Way Forward FCT?

In the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, word has it that the city has since become a shadow of what it was six years ago… Mallam Nasir El-Rufai seems to be the best thing that happened to Abuja as there was sanity in this city while he was in power. What do you think?

Street beggars and hawkers – Driving on the roads, one has to be extremely attentive these days as beggars and hawkers are everywhere on the streets. At any traffic light, once the red light stops you, they all appear. Sad part is, hand bags and mobile phones could get missing if you have your car doors unlocked or windows down without paying attention. Once upon a time, these people would not dare show up on the streets as there were laws to ensure that such people were never around town.

Pollution or Not?

Crackling sounds pierce through the quiet moments of dawn,

those microphones come to life in the bid to call on believers to pray, the day has just begun. . .

Cars on the roads move with little or no respect for traffic rules, impatient drivers cause unnecessary traffic jams and in between all of that, some hurl insults at each other while horns blare so loudly, almost deafening.

Some cars are road unworthy but how they stay on the roads is a story for another day! From emissions of silencers from such cars to the wobbly movements that scare the drivers right behind, driving is sometimes a pain. PHCN powercuts may excuse the intermittent street or traffic lights, but those cars driving without lights at night can't blame the faulty grid. And if our visibility wasn't bad enough already, you can normally count on someone having a bonfire of black plastic bags on the side of the road, spewing noxious fumes into oncoming traffic just as you'd put your window down to cool off. 

The road dividers sometimes serve as trash outlets for moving cars, street hawkers and not to mention the sides of the roads where heaps of trash stand unattended and this seems to bother no one. As a matter of fact, stalls are erected and business is carried out beside the trash without a care. Does the smell not almost choke these sellers? Man must survive abi?

Roadside sellers vs trash

Drainages are not spared; they are filled with trash and do not serve the purpose for which they were created. When the real need for these drainages is required to be met, it proves impossible. And we wonder why there are floods?!