The changing face of Abuja

Gateway to Abuja CityTaiwo Adisa, Abuja, writes that the exit of el-Rufai administration in Abuja appears to have gradually brought back the old order, distorting further, the master plan.

Travellers on the Airport Road, Abuja have had to contend with a serious bottleneck around the junction leading to the Federal Housing Estate, Lugbe. A long stretch of traffic would line the road, in a scene only reminiscent of the snail speed Lagos traffic.

It is a scene that repeats itself every evening and early morning around the area. A closer look at the situation there revealed that the traffic bottleneck is caused by traders who have decided to corner a chunk of the road leading to the estate, thus reducing the space left for motorists to manouvre while entering the estate.

Before the gale of demolitions embarked upon by the administration of the immediate past Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, there were shops and market stalls all around the entrance to the estate. It was obvious that the stalls were makeshifts and could not have been approved by the authorities as part of the estate.

So when the bulldozers pulled the stalls down during the raids by officials of Development Control, the whole entrance was largely free for traffic. It was expected that government would take its time to design how the frontage of the estate should look like. But recent events show the contrary. The traffic slow down at the entrance these days is caused by a massive return to the scene of market men and women, recharge card sellers and others, who were driven further inside during the administration of Mallam el-Rufai.

These days, the marketers display their wares right at the foot of the road leading into the estate, forcing motorists to squeeze through. The effect is the long queues that stretch motorists plying the Airport Road every evening.

Besides the traffic stress along the airport road, okada riders (motor cyclists) whose operations were regulated during the last half of el-Rufai’s tenure have rebounded around Lugbe. Since October 2006, when El-Rufai’s administration decreed okada riders out of the Abuja metropolis, their operations were also regulated in some of the major estates. In Lugbe, they were allowed to operate till 7pm as a way of checking armed robbery, while they are not allowed at all within the Central area of Abuja.

These days, okada riders operate round the clock in Lugbe, while they find ways of operating in parts of the Central metropolis at weekends. It has become a common sight around Apo and Gudu zones of Abuja to see okada riders take strategic positions from close of work on Fridays and through the weekends.

The common cry among residents since the ban on okada became effective was the prohibitive fares by chartered taxis and the official buses imported by the immediate past administration of FCT. But not much has changed in terms of the number of buses and taxis plying the roads of FCT since the departure of the last administration. It is as if the current administrators in the Federal Capital are still learning the ropes, while allowing the citizens to deliberately reverse certain steps they perceived as unacceptable.

For instance, the standard fencing in Abuja was strictly adhered to during the last administration, leading to the pulling down of many fences. A trip around Area 8, Garki and Apo Legislative Quarters of the city would reveal many residents who have started redesigning their fences in negation of the rules. A common complaint against the administration of Mallam el-Rufai is also that he demolished markets where many of the poor residents used to trade.

Perhaps as a reprieve for the poor, the current administration has left things to circumstance and that has led to the emergence of some strange structures in recent times. At Area 1, a makeshift market is booming. It is peopled by petty traders who erect canopies and display their wares in there.

Everyday, the canopies are expanding and at night, there is a traffic build up that disrupts the usually free flow around Area 1, especially since the completion of the overhead bridges around that Area. From May last year, when the caterpillars of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA) ceased thumping the streets, there is supposed to be sanity, but the city has witnessed a lull instead.

One main feature of the city following the immediate departure of Mallam el-Rufai is the reign of armed robbers, who unleashed terror of banks and individuals. Up to recently, envoys of Western countries have had to express worry at the security challenges in the capital.

The heat generated by the armed robberies apparently led the new administration to toy with the possibility of placing a ban on the sale of alcohols at the joints and green areas being converted to parks beyond 8pm. The idea could however not be carried through as it was reasoned that such a policy would only lead to the collapse of night life within the FCT.

Trips around the satellite towns of the FCT also reveal some stagnation in the activities, especially in the development of infrastructure. That is where the activities of the Senate Committee on FCT which is currently probing the state of things at the FCT Ministry since 1999, comes in handy. Recommendations by the committee are expected to assist in resolving the knotty issues on the preservation of Abuja Master Plan.

The Committee, headed by Senator Abubakar Sodangi has conducted public hearings and listened to petitioners as well as former ministers of the FCT including Mallam el-Rufai.

One overriding concern that has come out of the public hearings is the need to protect the sanctity of the new federal capital. Many commentators have spoken of the need to avoid the mistakes that rendered Lagos an impossible federal capital, leading to the search for Abuja in 1976.

The sentiment on the need to preserve Abuja for Nigeria’s coming generation has been captured by Senator Yisa Braimoh, the Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, whose motion on the same subject is awaiting debate in the Senate.

Senator Braimoh said that as one person who witnessed the massive growth that rendered Lagos what it is today, he was sure of the need to help Abuja avoid that error. He believes that such errors would be avoided with a strict implementation of the Master Plan.

The Senator said in an interview with Sunday Tribune: “The abiding fear is that in due course, the traffic situation and congestion within the Abuja Metropolis are likely to lead to a frightfully worse situation than the chaotic problem already existing in Lagos State.”

He posited that Federal agencies, ministries and parastatals should be spread within the Federal Capital and the Satellite Towns so as to avoid the traffic difficulties that characterize Lagos. During the debate on the second reading of the FCT 2008 budget on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, many Senators who contributed expressed the fear that Abuja was drifting.

Senator Nuhu Aliyu was emphatic: “Abuja should not be allowed to become another Lagos.” His position was echoed by Senator Jubril Aminu, who gave examples of Western cities that are well planned. He said that the time to start expanding the roads in Abuja is now, in view of the congestion already being witnessed around the city.

FCT Committee chairman, Senator Sodangi also pointed out the spate of robberies that characterized life in the city in the last one year, while Senator James Manager pointed attention to the collapsing power and water infrastructure in the city.

Senator George Sekibo spoke in similar vein, while Senator Ahmed Lawan declared that while the former Minister, Mallam el-Rufai did well by removing okada riders from the streets of the city, not much has been done to relieve the transportation challenges of residents by importing buses and taxis. He also advocated the construction of metroline to ease transportation between the Federal Capital and the satellite towns.