land and growth potential that remain largely residential, forcing residents to commute daily into the city centre.
“These towns should be developed into functional municipal hubs where people can live, work, and access services without daily movement into central Abuja,” he said.
Oluwafemi recommended the phased relocation of non-sensitive and high-traffic government functions to satellite towns. These include back-office departments, training institutions, archives and records offices, logistics and procurement units, conference centres, and other high-footfall service points.
He also emphasised the need for faster digitisation of government processes to reduce physical movement linked to approvals, documentation, and inter-agency coordination.
Beyond Abuja, ADSC advocated the relocation of suitable federal institutions to other states to reduce administrative pressure on the capital and promote balanced national development.
“Abuja must not wait until gridlock becomes permanent before taking structural action. The time to act is now,” Oluwafemi said.
