Abuja

Abuja is a capital drawn on paper before it was built: in 1976 Nigeria decided to leave Lagos for the empty centre of the country, chose a plain under a monolith and had a city planned on it — a master plan of 1979 with a central axis by Kenzo Tange — that became the capital in 1991. The axis runs from the City Gate in the west to Aso Rock in the east, a four-hundred-metre lump of granite at whose foot sit the Three Arms Zone of the presidency, the National Assembly under its green dome and the Supreme Court; along the way stand Eagle Square, where the parades are held, and, facing each other across the boulevard, the golden dome of the National Mosque and the National Christian Centre — the country's two faiths in one frame. Around the axis, Maitama has the embassies and the Millennium Park, Wuse the market, Jabi its lake and cafés, and the whole city its wide boulevards, its roundabouts and its air conditioning; north-west, on the road to Kaduna, Zuma Rock — the monolith on the hundred-naira note — watches the traffic.

The traveller sleeps in Maitama or Wuse and takes the city as it is built to be taken, by car: the axis from the gate to the rock, stopping at Eagle Square and the two houses of worship, and the closest view of Aso Rock and the Assembly's dome that the guards allow; the National Mosque inside, outside prayer hours; Millennium Park at the end of the afternoon, when Abuja walks; Wuse market for the fabrics and the noise and Jabi Lake for a kayak or a coffee on the boardwalk; suya from a roadside mallam at night and pounded yam and egusi at lunch; the Arts and Crafts Village for the leather and the calabashes of the north; and, one morning, the road north-west to Zuma Rock, an hour away, for the sheer face and the photograph.

The Guide's honesty: Abuja is a planned capital and feels like one — clean, wide, quiet on Sundays and made for cars; there is little street life outside the markets, and the traveller who wants Nigeria's noise should go to Lagos and come here to rest; the city itself is calm and safe by day, and the ride-hailing apps make it easy, but the highways out — the Kaduna road first — carry a real risk of kidnapping, so read the advisories and fly or take the train, when it runs, rather than drive; the checkpoints are normal and the police are polite to the polite; the heat is serious in March and April and the rains flood the roads in August; power cuts and generators are life; and Nigerians are the warmest hosts on the continent — accept the invitation, and eat what is put in front of you.