Shagari1981Documented failure· Master plan abandoned· Chapter I · Money
Abuja IPP awarded; subsequent commissions document over-budget, behind-schedule on phase one. Justice Akinola Aguda original Master Plan extensively departed from.
The 1979 Aguda Master Plan envisaged Abuja as a low-density federal capital. The IPP (International Planning Associates) award and successive ministers (FCT) departed extensively from the plan: encroachments on green belts, unauthorised commercial conversion, and a Phase 1 (Central District) that came in at multiples of original budget.
What it cost — political & economic reality
Nigeria in 1981: who was in charge, the cabinet of the day, the GDP, and the crises that defined the period.
President · Second Republic
1979–1983· NPN
National reality
First executive presidency. Oil-price crash from 1981 destroyed the boom. Ghana Must Go expulsion of West African migrants (1983). Disputed re-election in 1983, then the Buhari/Idiagbon coup on 31 December 1983.
Crises of the period
GDP (World Bank)
$64 bn (1980, oil peak) → $30 bn (1983, bust)
Cabinet (selected portfolios)
Sunday Essang → Onaolapo Soleye
Sylvester Ugoh; later others (being compiled)
Sources · Federal Gazette 1979–83 · CBN Annual Reports
Tier 1 · primary
Courts. Gazettes. National archives.
Tier 2 · corroborating
OCCRP. HRW. BudgIT. TheCable.
Tier 4 · tertiary, flagged
Wikipedia only where primary is pending. Always labelled.