ExpdonaLoaded.blogspot.com (+2348097205188): Expdonaloaded News; Abuja’s suburbs of poverty, squalor

The striking irony of Abuja is that behind the allure of expansive roads and rising buildings that make the Nigeria’s capital, Africa’s most expensive and one of world’s fastest growing city, are neglected surburbs.The city of Abuja sometimes and in some places, appears artificial and somehow unreal. Driving through some locations in Jabi, Utako, Asokoro Extension and Maitaima and some new outposts at the back of Life Camp where new cities spring up everyday gives the impression that the city is a dummy or architectural design on canvas.
Abuja is flashy, expensive, high scale but within it is one of the poorest places the country can ever imagine. Immediately you step out of the shining spots, you are confronted with abject poverty, creeping squalor and denial. The inhabitants of these places are those drawn to the city by the allure of good life and affluence they neither touch nor taste.
The disparity that people live with amid multi-billion naira estates in every nook and cranny of the FCT owned mostly by rich politicians creates paints a pitiable picture.
With the endless list of buildings and estates that are not inhabited in Abuja in districts like Maitama, Life Camp, Jabi, Area 11, Asokoro, Gwarimpa, Lokogoma, because the rents are unaffordable to the ordinary man and those that can afford such rather build their own houses, the resplendent city peters out into shantytowns, slums and dingy abodes.
In these places lying next to the rich city, poverty walks on four legs and the citizens that squat in these places live far lower than the acceptable economic level.
For the millions who could not afford the high rents charged in the city centre, the fringe towns in the commuter belts like Mpape, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kubwa, Nyanya, Karmo, Lugbe, Karu, Jikwoyi, Masaka, Dutse, Dei Dei suffice. Beyond these places, the worst exist somewhere near them.
Visiting squalor
Abuja Metro visited Dei Dei, Dutse, Byazin, Dawaki, Gwagwalada, Mararaba which had same tales of suffering, but because the houses at these areas are comparatively cheap, the poorer residents live there, and then have to leave their houses very early to be at work on time.
A visit to some of the popular suburbs in Abuja presents a tale of hole life, even when people living in other states in the country see those in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as living in better and opulent worlds. Worse is, it does not stop more people from streaming into the FCT everyday. This constant inflow makes the city one of the fastest growing in Africa.
No amenities
The common tale of these suburbs is mostly the lack of electricity, water, sanitation and good roads. Vices to make up for these lacks make these suburbs worse. There is noise pollution from plenty generators, total dependence on water vendors (mai ruwa0 as source of water supply although the richer ones sink water boreholes for their homes. The roadsides become refuse dumpsites, with the effect of flooded roads whenever it rains.
Aside the deplorable sanitary conditions most of the buildings in these satellite towns are make-shift structures cramped together with little space that can only leave foot paths for residents to navigate their way in and out of their homes. In addition, there are no asphalted roads, and guideposts for non-residents and visitors to enable them find their way around the community, this is especially for Dutse, Mpape, Byanzin.
These satellite towns are largely the abodes of mostly lower class civil servants, traders and other people that service the city’s economy. These days, they travel through congested roads to the metropolis. Most of the roads and other infrastructure in these satellite towns are in very poor conditions, having been neglected by the area councils.
These satellite towns have been neglected for so long by the authorities that it is now very difficult to use their inner roads, especially during this rainy season. These areas do not have proper drains to take erosion water off the roads, and the result is flooded earth roads and erosion gullies threatening houses.
Byanzhin
Located close to Kubwa in the Bwari Area Council, Byanzhin, pronounced (biyanji) which grew from the foot of a range of mountain and spread haphazardly as far as the eyes can see, is a semi-urban slum. It stands out for its uneven topography, lack of social amenities and its unplanned buildings lumped together.
An open gutters run through sections of the residence buzzed with flies and other insects competing for food. At a higher level, commercial motorcyclists compete for the narrow untarred road, which is even worse now with the rain, with cars and pedestrians all messed up in mud.
The tarred road leading to the Byanzhin terminates at a point and, from there, an undulating narrow track takes over. The streets are narrow, stony earth tracks cut out by the landlords to gain access to their homes. It is so bad that pigs are reared at the sides of the roads.
It’s attraction is solely the cheap and affordable accommodation. Most of the buildings are so close to the roads that traverse the settlement. Leaning shoulder to shoulder, the houses crowd the road with little or no space between them.
Abuja Metro discovered that its tale is all about bad roads especially during rainy season, because of lack of drainage system, insufficient power supply affecting the development of the area, water and lack of transport system.
According to Harrison, a resident, the sanitary state of the area is defies description. The result is that residents battle with diseases from poor environmental conditions.
“The basic issues bother on improper sanitary condition of the environment which normally springs up some deadly illnesses especially among the children.
Open defecation is commonplace, exposing younger kids to lots of diseases. Another problem is that key primary infrastructure is totally lacking. The stagnant dirty waters encourage high rate of malaria among children. In fact children under five in this area run the risk of death because their immune system is not strong yet.”
Stuck in the rain
Elaborating on the bad roads and the hell residents go through, Ndu Nelson said, “During rainy season, it is difficult to get a motorbike to this place because of the state of the road, and if you eventually get one, you would have to pay through your nose. Even when you are on top of the bike, you would be scared of disembarking because of the condition of the road.
About electricity, it is as good as not having any at all because of the very low current that cannot power any appliance in the home. Generator is the only source of power supply here.” He added that the acute scarcity water is so bad, that they rely on water wells, which is also limited.
Lugbe
Lugbe is one of the popular suburban settlements in Abuja. It is in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). It is largely residential and densely populated. Lugbe is about 17 minutes drive from the Central Business District of Abuja and 13 minutes drive to the Abuja Airport. It is along the airport road, its proximity to the city centre and also to the Abuja airport has brought it into limelight and attracted significant development.
Lack of water is one of the reasons people do not like living Lugbe, because its not included in the Abuja Water Board service focus, but the bad road is another tale entirely. Speaking to one of the residents, Olusegun Sidikun, he said: “The two major entrances to Lugbe are in terrible conditions. The entrance through the police signpost is in a pitiful state, with numerous potholes and it has no drainage system. The Babangida market is another place that should be looked into, the major road through the market is sickening too. Generally, roads here are bad but the entrance through the police signpost is the one that gives people most headache. Light, water and others are secondary because virtually every part of the country faces those issues. I feel if our roads are dualized and paved, it will have much positive impact on the living standards of the residents and better economy too, more people will want to stay here and people won’t be scared of investing their money into businesses, properties and so on.
“We have just two banks here. I am confident that more will come if these issues are resolved, more people would invest and there will be more money to save and some would probably want to take loans. On water supply, Lugbe is unlike Kubwa that has federal government water pipes everywhere, individuals sink boreholes to access water while others buy.”
Dei Dei
This is another settlement the road can be described as most dreadful, rough and narrow. Dei Dei has high commerciality especially in livestock and building materials. The two economic factors and attractions make it a target for crowding by the lower income earners that find abodes to squat and do some business to earn a living. Due to the businesses here, Dei Dei has a unique feature as colony of touting.
Speaking to one of the residents, Isreal Effiong, he said, their main problems are water and electricity. Although Dei dei usually doesn’t have electricity supply, the authorities still bill the residents.
“There is no public water supply, so the handy residents dig borehole or use well water and the electric current is very low, most times, no power supply at all because the transformers are not enough for the community. But the Abuja power holding keeps bringing bills.”
Dutse
Dutse is a sprawling suburb in the Bwari council. It grew by the foot of the rocky mountain range, from the main city centre where most lower cadre civil servants, artisans, construction workers and traders found cheaper accommodation. In fact, the name means ‘rock’ in Hausa because of the proximity to huge rocks to the area.
The state of its squalor stares you right in the face – its ups and down, its roads, the way the houses are lumped together, many of them up on the rocks like in a competition with the ancient heights. Some houses up on the rocks are hewn into the walls of the rocks. Planning and amenities are strange to the world of Dutse. Life in Dutse is not structured or patterned and therefore can come in any needed format. It is where people just build houses, even on the mountain, to escape high and unaffordable rents in the expensive Abuja. There is basically no order in the area.
According to Nwadukwe Kennedy, “ the structures are very poor, roads are nothing of quality, it takes God’s grace for one to really stay there faced with all these poor conditions.
The best I can say is that the entire Dutse is under-developed. And for it to get back to reckoning you need to pull down structures and set it right. If they can help in planning and structuring the area to fall in proper place, because truth be told people here feel they can manage it as it is because for them to stay in other area they did be paying 10 times the amount.”
Dawaki
Dawaki, is an area behind the News Engineering Company along the Kubwa – Gwarinpa expressway. News Engineering Company is located opposite Gwarinpa Estate on the expansive highway. The major flaw of the area is the road network because it is not an area opened by government, infrastructure wise, but it has to its credit good leveled plain lands, of which numerous people have taken to their advantage. The area is predominated with moderate properties of modern bungalows and duplexes tastily constructed.
Their only issue is road, even when it has nice houses in the area. Niyi Wilfred said, “Our road is very terrible, with the rain pouring these past weeks, it is now made worse The roads are cutting into fragments as a result of erosion. Cars are skidding daily, some lunatics are also building on the road and that’s very appalling.”
Gwagwalada
Gwagwalada is not an exception in the list. The big university town also faces lack of amenities like good water, electricity, school and healthcare. Yes, healthcare, even when the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital is located there. The cost of getting attention at the hospital is not what the poverty ravaged residents could handle.
And where some of these amenities are provided, they are insufficient due to growing population in the villages.
Abuja Metro discovered that there are many bad roads in Gwagwalada but two main roads are terrible, Angle 90 road and Mega Screen Road. These roads are just eyesore, especially during the rainy season. The water the potholes hold after rain is deep enough to drown a human being and the traffic jam caused by slowing down of vehicles to navigate through it is frustrating.
John Obi, a resident said they could go for days without power supply, making people, who are mainly students to spend so much on fuel.
“I think the problem of power in Gwagwalada is as a result of insufficient transformers in the town, and this makes one transformer to serve more areas than it can. We have a transformer that a contestant at the last area council election bought but didn’t install. I guess it was just for his campaign and this causes power outage at a place called Phase 3 Zone 4 because of lack of enough transformers. It is tough living here because the weather is very harsh.
We urge Gwagwalada Area Council to look into these issues and provide these things for the residents. Let them also construct these major roads that are bad.”
Mararaba
Mararaba is believed to be one of the most densely populated suburbs around the Nigerian capital city. This contributes to its reputation as having the worst traffic problem. The three major prevalent infrastructure issues Mararaba battle with are poor electricity, water, bad roads.
Speaking to Gift Olivia, who lives in the area, she said, “the roads have been under construction for over four years now. They commence work and grade the road without completing the construction. When they rains come, they wash the off the roads and it gets worse. This has happened severally over the years.
She added that the power supply here is almost zero. She said: “We see electric light only during the period the service providers want to bring the bills. If they are confronted with the issue they will cut the light if the consumer refuses to pay the bills.
The list of the poverty belt is of course not exhaustive. As the population pressure rises, it only calls for government to look into these areas and save the residents from the pain they battle everyday.