Investigation: How Abuja as a model city is failing

– Traffic lights don’t get to work most times which led to accident most times

– The street lights go off when they are supposed to work at night for easy movement of people

– Transport system within the state capital is poor making life unbearable for passengers

– In general the town is dirty and the neglect by the administrative officers is appalling

When Enemona Epa came into Abuja, the capital city of Nigeria, from Ofu local government area of Kogi state in 2010, the city, to him, was a “small London”.

Full of beautiful houses, ring roads, ‎street and traffic lights, underground sewage and many other state of the art facilities, Abuja, in the sight of Epa compares to no city in Nigeria.

He had been told of the many opportunities that exist in the city and was looking forward to giving his life a new direction. Not up to six months after, Abuja presented Enemona with a job as an office assistant in a bank in Maitama.

“Abuja, then was still a growing city with facilities and construction work being carried out”, he said.

Six years down the lane, Epa said he wonders what has happened to the city he once marvelled at how well planned and clean it was.

“Although construction work was still being carried out sometimes on a daily basis when I came into Abuja but it was not this bad.

“Before I finally pitched my tent with Abuja as a place to settle down, I often visit the city and wonder how clean and well planned it was. The enforcement agents were working 24 hours a day and residents were more law abiding. All those fine fine things are not there again.

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The city of Abuja

Forty years after its creation as a model capital city, Abuja is gradually becoming the exact opposite of what its founders dreamed for it.  The infrastructure and public utilities in the city are giving way as authorities look the other way.

Designed to be the administrative capital of Nigeria with 8,000sqm, more than twice the area of Lagos, comprising of 60 districts, Abuja which is still being built is supposed to be a model city boasting of state of the art infrastructure which can make it to rank amongst leading world capitals.

However, the movement of the seat of power from Lagos to Abuja by former military president, Ibrahim Babangida in 1991 led to the influx of people from all walks of life into the city in search of greener pastures. At the 2006 census, however, the city of Abuja had a population of 776,298, making it one of the ten most populous cities in Nigeria.

According to the United Nations‎, Abuja grew at the rate of 139.7% between 2000 and 2010, making it the fastest growing city in the world. As of 2015, the city was experiencing an annual growth of at least 35%, still retaining its position as the fastest growing city on the African continent and one of the fastest in the world.

Abuja has witnessed a huge influx of people into the city; the growth has led to the emergence of satellite towns such as Karu‎, Suleja, Gwagwalada, Lugbe, Kuje and smaller settlements to which the planned city is sprawling.

The unofficial metropolitan area of Abuja has a population of well over three million and comprises the fourth largest metropolitan area in Nigeria, surpassed only by Lagos, Kano and Ibadan‎.‎

A closer look at the city reveals the true picture of a capital city struggling with the pressures exerted on its infrastructures by exploding population and neglect by the authorities.

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A city in darkness

Abuja may look glitzy and shiny during the day but the city transforms into something else after sunset.

A two hour drive round the major streets within the capital city reveals darkness almost everywhere and malfunctioning equipment necessary for traffic control.

From the famous Aminu Kano, Adetokunbo Ademola, Ahmadu Bello Way to Shehu Shagari and Muhammadu Ribadu roads which link to the Presidential Villa, street lights were not working in many portions of the roads.

Not only were the street lights not functioning, but majority of the traffic lights are in a bad state – thereby creating confusion among motorists and increasing the chances of accidents.

For instance, of the 19 traffic light points observed by our reporters on Ahmadu Bello Way which is believed to be the longest road in the city, only five were properly working as at the time of filing this report.

It took the saving grace of the night as the vehicle conveying our reporters escaped a head on collision with a Toyota Hilux vehicle at Adetokunbo Ademola crescent junction on Ahmadu Bello way due to the malfunctioning of the traffic light and the absence of traffic wardens to control the traffic.

As strategic as the Muhammadu Ribadu road adjourning the Presidential Villa is, the traffic and street lights on the road have not been working for three months, Usman Mohammed, who regularly plies the road informed our reporters.

The same was also observed on the road from the National Assembly and the adjourning Shehu Shagari Way. However, for those coming to the city from the Airport and each time night falls, the stretch of the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua otherwise known as airport road is only lighted by head lamps from moving vehicles.

For months, all the street lights on this major road that serves as the gateway to the city centre have not been working even when foreign presidents and ambassadors come into the country.

In the absence of light, most businesses suffer as the darkness that has enveloped the city affects them, most business owners have to hire extra hands to help with the security threats associated with low-lit areas, says Mr Hassan, a small scale business man in Gwarinpa.

“I am into laundry and I have a lot of customers. Because of the nature of the job we sometimes deliver on express service. Express service is when you want to dry clean your clothes and you cannot afford to wait for the normal time of delivery. We charge an extra token and get the job done.

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“Most of my customers are around Wuse II and anything from 8 p.m or 9 p.m most of my employees would not deliver in the area. So what I did was to hire an extra hand that knows the ins and outs of Abuja’s city centre to go with my boys whenever we have to render services to the big men in the area. He is not my full staff oo. He resumes at night whenever he needs to,” Hassan said.

Usman Amiru who has been a taxi driver for seven years in Abuja disclosed that in the absence of streetlights most motorists find it difficult to spot passengers from afar and take safety precautions if need be.

“In this darkness, you may end up picking a criminal because you cannot see them and what they are carrying properly to decide whether or not to carry them”.

The general sense of darkness on major streets in Abuja render the city susceptible to security problems such as car snatching, pick-pocketing, kidnapping, armed robbery and all sought of crimes common to most Nigerian cities.

Growing Insecurity

When describing the issues of armed robbery and car-snatching, Mr Ayodele Adedeji, a civil servant and resident of Area three in Durumi axis of Abuja told our reporters how his car was snatched after two attempts.

“My brother, I have been attacked more than two times. It was the third time that they snatched and kukuma took the car.”

Adedeji who rode in the same public taxi as our correspondents, narrated his encounter with armed robbers and car-snatchers.

“As you see me I had a car, Toyota Camry Big fool that was stolen sometimes late last year. And to be honest with you, I think these people gave me notice but I didn’t count it serious. By notice, I mean they attacked me twice before the third and eventual snatching.”

“The first time, it was around Games Village. They removed my rim cover, and lights. The second was at Area three around 9:30pm, they only took my car radio. The third time, was when the car was snatched at Wuse II along the road that goes to Banex.”

“It was like a movie. I and a friend were discussing and comparing land documents. Of a sudden three men accosted us with knives and gun. We were instructed to cooperate and enter into the car. My friend was the one that spoilt everything.”

“He was just shouting. They drove us around town for 20 minutes asking for our ATM card and pin codes. Luckily for me I didn’t have my ATM with me but my friend had his own,” he said.

When asked if he had reported to the police, Adedeji replied:

“Which police?

“Before they stole mine, they snatched my friend’s car. It is yet to be found upon all his going to the police oo. Before that of my friend, they stole my brother’s own and up till now no headway. My brother even reported to a patrol van he saw minutes after the snatching, but they said they can’t pursue because of little fuel in the car.” Adedeji added.

This is a similar case with pick-pockets, bags snatching and outright robbery, all these are on the increase in the capital city of Abuja.

However, of the places visited at night, our team of correspondents only noticed three police patrol vehicles.

Two of the only three police vehicles seen were stationed at Banex junction and beside federal ministry of finance complex while the other one was spotted on patrol along Ladoke Akintola Boulevard during the hours of 9pm to 11pm.

Though, there are patrol vehicles at the City gate near the stadium, but several other strategic places in the heart of the city appeared insecure.

While it could not be ascertained if the multi-billion naira Close Circuit Cameras (CCTV) in the city are functioning, it was observed that security men were visibly absent during the time of filing this report in most of the major places visited by our reporter.

However, the FCT police public relations officer, ACP Anjuguri Manza said the presence or absence of the vehicles does not matter. To him, community policing is the main focus of the city’s Police Command and policemen need not patrol to make the city safer.

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“You know, our focus is now on community policing and I can tell you that we deployed plain cloth officers who mingle with civilians.”

A city taken over by hawkers, beggars

Though, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) is saddled with the responsibility of getting rid of hawkers, beggars and lunatics in the city, it is safe to say the Board has gone to sleep.

Hawking and begging for alms on major streets in Abuja are now regular features in the nation’s capacity. Away from the intent of the city’s master-plan, hawking is carried out in places where it has been earlier prohibited.

A ride around old parade ground in Garki Area 10, Banex junction, War College, Area 1, Area 3 axis of the city centre shows a growing population of hawkers taking over the city.

However, to hawkers like Muhammadu Abubakar who came from Kebbi state, hawking became the last resort after coming into a city he thought opportunities abound. Abubakar posited that hawking at night is better than in the day.

Hiding under the cover of darkness, Abubakar said men of the Abuja Task Force against street trading and hawking amongst other things are easily sighted from afar, thus aiding their clandestine activities.

 “As you see us here, when the light is working they can easily spot us them far away. But now we use the dark over to go about our business.”     

A garbage threatened city

One of the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on sanitation is to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation by 2030.

However, Abuja seems to be far from the realization of this goal as most streets and drainages are refuse laden. In and around the popular UTC in Area 10, and Jabi Park in Utako, refuse mostly made of paper, polythene and rotten food litter the streets causing an eyesore and air pollution.

According to a 2011 research by Oyeniyi Adeyemi, a doctoral candidate at the Institute of History, Univeristy of Leiden in Netherlands, Abuja has a daily build-up of at least 300,000 tons of solid wastes – out of which only 40% is cleared.

Five years later there is no much difference.

Solid waste transfer station at Mpape and131,200 cubic meters per day sewer treatment plant in Wupa meant to cater for these waste seem to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of waste generated by the growing city.

There have been many instances of blocked sewage and overflowing ones around the city. ‎ Findings by our reporters also showed that the Mpape waste transfer station has become an abandoned project.

Tales of a capital city: Disgruntled workers, poor transport services

There is no gain saying that one of the parameters of measuring a viable capital city is the transport facilities put in place for easy accessibility by the citizens.

The intra-city rail system which is in the original plan is still being constructed, thus residents depend on buses and cars to move round the city.

The FCT administration had attempted to ease the transport situation for the residents with the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). But this project has ended as a failure.

Designed as an imitation of the popular Lagos BRT,  the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company operates some routes within the city and the city outskirts.

Unlike the Lagos example, the interiors of many of the buses in the fleet of the Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company speak of less comfort and luxuries.

Not only are the buses lacking air conditioners and TV screens, there are also no designated lanes for fast and easy movement as is obtainable in the Lagos model.

This has led to low patronage as prospective passengers who spoke to our reporters confessed that they would not mind sparing N350 to board taxis as against the N100 charged by the transport company, due to the slow movement of the vehicles.

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“The buses are not enough. Sometimes I don’t even get to board a bus because of the long wait. The long wait before the bus gets filled up is a waste of time.  They should get more buses. Most time when there are no buses, students like me without extra money could be stranded”, says Destiny Urieto, a student of Federal Government Boys’s College, Garki.

At the Area one park where some of the buses were lined up; our reporters met with dissatisfied workers of the transport company and passengers who complained bitterly about the poor state of service.

A bus vendor who simply identified herself as Ngozi confirmed that passengers often shun the buses owing to the poor state of service.

“There are no designated lanes for our buses, it is a big challenge.  A bus may end up making just 2-3 trips per day because of the low patronage and the law enforcement agents are not helping to make our work easier. 

Also, a visibly frustrated driver with the transport company, Mr Fidelis Okorafor (not real name) lamented the poor welfare of workers, whom he said are being owned salaries and denied basic allowances as well.

“I earn N30, 000 per month as a driver; the bus vendors (conductors) get N15, 000.  Even with the poor pay, we are being owed. I have to be on the road by 4: 30 am every day and close by 9pm. This place is not a working place; they are treating drivers like animals. Yet we generate revenue everyday,” a displeased Okorafor stated.

The lack of designated lanes and bus-stops for the city’s mass transit scheme also leads to constant harassment by men of the task force, road safety and the army, our reporters learnt.

Throat cutting rents

While there are litany of empty ‎houses in the city high brows such as Maitama, Gwarinpa, Asokoro and other districts, majority of people who keep Abuja going reside in neighbouring states like Niger and Nasarawa states while some live in outlawed settlements and satellite towns.

“A low cadre civil servant and artisan as well small scale business owners in Abuja cannot pay as much as N500,000 for one bed room in places like Gwarinpa estate or Lokogoma district,” said Ibrahim Audu, a civil servan‎t.

“As you can see the population of people coming every day from places like Mararaba, Mpape and Gwagwalada, it is because we can’t live in the city. Not because we don’t like the luxury but we can’t afford it, and many of the houses there are empty,” he said.

Public toilets

‎Abuja has just few public toilets which are also being over stretched due to population explosion. The toilet at UTC Area 10 said to have been fumigate on January 26, 2016 and certified okay by the AEPB is also begging for rehabilitation as facilities such as doors, floors and toilet seats cry for facelift.  Users pay N30 to make use of the toilet.

However, the absence of this facility in quite a number of strategic places such as Central Business District (CBD) has created opportunity for open defaecation within and around the city.

The road leading to the National Mosque from NNPC Towers is dotted by fresh and dry human faeces while stench odour pervades the atmosphere. The AEPB has not seen this, perhaps.

It will take a determined effort on the part of the FCT administration to bring back the glory of the nation’s capital that is already dwindling.

Editor’s note: This report was carried out by Naij.com’s reporter, Olajide Adelana with reporters from different media organizations, they are; Yekeen Nurudeen, Hannah Ojo, Adam Alqali and Nura Bashir Faggo. Recently, they completed a training on Investigative Journalism, organised by the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)  in Abuja.

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