ABSTRACT
Nigeria has decided to embark on construction of a new Federal Capital City (FCC). A consortium of American consulting firms was selected, through international competition, to plan and initiate design of the major macro-engineering project. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is under direct administrative control of the Federal Capital Development Authority, a specially appointed agency of the Nigerian government, whose chairman holds ministerial rank. The FCT is situated just north of the humid lowlands of the Niger/Benue Rivers trough, but south of the driest Sahelian portions of Nigera, in an area called the Middle Belt. The central location of the FCT and the topography of the FCC combine to produce a significant variation in climate as one goes from southwest to northeast parts of the territory. If the FCC can demonstrate the value and applicability of new technologies for the West African city, it will have served a valuable function, one that is unlikely to be possible with existing cities.
