Description : Abuja (/əˈbuːdʒə/) is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Located in the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s. It replaced Lagos, the country's most populous city, as the capital on 12 December 1991. "Abuja" was in the earlier 20th century the name of the nearby town now called Suleja. The indigenous inhabitants of Abuja are the Gbagyi (Gwari), with the Gbagyi language formerly the major of the region language, and others in the area being Bassa, Gwandara, Gade, Dibo, Nupe and Koro.In light of the ethnic and religious divisions of Nigeria, plans had been devised since Nigeria's independence to have its capital in a place deemed neutral to all major ethnic parties, and also in close proximity to all the regions of Nigeria. The location was eventually designated in the centre of the country in the early 1970s as it signified neutrality and national unity. Another impetus for Abuja came because of Lagos' population boom that made that city overcrowded and conditions squalid. As Lagos was already undergoing rapid economic development, the Nigerian regime felt the need to expand the economy towards the inner part of the country, and hence decided to move its capital to Abuja. The logic used was similar to the way Brazil planned its capital, Brasília. The Federal Military Government of Nigeria, promulgated decree No. 6 on the 4th of February, 1976, which initiated the removal of the Federal Capital from Lagos to Abuja. The initial work for Abuja's planning and implementation were carried out by the Military Government of General's Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo and carried over into the Administration of Shehu Shagari. Construction started in the late 1970s but, due to economic and political instability, the initial stages of the city were not complete until the late 1980s.
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