Residents of Dutse Satellite town in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have urged the area council to expand the Dutse-Bwari Road and relocate roadside traders at the Dutse market road to ease traffic congestion.
Danladi Joshua, a resident of Dutse Alhaji, said that the volume of traffic congestion along the Dutse market road has become so unbearable that the residents do not know the next steps to take to ease their plight that is why they need the leadership of the area council to come to their aide in solving the problems that the roadside traders are causing the people.
According to Joshua, if the leadership can expand the road for it to accommodate vehicles and also chase the roadside traders into the market, it would ease the traffic flow in the area, saying that the most of the roadside traders do not care the suffering they are causing road users because they want to make ends meet.
“These traders casing this traffic congestion always come with the excuse that they have to make ends meet, and this congestion is mostly at the junction of Dutse Alhaji, the first gate of Dutse satellite town, because the market is located closed to the road and this rush to beat the traffic jam sometimes causes accident at the junction.
”We thank the council chairman for constructing the new market and it has enough space inside, but we are saying that the authority of the Bwari Area Council should expand the road and ensure that the traders who sell their products outside the market are sent into the market, and that would ease the traffic congestion along this Bwari road,” he said.
Agatha Ohia, a trader in the market said that why most of the traders use outside the market, is as a result of the fact that the market is usually locked as early as 6.30 in the evenings, and those that have not finished selling their wares would then choose to trade outside to sell more.
“Some of the traders that sell outside the market have shops inside the market and others do not have, and some of them are bread sellers who believe they do not need shops and prefer the roadside. The truth is that, even if they do not have shops inside the market to sell, that should not give them the right to use their wares to obstruct traffic flow.
”If the authority of Bwari area council can map out strategy to expand the road for motorists and relocate most of this traders that do not have shops inside the market. After that, they should set up taskforce to monitor the use of the market and the control of roadside traders even in the evenings, this can go a long way in solving this traffic congestion we always experience on this road, mostly on Monday Market days” she said.
Four residents of 28, Olorunisola Street in Mushin, Lagos, were on Sunday attacked by hoodlums.
It was gathered that the residents were taking fresh air around 11pm when the hoodlums struck.
A resident, Mr Hakeem Adeoye, said: “I have been living here for over 20 years and I have never witnessed such incident. I had just returned from work and decided to take fresh air with two of my friends when it happened. They were about 10 in number. They held machete and bottles. They beat us mercilessly and stole from us. It was a very horrible incident.
“ I thought I was going to be unconscious because I lost so much blood and I couldn’t see anything. The left side of my head was cut with a machete.”
Another victim, a Keke Marwa operator, who simply gave his name as Sir Kay, said they thought the hoodlums where coming from an event when they suddenly pounced on them.
“I feel pains all over my body. I don’t know if they were drunk but they used 10 bottles on my head. I had just visited my brother earlier yesterday (Sunday) and he gave me N28,000. The money, my phones are gone.
“ I couldn’t sleep because I was scared. This morning (Monday) as I stepped out of the house, I saw some touts in groups and I suspected them. I couldn’t point fingers because my life may be at stake. I plead with the government to bring neighbourhood watch to our street to prevent situations as this,” he said.
A labourer, Olalekan Daramola, said his right arm hasn’t been the same since the incident.
He said the men beat him with an iron, adding: “Before I could run inside the house it took me forever. None of us could escape because they were more than us. Everyone was asleep that was why it took a while before help came. We don’t know them at all. I don’t know when it became a crime to take fresh air outside one’s house. I am even scared to move out.”
A resident, who didn’t give his name, said he suspected the hoodlums were from Paul Oguntola Street in Idi-Araba.
“We need policemen in our neighbourhood. We are being cheated by these boys. They just harass us anyhow. The government should look into this matter,” he said.
Mushin Local Government Executive Secretary, Jide Bello has appealed to residents of his area to stop indiscriminate refuse dumping.
Speaking during the tree planting exercise in Mushin, he said virtually all the roads constructed by the state and local governments were being damaged by flood because of the refuse blocked the drainage channels. “The refuse were generated by few disgruntled individuals, larger number of people suffers when the roads are bad. The rain water could easily enter the drainage channels if the refuse had not blocked the drains. There must be attitudinal changes by the residents. The slogan of our party,” he said.
Bello went on: “Tree planting has become a yearly programme of the state, the trees we planted last year and years before are being nurtured to maturity, families, schools , churches, mosques, markets, associations, clubs , streets and others must cultivate the idea of planting trees.
“The trees are beneficial to human existence. No individual or group of people must cut any tree without government approval. Rams, cattles, goats etc must not be allowed to eat leaves from these trees; the owners of such animals will be prosecuted.”
He urged landlords to leave enough space for car park, trees and others within their compounds adding that illegal parking of cars, trucks on major roads should become a thing of the past.
In attendance were representative of Lagos State Governor Mrs Adefunmilayo Tejuoso, a director in the Ministry of the Environment, Bade Adebowale, an engineer, the Onitire of Itire land, Oba Lateef Dauda, Area Commander Area ‘D’ Command Mr MD Garba, CDC chairman Alhaji Rasheed Agbolade, Chief Imam Mushin Central Mosque Alhaji Sulaimon Olanijo.
De-silting Aba’s clogged drains has started but the commercial city is still a sorry sight. Heaps of refuse characterise Enyimba City, especially its busiest expressway, Port Harcourt Road. Residents including business owners want the garbage dumps evacuated.
They called on the agency managing domestic and industrial waste in the commercial town to urgently clear the heap of refuse.
The residents also feared that the refuse if not hastily evacuated could lead to outbreak of disease.
Some of the residents and shop owners who spoke to our reporter claimed that they have made several efforts to draw the attention of the Abia State Waste Management Agency (ASEMA) without any positive result.
They said it is not only that the health risks they are worried about, but also that the refuse heaps are an eyesore to everyone including visitors.
“The dangers these heaps of refuse poses to our lives are too much and the type of stench that comes out from the refuse heap is enough to send someone to his or her early grave. This is where we do business and we can’t afford not to come out to open for business, because if we don’t how then are we going to fend for our families?
“But the truth is that it is not funny and not good for our health. We on a daily and sometimes, weekly basis patronize chemist shops or go to the hospital to run one medical test or the other because of the bad odor that we inhale here on a daily basis.
“The situation we have found ourselves has equally not been favourable to our businesses. Some of our customers either stop at Flyover to buy from there. The roads are not good, refuse scattered here and there. My house is not too far from here (Crystal Park) and yet going home and coming to my shop everyday is more agonizing. In fact, we live like people or a patient who has been suffering from a terminal illness left on his or her sick bed without being attended to by any doctor or nurses only waiting to breathe his or her last.
“The reason is simple, you are here and you have equally seen things for yourself. I can’t remember last time when we saw ASEPA officials coming to this place to evacuate refuse and yet we pay for ASEPA fees and other environmental levies. Please help us if you can to inform them (ASEPA) that we are really suffering here and feared that situation of things might grow from bad to worse if they don’t come to our rescue immediately. I don’t know if we are still part of this Aba or not, Mrs. Chikwendu Okereke, a Port Harcourt road resident and shop owner retorted.
However, a staff of the agency who would not want its name to be mentioned attributed their inability to evacuate the refuse on Port Harcourt road to the nature of its road network and promised that they were already mapping out plans on how to tackle waste disposal and management in the area.
“You can agree with me that refuse disposal and management in Aba has really improved. We have been also been able to replace old receptacles with new ones and that of Port Harcourt road is a peculiar one. The road network is bad. We have been able to cleanup some places where we can have access to, but the other areas where our trucks can’t have access to, we seriously mapping out plans on to see how we can come in and help to address the situation”.
Just weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the removal of military checkpoints from roads across the country, some Abuja resident especially those living in satellite towns have asked that the roadblocks be restored.
Barely two days to last Christmas residents discovered that military security checkpoints had been mounted at various strategic inter-changes and junctions within perimeter of the nation’s capital in addition to some existing checkpoints at various entry points to the city.
According to findings, the development was due to the prevalence insecurity caused by the Boko Haram sects.
Throughout the Yuletide and even before the removal of the checkpoints, soldiers mounted roadblocks mounted by soldiers forced motorists to drive at slow speed, while suspicions vehicles were pulled over for checks.
Pedestrians, especially those carrying bags, were also subjected to extensive scrutiny.
A cross section of residents, who spoke with Abuja Review in separate interviews, said there are doubts over the rationale to relax security checks, which culminated in the sudden disappearance of the military check points from the city centre.
The residents argued there is still need for them to continue checking, because of the increasing mass movement of people (old and new settlers) into the city, giving that the greater percentage of the residents are yet to return from the yuletide break.,
A resident, Emmanuel Ona who expressed worry over the development, noted that there were still more security threats in the air, as people are still moving into the city with a lot of bags and other things, which may be used to smuggle dangerous weapons into the city.
He said he was shocked and sad when he discovered that the military check points in Kuje and other parts of the city were nowhere to be found.
“I was very sad when I discovered that there were no longer military check points that were mounted before Berger and Apo Roundabouts, along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway and Kuje.
“Because the emergence of the check points gave me and other residents a great sense of security in the city, especially while plying the route on a daily basis. And, most of us had wished that the military checkpoints stay.
“I am appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to bring back the military check points, to help beef up security within the city centre, given the prevailing security challenges in the land.”
Another resident, Peace Omole said although, the check points mounted within the city centre and other parts had brought a lot of hardships on commuters, but the current peace we are enjoying is better.
According to him, the people are ready to pay any kind of sacrifices that would help lessen the current security threats they are faced with, while pursuing their daily bread.
Omole: “It is better to have these military checks on our streets, if it would allay our fears over the rising insecurity in the country, that’s was why am still to come to terms on the reasons for their sudden removal by the government.”
The chairman of Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Hon Yahya Garba has urged residents to unite, irrespective of their religious and ethnic affiliations in order to achieve sustainable development in the council.
Garba made the call while speaking with youth groups, women organisation, party stalwarts and community leaders when they paid him a courtesy visit after the election petition tribunal upheld his election as chairman of the council.
The council boss said he dedicated his victory to God and the good people of the council for giving him the opportunity to serve, calling on the opposition party to join hands with him as his administration, that doors are open to accommodate every individual in respective of party affiliation.
“Abaji area council belongs to all of us let us put away political difference away and come together as citizens of the council and think of how we can develop and take the council to the next level,” he said.
He added that his administration is poised to offer quality services to improve the well-being and quality of living through the provision of social basic amenities.
Garba said that the administration has embarked on construction of meaningful projects, like the upgrade of Abaji main market, fencing of I’d praying ground, construction of Give road, electrification in various location, renovation of council secretariat amongst others.
Residents and commercial bus drivers in Aba, Abia State, have urged President Muhammadu Buahri to rebuild the collapsed federal roads not only in the state but also the entire region.
Not only are the roads broken up in several parts and riddled with potholes; they are nearly impassable when it rains. Those who brave it, have tales of woe.
Some residents and commercial bus drivers who spoke with our correspondent in Aba, the commercial nerve of the region on Tuesday, lamented that most federal roads in the city and other parts of southeast can only be described as death traps.
They said that if nothing was urgently done, the Southeast especially Aba may soon be cut off from other parts of the country.
Checks on Tuesday revealed that out of the three major roads, Aba-Ikot Ekpene Expressway, Port Harcourt Road and the Osisioma axis that connect the city centre to other parts of the region and the Southsouth, the best is the Osisioma axis, even though it is not in the best of shapes. It serves as the major entrance and exit route for private and commercial vehicles including articulated trucks.
The Nation can authoritatively report that the heavy influx of vehicles into the city centre through the Osisioma axis usually results to heavy gridlock on the road and one may spend more hours on the road at the slightest drop of rain.
Residents and business owners who regretted that their repeated appeals and SOS calls to the last administrations at state and federal on their plight failed on deaf ears feared that economic and business activities in the commercial city would crumble if President Buhari and Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration fails to reach an understanding on how to partner with each other to tackle and bring to an end the sufferings of commuters and other road users in the state to an end.
A commercial motorist plying from Aba to Akwa Ibom State who gave his name as Ifeanyi in a chat with The Nation said that they now use rural roads in Obingwa Local Government to and fro Aba and no thanks to some youths of the communities who always compel them to pay toll fess for using their village roads.
“I am sure that you might not have traveled to UYO, Akwa Ibom State recently. You need to go to Akwa Ibom through Aba-Ikot Ekpene expressway and see for yourself what drivers are passing through there on a daily basis. We keep patronizing mechanics every week repairing one thing or the other. The only route we now is to find a bit motorable is the village roads, but the youths are also feeding fat on the road. We pay as much as N100 and at some point, we pay N50 and this is to and fro Aba to Akwa Ibom.
“We are urging the federal and state government to collaborate and do something about the ugly nature of roads liking Aba with Akwa Ibom and other states, if not any other thing, to save us from these youths who are taken advantage of the bad road to exploit us. Aba is a commercial city that attracts traders from different parts of the country and Africa and so therefore, roads linking the city to other state should not be allowed to degenerate so badly as it is today”.
•A tricycle on Port Harcourt Road, Aba
Another commercial bus driver plying Aba-Port Harcourt, Chima Okorie narrating his experience asked the federal government to declare state of emergency on Aba roads.
Okorie who said he spent nearly 3hrs one of the days last week from Milverton by Asa road to Osisioma because it rained on that day stated that the need for the reconstruction and total repair of all exit routes in Aba cannot be overemphasized, stressing that if the incumbent Governor, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu would be able to fulfill his campaign promises of building more roads and overhead bridges, it was help to decongest the city of heavy trucks that ply on the intra-city roads on daily basis.
“All we want is for the federal and state government to partner and build more roads. Governor Victor Okezie Ikpeazu promised to build more roads and tackle the problem of traffic congestion in Aba. Let them see ways to divert some of the big trucks that come into Aba before going to places like Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Rivers State and other parts of the country from coming into Aba. It will help to avoid the roads from spoiling easily and as such reduce the constant repair of roads.”
A journey from Milverton to Flyover which normally cost N70 now costs between N120 to N140 and could rise to N200 if rain falls.
A resident of Ude Nwanyi by Port Harcourt Road, Mr. Kingsley Offor said that the situation could sometimes get worse that they have to trek home from Milverton because some of the tricycle drivers would not want “to go beyond no. 1 Port Harcourt road because they either do not want to be held in traffic or get their tricycle trapped in the water.
“If there are people who will pray to God and God will answer their prayers, we living at Port Harcourt road will always pray for dry season throughout the year. That is the only time we can to an extent go home comfortably. Government should please look into our case. The past governor of the state and the past president could not do anything to ameliorate our situation and we hope that the story will not be the same now that Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu and president Buhari are in power.
I also believe that despite their political party difference, that they should consider the plight of Aba residents as Nigerians who are in dire need of both the presence of government at the state and federal level. Aba is an economic city that has and is still attracting investors and buyers from all over the world and should not be allowed to degenerate badly, Offor cried out passionately.
It could be recalled that the administration of Governor Ikpeazu had flagged off the reconstruction of 7 roads in Aba with the promise that it would be completed and commissioned within its 100 days in office.
Determined to ensure the health of its residents, the Ikeja Local Government Area of Lagos State has carried out environmental sensitisation programme which will guarantee environmental cleanliness in the area, which, in turn, will engender good health for the citizens.
During the programme, the Executive Secretary of the council, Mr. Adekunle Dally-Adeokun called on the residents to co-operate with the council in its efforts to rid the area of waste, so as to promote healthy environment.
He spoke during the environmental sanitation exercise held at the council headquarter recently, even as he said he would work towards ensuring that residents of various communities have attitudinal change on the environment.
Represented by his wife, Layide, he expressed the council’s discontent over the nonchalant attitudes of some of the residents who have formed the habit of dumping domestic wastes indiscriminately.
Stressing that unfriendly habit towards the environment could cause serious health hazards to the people, Mr Dally-Adeokun said such unhealthy trend could hamper the people’s productivity, which invariably could affect the well-being of their families and the entire community.
“A time has come in history when we must shape our actions with a more prudent care for the environment. Through ignorance or indifference, we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our lives and well-being depend. Conversely, through fuller knowledge and wiser actions, we can achieve for ourselves and our posterity a better life in keeping with human needs and hopes,” Mr. Dally-Adeokun said.
He revealed that the council plans to enlighten the residents of communities within the council area on the importance of clean environment through radio and television jingles.
The Deputy Executive Secretary, Prince Oluranti Olufon and other officials of the council participated in the exercise.
Sanitation tools such as shovels, brooms, rakes and waste disposal nylons were distributed to some residents to encourage them to keep their environments clean.
Mr Dally-Adeokun advised residents to dispose of their domestic wastes properly, even as he warned against blocking drainage channels by dumping garbage in them. This, he said, triggers health problems as well as flooding.
Linking poverty with the environment, Dally-Adeokun said “environmental pundits have raised an alarm that our environment is constantly under threats and evidences show that it equally has numerous problems affecting it. They reeled off these problems to include pollution, acid rain, global warning, destruction of rainforests and other wild habitats, the decline and extinction of thousands of species of animals and plants. This, invariably will lead to poverty and hunger since some of these animals and plants are sources of livelihood for people. If their assertion is unquestionable, then there is a strong link between poverty and environment.”
Also speaking, Prince Olufon said the council was worried by some residents’ non-compliance to proper waste disposal system, even as he expressed the council’s concern over indiscriminate dumping of garbage in water channels by some residents which could have devastating effects on the residents.
He therefore urged members of various communities to ensure clean environment, saying dirty environment poses threat to the health of the citizens.
The Head of Environmental Services and Waste Management Unit, Mr. Kolawale Ajanaku said the people are always enlightened on what are expected of them in terms of keeping the environment clean.
Meanwhile, the council officials inspected some streets such as Obafemi Awolowo, Seriki Aro, Alariogun ,Shanu and Oluwole Philips Avenue, among others to during the exercise.
Residents of Labora Owode in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, yesterday urged the Lagos State House of Assembly, to save them from hoodlums who have “forcefully taken over” their land despite a court injunction.
Led by Mr Babatunde Olumegbon, Moshood Lanrewaju Rasaq, Chief Najeem Fatai, Ismaila Asimu Fatai, Molikiu Ganiyu and Ademola Samuel, among others, they displayed placards, condemning the hoodlums.
According to them, the hoodlums stormed the community with well over 10,000 settlers in January, wielding cutlasses and other lethal weapons.
Addressing reporters Rasaq, who is their lawyer and also a member of Agbon Busari Royal Family, said the matter was reported at Elemoro Police Station.
He said the over 200 hoodlums had almost completed the fencing of the area they forcefully took over in defiance of a court order.
“We reported the matter at Elemoro Police Station, we have written petitions to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and others. We have been to court, we have sued them. There is a court injunction restraining them. They have not stopped working.
“It would be unwholesome if we don’t do something. That is why we are here to call on the House to save us and save our land which was handed over to us by our progenitors from being taken over from us,” he said.
Rasaq, who said the hoodlums were unknown added: “We don’t know them. In court, we have sued unknown people.”
Also speaking, the community’s Chief Imam, Hameed Habeeb, said the invaders refused to obey a court injunction, and had almost completed the fencing the land they forcefully took over.
A huge sigh of relief coursed through the capital city following the ease of fuel scarcity and the long queues at filling stations, some even suggesting it is the Buhari touch. AYORINDE HOPE reports
For months on end, the people suffered and hoped. Fuel scarcity upset homes and the order and rhythm of life at the nation’s capital. Power supply dropped, worsened by the fact that there was no petrol to run generators. Businesses suffered, some folded up. Going to work was herculean. Prices of foodstuff went up. Those who were initially hopeful that the dark cloud would soon blow over had reason to despair as weeks turned to months with no hope in sight.
The precious liquid is available and the long-winding queues have disappeared. Nigerians especially those in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) can now heave a huge sigh of relief. Residents can hardly contain their joy. Some reckoned that the scarcity was going to be the longest trying time for the country’s sovereignty.
The fuel scarcity overran all sectors of the economy, crippling businesses, shutting down power and testing the courage and strength of Nigerians.
The social media could not help but further set agenda on the issue, although one wouldn’t have expected less. Nigerians posted hilarious pictures and statuses while hoping that the change they had envisaged would finally arrive, and not just arriving but also sweeping the ills and vices left in Nigeria away so that democracy would start to pay its dividends.
•Where are the queues?
The transport sector was the hardest hit, of course. Vehicles were on long queues for days. This was not because of their love for queues nor the lack of money to purchase fuel. No. The lingering scarcity was a shadow that just would not disappear.
A visit to the federal capital city a few weeks ago, would present a city whose streets, roads and other places crawled with fuel merchants who sold fuel at exorbitant prices, a 10-liter jerry can selling for N2,500. Motorists stopped by the roadside to patronise them.
The lingering shadows have now vanished, and Nigerians have now found respite from their travails. You no longer find cars waiting in long queues at the petrol station. Bus fares have gone back to normal and the economy is back on track.
This week, Abuja Review met with some residents of Abuja who described how they were adjusting to life in the absence of fuel scarcity, some believe it was the long awaited change and the president that was instrumental to its disappearance others believe it is still affecting them in one way or the other.
Mr. Saheed Adelakun said that during the scarcity of fuel he experienced difficulty in transporting his merchandise from Suleja to Kubwa, but he is happy to say that things have gone back to normal.
“I thank God that fuel is now available; I transport meat from Suleja to Kubwa here. Transportation cost during the period of fuel scarcity was so high. Normally it shouldn’t be more than N2,500 but it went as high as N5000 which also made us sell meat at a high price. Government should always consider the masses before allowing things to go out of normal,” he said.
Mr. Zakaria Bahago had a different view to the whole matter. According to him the issue of fuel scarcity affected him both personally and business-wise. He said, “It affected me personally and in my business. I paid a high price for transportation to my place of work every day for weeks; you can imagine summing up the amount you paid every day for transportation and comparing it to your salary for the month, it was a hard time for us all”.
He added that the availability of fuel has brought relief to him and his family.
While reacting to whether the coming of the new president was responsible for eliminating fuel scarcity, Mr. Bahago said, “We the masses usually say that if the president wants it to work, it will, so we can say it was his [President Buhari’s] coming and we can thank God because we are seeing the change we envisaged; our businesses are moving fine and power supply is getting better”.
Another resieent simply known as Mama Kuburat said that the scarcity so affected her business that she sold off her foodstuff on credit to customers because they were unable to pay her immediately.
“Business is moving fine unlike before when the fuel was scarce. I sold on credit to customers because I could understand the situation even though the prices of foodstuff increased but I thank God I was able to manage to feed my family and the prices of foodstuff have returned to normal,” she said.
The end of the fuel scarcity of course, has however shown the commitment of the government in meeting the needs of the masses. It has also shown that the government should put in place proactive means of maintaining the availability of fuel.
