The Agency was replaced by Council in the name in 2008, without any redefinition of its functions. This council is to function as a specialized bureau similar to those in other states of the federation.
Others are the Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA), Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) and Abuja Tourism Development Agency. AMMC is under the Eighth Schedule [Regulation 12(2)(c)] of the Subsidiary Legislation. The function of the council is in accordance with section 4(1)(c), 4(2)(d) and (e) of the FCT Act. These are part of the functions and powers of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).
AMMC is charged with the responsibility of efficiently running the municipal services within the FCT. It has specifically been stated that the term Metropolitan Management includes responsibility for the efficient running of municipal services within the city of Abuja.
On the other hand, Satellite Towns Development is for urban planning and development and effective management of municipal services for various towns within the territory. The term Metropolis in the context of AMMC refers to the area known and described as Abuja City only.
Is this description according to the general concept of the term metropolis? If not, then it is necessary to either revisit the name to reflect its actual geographical scope, or widen the scope of operation of the council to cover the entire area that constitutes the Abuja Metropolis or the Metropolitan Area.
In revisiting the name, it does not imply that we do not need a metropolitan management for Abuja. What it denotes is that we should create another agency to perfume the metropolitan scope management function in view of the urgent need.
Big cities belonging to a larger urban agglomeration but which are not the core of that agglomeration are not generally considered a metropolis but a part of it. Geographically, a metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration (the contiguous, built-up area) with zones not necessarily urban in character, but closely bound to the centre by employment or other commerce. These outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities.
In practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Sometimes they are little different from an urban area, and in other cases they cover broad regions that have little relation to a single urban settlement; comparative statistics for metropolitan area should take this into account. Population figures given for one metro area can vary by millions.
Certainly, Abuja fits into the metropolitan category, while the metropolitan area is those contiguous areas and commuting zones that are closely bound to the city in terms of employment and commerce. From all indications, these are beyond the confines of the political boundary of Abuja, it is a wider region well into the neighbouring states of Niger, Nasarawa and Kaduna.
Against this background and the law establishing it, the AMMC can only qualify for Abuja Municipal Management Council. In which case, its only difference with AMAC is the Management in place of Area. Unless its geographical scope is going to be widened in order to correctly maintain its name which is desirable, it should better be referred to as Abuja City Management Council, akin to the Nairobi City Council.
