The appointment of Nyesome Wike by President Bola Tinubu as minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) comes with a mix feeling for residents of Nyanya, a satellite town bordering Nasarawa State on the northern entrant route of the nation’s capital city Abuja. On one hand, it is a sigh of relief from the dominance of a section of the country perpetually holding onto the leadership of the nation’s capital since its creation in 1976.
There is also the feeling that given his wealth of experience as the immediate past governor of Rivers State, Wike has the capacity to fearlessly confront the city’s major challenges including, absence of mass transportation service, poor sanitation and waste management, lack of basic infrastructure especially in satellite towns, as poor electricity. Interestingly, the new FCTA minister on the very first day in office, told a press conference that these issues will be prioritized under his leadership in the short term to restore Abuja’s glory.
For residents of Nyanya, they have never had the dream of an appreciable government’s presence in any near future, for the provision of such facilities. Bad roads, poor drainage systems, filthy environment, poor power infrastructure and electricity supply, overcrowding at parks and markets have since become a permanent feature of the settlement also described as the fastest growing slum in Nigeria.
When the military government of General Murtala Muhammed on February 3, 1976 decided to relocate Nigeria’s capital from Lagos to Abuja, it had two major visions. First was the desire to build a modern capital – a modernist project conceived in the tradition of the “garden city” of Ebenezer Howard. The second vision was to have Abuja as a symbol of national unity, giving every Nigerian a sense of belonging, irrespective of their ethnic origin or status.
Minister Wike must realize that these visions obviously came with a high hope that building a city on a relatively empty expanse of land would give the planners of the city and government a better opportunity to avoid some of the mistakes and problems that plagued Lagos and other Nigerian cities, including traffic congestion, inadequate housing and uncollected
garbage on streets.
Nyanya, where several people were killed following the 2014 bombing by Boko Haram terrorists, is unlikely to evade the gaze of a first time visitor to Abuja. It is only about 10 kilometers from the highbrow Asokoro and farther from Maitama, Wuse and Garki areas known for their paved lawns and neon-like street lights.
The satellite town, which is the closest Abuja city, is populated primarily by middle and low-income level public workers, and petty traders who cannot afford the high cost of accommodation in the city centre of Abuja.
Former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mallam Nasir el-Rufai launched a mass demolition exercise between 2003 and 2007 as part of the administration’s drive to restore order to Abuja’s chaotic urban planning and return the city to its original master-plan. According to the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) and Nigeria’s Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC), over 800,000 residents of such category of people were forced out from the high brow areas of Abuja to many satellite towns including Nyanya.
Wike needs to be told that many of the evicted residents have since joined those living in Nyanya, housing one of the poorest slums in Nigeria’s capital. The popular labour camp is a major eyesore in the area and is surrounded by several toilet facilities that have broken down, oozing out coloured stinking water from open pipes. The filthy environment obviously serves as a breeding ground for an epidemic waiting in the near future.
The Nyanya labour camp was originally built by the Federal Government over 30 years ago to accommodate labourers who built Abuja city.
Officials of the FCTA should adequately brief the new minister that there is already plans by the administration to relocate this settlement currently housing about 7,000 families. The entire settlement of Nyanya and the labour camp is without any design to be linked to Abuja’s central sewage system. Many people wonder if the government, previous or present are oblivious of the 2006 damming verdict of the United Nations Habitat that the Nyanya labour camp is nothing fit for human habitation.
But over 300 residents of the labour camp have since protested against the plan to relocate them, insisting that what they want is reintegration and reconstruction of their houses.
The Federal Executive Council (FEC), indeed, in 2014 approved the award of N14.07 billion contract for the provision of engineering infrastructure for Gidan Daya area of Kurudu district where these residents are expected to get alternative houses. It is not clear what the government’s final decision for this settlement is at the moment. It is an issue that minister Wike should think about.
Within and around Nyanya, there is another alarming feature of total absence or poor drainages. Indiscriminate discharge of garbage littering the unpaved streets during downpours compounds the problem. The new minister’s agenda for improved sanitation should also extend to this satellite town.
A resident of Nyanya, Gabriel Shile who lives in Area E section at the labour camp in an interview lamented that no one prays for the return of the rainy season. “When it rains, the whole place is flooded, posing serious health risk for the people with concerns about cholera and mosquito borne diseases that can be caused by stagnant water,” he said.
Poor road network infrastructure is another challenge in Nyanya. There are presently only two functional roads in the entire settlement, yet in a state of disrepair. One of them is the Area C Road also known as the ‘Last Road’. This particular road has attracted private rehabilitation support at various times but with poor quality. The second road is the ‘Area D Road’ unfortunately condoned-off by the Squadron 21 Mobile Police Unit of the Nigeria Police Force since after the Nyanya terrorists bombing . Motorists and passers-by are only allowed access on this road between the hours of 6:00 am to 6:00pm daily.
It is a herculean task driving on any road within Nyanya during the rainy season. Many residents in Gbagalape- an adjoining area with Nyanya, have had to lose the lives of one or two relatives at some point before the intervention of government which led to the construction of what seems to be the only motorable road linking both communities.
Despite being the closest to Abuja city, residents of Nyanya have been lumped up with people from Narasawa State and interstate travellers -plying the Abuja-Nyanya -Keffi expressway daily in heavy traffic. But for the intervention of the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government which approved the sum of N13.2billion in 2005, for the dualisation of this highway, many Nigerians would have been faced with a worse condition of plying on a single lane road into the nation’s capital along this axis.
The Councillor representing Nyanya ward at the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Mathew Danjuma Yare, explains that he has made several attempts to attract government’s intervention on roads infrastructure in the area yet without any success. One of such requests for intervention by the lawmaker was to Julius Berger Plc in September 2019 for the construction of about 2 kilometers of road in the area. Mathew in October 2019 also wrote to the minister of the FCT requesting for the administration to capture in its 2020 Federal budget the need for roads projects in Nyanya.
“With government facilities on ground, the people are not enjoying them due to bad roads, this facilities include fire services, police stations, general hospital, primary and secondary schools, but they are all not easily accessible due to the condition of the roads,” the letter to the minister read.
Reacting to the current situation on the Abuja-Nyanya-Keffi road, Bature Isa noted that, “imagine, I wake up by 4:30 am everyday to prepare for work. This is just to ensure that I am in the office by 7am. Any day I miss that time, I get to office between 10am and 11am. In order to beat the gridlock after close of work, I leave my office at least, by 3:300pm. This is really stressful, time and energy consuming.”
Officials of government in the Federal Capital Territory seem aware that besides the current narrow nature of the Abuja-Nyanya-Keffi road, there is the compounding challenge of street hawkers who must display their wares by the road side. From sellers of oranges and other fruits to clothings, these traders who must make ends meet, occupy a large chunk of the road causing avoidable traffic. These traders are joined daily by commercial vehicle drivers who also occupy a whole lane of the road in attempt to drop passengers. Some residents of Nyanya are excited that the new FCT minister has promised to tackle the problem of street hawking as well.
It is observed that whenever officials of the Road Safety Corps are deployed to Nyanya – under the bridge, just a few meters where the 2014 bomb blast occurred, commuters experience a smooth ride with free flow of vehicular traffic. There is presently only one access road from the Nyanya axis into Abuja. Many people fear that without alternative routes, even when the ongoing expansion project on the road is completed, the traffic situation is likely not to change.
The usual traffic gridlock on the Abuja-Nyanya-Keffi road is also often caused by the activities of security agencies in response to alerts of security threat on the nation’s capital. Whenever this happens, personnel of the military would often mount checkpoints, leaving hundreds of commuters in traffic for hours.
One other major infrastructure that is totally absent in Nyanya is potable water. Many of the residents rely on bore holes provided by private individuals. They also depend on ‘Mai ruwa’ – water vendors who buy and sell water, having to push it in trucks in an attempt to supply most of the area.
It is worrisome to understand that at different times, the FCT administration had approved large sums of monies for provision of infrastructure in Abuja satellite towns without any consideration for Nyanya. In 2017, the FCT administration released the sum of N2.6billion for massive provision of road infrastructure in Karu and other satellite areas, Nyanya was not considered. In February 2021, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the request of the FCT, again approved the sum of N26.1 billion for the completion of five road projects in Abuja city including Bwari and Gwagwalada.
Officials of the Abuja Municipal Council (AMAC) have also failed the people of Nyanya. Their presence in the city as one of the richest local governments in Abuja has never been felt except in the areas of multiple tax collection. Although, AMAC has been commended variously for its intervention in primary education, the council has failed to compliment any actions of the Satellite Towns Development Agency (STDA) of the FCT regarding infrastructure provision.
Owing to lack of interest in Nyanya satellite town by the government and the challenge that many residents face, those who live in highbrow areas of Maitama, Asokoro, Garki, and Wuse rather, see a drive to the Abuja-Nyanya-Keffi axis as a journey to the desert. Minister Wike therefore, should make a difference in Nyanya.
