NEJII urges Tinubu, NASS to enact law to protect Abuja Original Inhabitants

By Samuel Ogunsona

The Network of Journalists on Indigenous Issues, NEJII, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly to enact a law that protects the economic and cultural rights of Abuja Original Inhabitants, AOIs.

The demand was made in a media training supported by the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education, CHRICED, and the MacArthur Foundation, attended by journalists and 15 AOI representatives on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Lagos.

The call is coming ahead of the annual International Conference on Indigenous people marked every August 8.

According to the group, the AOIs, made up of eight ethnic nationalities, have suffered historical injustice since the FCT was created in 1976 and need institutional reforms to address land loss, displacement and exclusion.

NEJII Coordinator, Adewale Adeoye, said the group wants an Executive Bill that will prioritize the welfare of AOIs in national planning.

He noted that decades of neglect have pushed many communities into poverty despite being hosts to the nation’s capital.

“The Bill will also legalise priority of corporate and public institutions’ jobs for Abuja Original Inhabitants and the preservation of AOIs languages, so that they could be taught in primary and secondary schools in the FCT plus the preservation of ancestral worship places and groves of AOIs,” Adeoye said.

Among other demands, NEJII called for a judicial inquiry into historic land seizures, the creation of an Abuja Indigenous Peoples Endowment Fund managed by representatives of the eight ethnic groups, and the establishment of an Abuja Metropolitan Police drawn from AOIs.

“In a country characterised by growing violence, banditry and terrorism, we do not want to see another form of violent resistance coming from any part of the country, not to talk of Abuja, the Federal Capital which presents one of the first images of Nigeria to every foreign visitor,” Adeoye added.

The group also urged political inclusion for AOIs ahead of the 2027 elections, noting they are currently denied the right to vote for state governor and state assembly members and are excluded from opportunities tied to state of origin.

The group said about 2.5 million AOIs live in extreme poverty, with poor access to water, electricity, roads and education in communities located a few miles from the city centre.

NEJII mentioned that while AOIs have chosen peaceful engagement, patience is wearing thin after 50 years of marginalisation.