‘We’re not bothered about washing hands, let’s get water to drink first’
Days after the lockdown order in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), residents who live on the lower rungs of the social ladder have begun to fret about how they would get food to eat and portable water.
Most of Abuja’s suburbs do not have portable water and residents depend on vendors to get their supply from boreholes.
Grace Ijeoma lives in a slum at Abattoir, Karu, a suburb of Abuja, with her three children. She is one of millions of Nigerians who live from hand to mouth, so the lockdown means that getting her daily sustenance is a big challenge.
“We are not talking about washing hands. Let us get enough water to drink and bath. In this lockdown we are afraid we might run out of resources, so we have to manage,” she said.
Some of the vendors who supply water in the area said they could not comply with the lockdown because they had to meet residents’ water need, and at the same time, earn a living. They noted that water was getting scarce now that more people are at home and use more water. They added that some vendors who left for their home states before the lockdown had made it difficult for those of them who stayed behind to meet the high demand for water by residents.
“Because people are staying at home more than normal, they need more water, and the few of us cannot meet their demand. Some people just have to manage the water because they can’t get enough,” a vendor, Ahmad Sani, said.
Tunji Adeboye also said, “This is the third day of the lockdown and we are already feeling the impact. I am afraid of what would happen in the next few days because we depend solely on what we earn daily. This will be tough for us.”
observed that businesses were also opened at Durumi III, Lokogoma and Utako village, Abuja’s prominent slum areas.
Some residents who spoke with our reporters said they could not stay at home for 14 days and do nothing because they lacked a sustainable source of income.
A welder at Durumi III said he had to open his workshop so that he could get money to feed his family. The man, who pleaded anonymity and operated without a signpost at his workshop, said he resided in the community and had no challenge coming to his workshop.
A vulcaniser at Lokogoma, who identified himself as James, said there would be nothing for him to eat if he did not work. He said the risk of disobeying the lockdown was worth it as his family could also risk going to bed without food if he stayed at home.
At Utako village, a cobbler, Isah Abdul, said he had walked round the community and other places looking for customers, but business was not the same anymore. He, however, added, “The little I have made is worth it.”
Abdul, who spoke in Hausa language, was resting under a tree before a motorist parked to polish his shoes. There was a mild drama when Abdul insisted on collecting N100 for polishing a pair of black sandals while the motorist disagreed as he was ready to part with only N50.
Abdul said the lockdown led to the increase in price as they later settled for N80.
Residents coming into the FCT from the suburbs in nearby Nasarawa State were left stranded at the border checkpoint where security agents screened people and stopped many from passing. Trucks were parked in a long queue, creating chaos on the road.
Coronavirus as a blessing in disguise
Some Abuja communities are full of thanks for the coronavirus pandemic, saying it is a blessing in disguise.
Residents of Dubaidna, Durumi III in the FCT are thanking God that coronavirus has brought the much-needed infrastructure to their community. Located in Garki, the community is less than four kilometres to the reference laboratory of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), many housing estates and private organisations, but had been bereft of infrastructure, especially good roads.
But they said that few days to the end of March, they woke up to see construction workers on the road. Three days after, work had progressed, allaying the fear of ‘another uncompleted government project.’
The community head, Bawa Iyah, who spoke through his secretary, Phillip A. Babawa, said if not for coronavirus they would have been subjected to hardship and pain as they go to their places of work.
“I thank God for coronavirus, although some people will be badly affected. None of these people want to treat themselves in this country because they don’t want to put our place in order. Now, they have remembered that there is NCDC office here. And because of coronavirus we have this road now,” he said.
He said residents had stayed many years with the bad road despite their appeals to the government. “If not for coronavirus, nobody would have done the road. You can see the construction of the road into the community. They are doing this road because something is happening at the NCDC,” he said.
Another resident, Prince Solomon Ogbonna, a taxi driver, said government only did what benefitted them, adding, “If this coronavirus did not exist, they would not fix this road. They are doing it because they want access to the NCDC. If the road was meant for us, they should have done it long ago and ensured it led to the community.”
On receiving a N500million donation from the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to fight coronavirus, the Federal Capital Territory
Administration (FCTA) said government would collaborate with the NCDC to ensure it got the necessary working tools.
The minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, said plans were already in motion to grade the road leading to the NCDC, testing office in Gaduwa for ease of access. He said the donation would help in getting the job done faster.
Although the road project would terminate at the junction to the reference laboratory of the NCDC, less than two kilometres to the community, residents said they would benefit from it.
Similarly, when the Kaduna State Government announced a temporary reprieve from the 24-hour curfew it imposed on the state, which commenced on the midnight of Thursday, March 26, 2020, many rushed to the market to buy food and other household items, after almost six days of lockdown.
The two-day grace period had created congestion around market areas, banking halls and Automated Teller Machines. Many threw caution to the wind when they mingled in congested spaces without regard to social distancing, defeating the essence of the stay-athome order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
While some residents had earlier been prepared for the lockdown and stocked their homes with food items, the almost six days of curfew had taken a toll on vulnerable groups who rely on a meagre daily income to feed their families.
Our correspondent gathered that in Rigasa, a densely populated neighbourhood, some compounds had put together their food supplies for better rationing since they were unable to feed their families independently. According to Malam Aminu Rigasa, “I had to bring the small portion of rice I had from my house and seven other neighbours brought theirs; that was what we combined to feed.”
For Hassana Ibrahim, a resident of Danbushi in Millennium City, who is presently nursing twins, her neighbour had assisted her with N50 to buy pap for her children to eat because she and her husband had run out of food or money.
“My husband is a motorcyclist and I sell local drinks for a living, but because of the lockdown, neither I nor my husband could go about our normal businesses,” she said.
Sunusi Ibrahim, a fruit seller in Unguwan Rimi, said he faced hardship during the lockdown before the two-day window reprieve was announced by the state government on Wednesday.
“As a daily earner, staying at home will not put food on the table.