Keypoints
- The Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE) held its 6th U.G. Jibrin Distinguished Annual Public Lecture on Sunday in Abuja.
- Nigeria’s urban population has officially surpassed 100 million, with 70 percent projected to live in cities by 2050.
- Current transport systems are 80 percent road-dependent and remain poorly regulated, fragmented, and inefficient.
- Experts are calling for city-specific transport master plans that integrate road, rail, air, and water modes.
- The Abuja Master Plan is cited as a strong framework that currently suffers from weak implementation and policy inconsistency.
Main Story
Nigeria’s cities are expanding faster than the infrastructure meant to support them. At a gathering of professional engineers in Abuja on Sunday, April 19, 2026, the Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE) warned that the nation’s urban mass transport system requires an urgent, technology-driven transformation.
Guest speaker Nebolisa Emordi noted that with over 100 million people now living in urban centers, the current reliance on informal transport like motorcycles and unregulated private cars is no longer sustainable.
The institution argued that traffic congestion is not just a nuisance but a major economic drain that wastes millions of productive hours daily.
To address this, engineers are advocating for a multimodal approach that prioritizes public-private partnerships and the deployment of smart technologies like GPS tracking and unified ticketing.
The lecture also honored Umar Jibrin, a former executive at the FCDA, whose work on the Abuja Master Plan provides a roadmap that experts say must be fully implemented to solve the capital’s growing mobility crisis.
The Issues
The primary challenge is the implementation gap; as speakers noted, while frameworks like the Abuja Master Plan exist, they often remain partially completed due to changing political priorities. Authorities must solve the problem of regulatory fragmentation, as the lack of coordination between different transport modes creates bottlenecks that hinder economic growth.
Furthermore, there is a policy inconsistency risk; the Emir of Nasarawa warned that abandoning projects started by previous administrations results in wasted resources and decaying infrastructure. To succeed, the engineering community believes that transport master plans must be protected by law to ensure continuity regardless of who is in power.
What’s Being Said
- “Everything in Nigeria depends on efficient urban transportation, yet challenges have not been critically defined,” stated Tokunbo Ajanaku, Chairman of NICE.
- Nebolisa Emordi emphasized that “the urban mass transportation system must urgently evolve through deliberate planning and enforcement of regulations.”
- The Emir of Nasarawa, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibrin, cited policy inconsistency as a major setback and called for government continuity.
- Engr. Ali Rabiu, President of the NSE, warned that traffic congestion hampers economic growth and the current state of regression is not acceptable.
What’s Next
- NICE and the Nigerian Society of Engineers are expected to increase legislative advocacy to ensure transport master plans are backed by data and law.
- Trials for smart city technologies, including unified ticketing systems, are being proposed for major urban centers like Abuja and Lagos.
- Public-private partnerships for the deployment of CNG-powered buses and dedicated transit lanes are expected to be prioritized in upcoming infrastructure budgets.
- Follow-up technical sessions are planned to define the specific engineering requirements for multimodal transit stations in the FCT.
Bottom Line
Civil engineers are sounding a national alarm: Nigeria’s urban centers are at a breaking point. Without a shift from fragmented road dependency to an integrated, multimodal system, the 100 million Nigerians in cities will continue to face a mobility crisis that threatens both their quality of life and the national economy.
