Past Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Commissioner of
Police, Aderenle Shinaba, last year, in Abuja revealed that the
Apo-Lokogoma axis houses more than 100 estates.
Lokogoma alone boasts of more than 80 of such estates, with many more springing up. Similarly, the Life Camp axis houses many residential estates. These two strategic areas put together, house the highest number of residential estates in the FCT.
Sadly, Lokogoma is regarded as the deadliest crime zone within the metropolis. Security agents have repeatedly expressed frustration over their inability to adequately police the area. Security agents are not the only people who have expressed frustrations. People residing in the area have equally expressed sadness over the absence of primary and secondary infrastructure in the area, particularly good roads.
The worst-hit road in the axis is the one linking up more than 10 residential estates in the area. It connects Sunnyvale, Sun City and more than ten others in the area. The same road links Kabusa Village, a suburb traditional settlement. A drive through the hellish road by Abuja Metro was an eye opener on the deplorable state of this major road, heavy with traffic but seemingly forgotten by the authorities of the FCT. Some of the exquisite estates dotted with flashy structures along the road have been deserted because of lack of access to their houses.
During peak hours, residents in the area spend more than two hours, trying to connect the expressway. Many residents in the area sometimes leave their vehicles at home and take commercial motorbikes for faster movement to work places. This nightmare, the residents lament has become part of them, and gets worse everyday as more residential estates spring up and more people move to the area. Whenever it rains, like this season where the FCT has rainfall everyday, it is a total lockdown and commuters could spend up to four hours for a journey that should ordinarily take less than 15 minutes.
John Shuabu who lives in one of the new estates recalled to Abuja Metro the lamentations of the people that live in those areas. He said all efforts to get the attention of officials of the FCT administration have not yielded any result. Although the award for the construction of the road was published in some newspapers last year, nothing has been done even in the interim to ameliorate the sufferings of residents living in the area, he complained.
Shuabu also explained the implication of the hellish road on their daily lives. He said motorists who ply the road at night are at risk because of persons that lurk in the dark by the roadsides to attack road users. He said since it is impossible to speed when driving on the road, criminals have cashed in on it to dispossess motorists of their belongings. This has become a regular occurrence, as he confirmed.
“Driving through that road is like driving through hell. There are just too many issues. First is the early morning and late evening traffic jam. As you are already aware, that road links more than 10 estates in the area, including Sunnyvale and Sun City through the back. It also connects Kabusa Village and there are so many people coming into the city centre from that region. The only access road is this messy stretch.
“At some point, it got so bad that we could not even drive through. Some concerned residents in the area raised money and did some temporal surfacing at least to make it passable. With the rains, that effort is now in vain. Everyday, it gets worse. We are tired. We visit mechanic workshops regularly to fix our cars. I can tell you how much I spend every time to fix my car because of the state of the road.
“Sometimes when you have an emergency, you cannot find a way out of it because of the road. Even if you have a dying person, there is nothing you can do about it. If you doubt me, ask other residents. Thank God you have even visited the road and you have a clear picture of what I am talking about. If the government can construct the road, that would save us a lot of troubles. Maybe, the FCT administration can equally talk to the managers of Sunnyvale Estate to open the back gate in order to ease off the traffic on this road,” Shuabu said.
Residents of Lokogoma are not the sole beneficiaries of this hardship of bad road. People living within the Life Camp-EFAB Estate road have similar ugly stories to tell. From the Life Camp junction, it should take less than three minutes to get to the EFAB Estate. Not so anymore. Even pedestrians cannot walk on the road linking up the estate freely. The road is so bad that many property owners now sell their houses, just as tenants packing out has become so common.
No matter the extent of caution, driving through that road from the Skye Bank Junction is traumatic. Mechanics are the biggest beneficiaries it this disasters. Even with more rugged and higher vehicles, it is no fun plying this road.
Sadly, there are several residential estates springing up within that axis, yet, there don’t seem to be any government effort to solve the road problem of the area. Going to these areas conveys the impression that much as the government gives approval for property development here, it doesn’t worry about how to provide the basic amenities for the residents to make the place habitable.
While residents are not unmindful of the dwindling annual budgetary allocation of the FCT administration, they still believe government can provide at least the basic infrastructure in these areas where people who could not afford to live at the city centre can still have some sense of belonging.
Lokogoma alone boasts of more than 80 of such estates, with many more springing up. Similarly, the Life Camp axis houses many residential estates. These two strategic areas put together, house the highest number of residential estates in the FCT.
Sadly, Lokogoma is regarded as the deadliest crime zone within the metropolis. Security agents have repeatedly expressed frustration over their inability to adequately police the area. Security agents are not the only people who have expressed frustrations. People residing in the area have equally expressed sadness over the absence of primary and secondary infrastructure in the area, particularly good roads.
The worst-hit road in the axis is the one linking up more than 10 residential estates in the area. It connects Sunnyvale, Sun City and more than ten others in the area. The same road links Kabusa Village, a suburb traditional settlement. A drive through the hellish road by Abuja Metro was an eye opener on the deplorable state of this major road, heavy with traffic but seemingly forgotten by the authorities of the FCT. Some of the exquisite estates dotted with flashy structures along the road have been deserted because of lack of access to their houses.
During peak hours, residents in the area spend more than two hours, trying to connect the expressway. Many residents in the area sometimes leave their vehicles at home and take commercial motorbikes for faster movement to work places. This nightmare, the residents lament has become part of them, and gets worse everyday as more residential estates spring up and more people move to the area. Whenever it rains, like this season where the FCT has rainfall everyday, it is a total lockdown and commuters could spend up to four hours for a journey that should ordinarily take less than 15 minutes.
John Shuabu who lives in one of the new estates recalled to Abuja Metro the lamentations of the people that live in those areas. He said all efforts to get the attention of officials of the FCT administration have not yielded any result. Although the award for the construction of the road was published in some newspapers last year, nothing has been done even in the interim to ameliorate the sufferings of residents living in the area, he complained.
Shuabu also explained the implication of the hellish road on their daily lives. He said motorists who ply the road at night are at risk because of persons that lurk in the dark by the roadsides to attack road users. He said since it is impossible to speed when driving on the road, criminals have cashed in on it to dispossess motorists of their belongings. This has become a regular occurrence, as he confirmed.
“Driving through that road is like driving through hell. There are just too many issues. First is the early morning and late evening traffic jam. As you are already aware, that road links more than 10 estates in the area, including Sunnyvale and Sun City through the back. It also connects Kabusa Village and there are so many people coming into the city centre from that region. The only access road is this messy stretch.
“At some point, it got so bad that we could not even drive through. Some concerned residents in the area raised money and did some temporal surfacing at least to make it passable. With the rains, that effort is now in vain. Everyday, it gets worse. We are tired. We visit mechanic workshops regularly to fix our cars. I can tell you how much I spend every time to fix my car because of the state of the road.
“Sometimes when you have an emergency, you cannot find a way out of it because of the road. Even if you have a dying person, there is nothing you can do about it. If you doubt me, ask other residents. Thank God you have even visited the road and you have a clear picture of what I am talking about. If the government can construct the road, that would save us a lot of troubles. Maybe, the FCT administration can equally talk to the managers of Sunnyvale Estate to open the back gate in order to ease off the traffic on this road,” Shuabu said.
Residents of Lokogoma are not the sole beneficiaries of this hardship of bad road. People living within the Life Camp-EFAB Estate road have similar ugly stories to tell. From the Life Camp junction, it should take less than three minutes to get to the EFAB Estate. Not so anymore. Even pedestrians cannot walk on the road linking up the estate freely. The road is so bad that many property owners now sell their houses, just as tenants packing out has become so common.
No matter the extent of caution, driving through that road from the Skye Bank Junction is traumatic. Mechanics are the biggest beneficiaries it this disasters. Even with more rugged and higher vehicles, it is no fun plying this road.
Sadly, there are several residential estates springing up within that axis, yet, there don’t seem to be any government effort to solve the road problem of the area. Going to these areas conveys the impression that much as the government gives approval for property development here, it doesn’t worry about how to provide the basic amenities for the residents to make the place habitable.
While residents are not unmindful of the dwindling annual budgetary allocation of the FCT administration, they still believe government can provide at least the basic infrastructure in these areas where people who could not afford to live at the city centre can still have some sense of belonging.
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Cut off and distraught |
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