By Fred Ezeh and Samuel Bello
The leadership of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are , of late, playing host to deluge of complaints and questions from from residents over the state of internal roads . More of the questions and complaints are streaming from residents of satellite towns.
The complaints are that majority of the roads have been taken over by deep potholes and craters . The ugly situation, motorists say, have given criminals ample opportunity to rob and maim innocent residents.
“We are contending with a situation where most roads are littered with potholes . You can’t drive a kilometer without stumbling on potholes “ Alhaji Haruna Idris lamented “. He told Daily Sun, I have personally led a team to visit the FCT leadership and some council chairmen to complain about the situation of our roads but I don’t think anybody is listening. I say so because the situation is worsening everyday”.
A resident of Kubwa, Tunde Amodu, a lawyer claimed that the situation is more pronounced in Kubwa. “What has happened in the last few months is that you cannot drive your motor for two months without thinking of how to replace your tyres . I agree that the government is battling with liquidity squeeze and it is affecting every sector but something must be done to address the situation of our roads. Our internal roads have broken down, that is why you see a sharp increase in road robbery within the town . “
For Daniel Davou a resident of Jikwoyi area of Abuja he has elected to take up the humongous task of rebuilding the roads in the area.
He has been doing this for some years now. Some residents of the area are at pain to believe that the man has been using his resources to fix the dilapidated roads.
Davou, by all description, has taken over the job of either the Abuja Municipal Council Area (AMAC) or the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). Ideally, AMAC or FCTA are legally charged with the responsibility o fixing FCT roads, particularly those in the satellite towns which have high concentration of people and business activities.
Roads in Abuja, particularly in satellite towns, sometimes , receive less attention from government. This has resulted in deep potholes that are conspicuous in every part of the city except for few that are used by the elite .
Davou is known by virtually all the motorists that ply the road because he interact and acknowledge cheers from them on daily basis in the course of his work particularly at the bad portions of the road.
On the reason he has chosen to spend a lot of time and resources working on the roads , he told Daily Sun that service to humanity was what drives his passion for such community service.
He said “I am very much aware that what I am doing ought to be the job of the government, but it is obvious that they are not forthcoming with the solutions. So, I took it upon myself to make the roads motorable. I have done this job for also 20 years now.
“It may interest you to know that I started this road repair when AYA-Nyanya-Mararaba road was one lane. Then, there was no FCT administration presence in this part of Abuja. But I moved to internal roads within these locations where government attention couldn’t reach, but that after the road was built.
“I attach strong importance to free movement and that forced me to engage my little resources to achieve this dream. Because I was much younger and stronger then, I had the strength to use wheel barrow to pack laterite from one location to another for the job.
“I acquired Audi 80 few years later which further helped me significantly in the job. People were happy with what I was doing and they appreciate me, even when they were under no obligation to contribute, financially or otherwise, because it was my passion to do community work.
“At a point, I became discouraged and almost quit, but that was when my wife was killed by armed robbers who had invaded my house one fateful day in 2005. I left my house early morning on the fateful for my routine road repair but received a call few hours later that my wife was shut by armed robbers,” he said.
He however appealed to government to sincerely provide the basic services for people in order to make life more liveable for the people.
Davou told Abuja Metro that he has acquired several work tools and basic experiences required to fix bad portions of road, stressing that more would be achieved if financial and logistics support are provided by good spirited Nigerians.
Perhaps in response to the growing complaints about the state of roads, the authorities recent moved equipment to some parts of the metropolis. “Very soon the complaints will be addressed . The FCT is mindful of the potholes on our roads and will address them. “ one of the officials pledged.