Residents lament poor state of roads in Bwari
Ola Baker lives on Tundun Fulani road in Bwari Area Council, Abuja. He said it is very difficult to walk up or down the potholefilled road, with the condition worsening whenever it rains as it turns muddy.
“I come to my photo stand with both a pair of slippers and shoes. The slippers is for the rain and the shoe for normal weather because if rain starts the road is usually terrible,” he said.
He said the road becomes impassable to motorcycles and vehicles as water gathers in some portions after rainfall, adding that since the road is muddy most times, he preferred walking home at night.
“If I walk fast, I spend just over an hour but because I am usually tired due to the day’s work, I spend more than two hours on the road from T-junction to my house,” he said.
Baker, who has lived in Bwari for over eight years, said he also spent more than two months treating malaria which he attributed to several stagnant pools of water in his area. He said such pools of water abound due to the on-going construction on the Tundun Fulani road which he said had been on for several years.
The photographer said he spent more than N30,000 treating himself, wife and children for malaria though he makes less than N20,000 a month in his photography business, forcing him to resort to begging for money from people.
“They recently put laterite on the road but it has been washed away by rain,” he said, adding that he usually took his medical report to his photo booth which he used in begging for money from friends, relatives and sometimes customers.
Another resident, identified as Madam Joy, said she also spent a significant part of her earnings treating malaria.
A poor drainage system and the deplorable road are a source of concern to Madam Joy, a trader. She said, “When it rains, mosquitoes breed in the stagnant water and malaria is the disease which has been costing us lots of money to treat.”
Though Dan-O, another resident, did not have to beg to treat himself of malaria, he said he usually planned wherever he went especially during the wet season. Among his survival techniques is going to only places or for events that are extremely important.
The residents said good roads are rare in Bwari metropolis. “If the road to the area council secretariat has been calling for attention for ages then we the residents have no hope,” Dan-O said.
A taxi driver, Abdullahi Ndagi, described the road as a death trap, adding that it was getting worse by the day.
“The road in this town is a big problem that needs immediate government attention, it is getting worse every day. It is now a kind of death trap. Barely a month ago, a motorcyclist died on the road after he collided with a car while attempting to avoid a pothole at Zango junction,” he added.
Madam Joy said the situation affects business activities as traders find it difficult to move their goods thereby causing shortage in supply and rise in the cost of goods and services.