• Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact
Premium Times Opinion
Sunday, March 7, 2021
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight
No Result
View All Result
Premium Times Opinion
Home Columns

Abuja’s Woes When it Rains, By Garba Shehu

by Garba Shehu
September 30, 2014
4 min read
0

I moved to Abuja nearly twenty years ago, when the city was a haven. I recall having travelled with a set of editors from Lagos who were visiting for the first time. It was a night landing at the airport. As we drove through the well-lit dual carriageway to the city centre, one of them expressed disappointment that he saw a dead lamp light among the hundreds that lined the now – renamed Umaru Yar’Adua way. He had been told by someone who had come before, that city management was so efficient that it was not possible to see one unlit street light from airport to the city centre, a stretch of about 50 or kilometers.

The population density was low. The roads, well-paved were not clogged with traffic. But the amazing story of the city was its flawless public utilities. Electric power supply hardly failed. When it rained then, I am talking about the thunder-storms we have up in the North, it was a totally different experience because electricity still ran.

Nowadays, Abuja’s woes remain before, during and after the rains. If you are not at home, you would in probability be struck in movement related jams. While the out-laying areas of the federal capital put up with sub-merged roads, the city centre puts up with traffic snarls, tree falls, power outages, gushing water into homes in low-lying areas and clogged manholes. The disturbing part of it is that there is hardly any help at hand.

An emergency journey to anywhere in the Federal Capital City is becoming a nightmare. These days when it rains everyday, even foreign airlines are adapting to the challenging situation by officially allowing up to one hour of light delays. “We know it is difficult getting out of the city,” a check-in clerk was heard to say to a panting passenger bracing the check-in counter thirty minutes after it ought to have closed.

Does the administration in the Federal Capital Territory have a long term plan for ending the situation in which the Federal Capital city is brought to its knees whenever there is heavy rainfall? Can the city innovate an option for speedy emergency journey?

Abuja is the window through which the world sees Nigeria in terms of both our economic reality and social capacity.

Rather than this being seen as an attack, warranting insults from the irritable officials of the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory, this is a wake-up call and, assuming budgeting is the problem, a plea to government to stem the slide. The Nigerian government needs to take urgent steps to restore Abuja to her rightful place among the world’s finest cities.

I read recently that the authorities of India’s capital, Delhi, are thinking up a plan for an underground road from the city’s VIP areas to the airport on the city’s outskirts to deal with security concerns and the difficulties of reaching the airport in time to connect flights. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates began, and put in place a light rail system traversing the megacity in three years. Abuja’s light rail is decade(s)-old and there is no date in sight for its completion.

The New York City is working hard improving rail, land, marine and air transportation to make movements easy. To show that they are not doing enough, President Obama last week joked about offering his motorcade to pregnant Chelsea Clinton, in case she needed to go to hospital while he was in the UN General Assembly. (Chelsea gave birth to a bouncing baby girl at the weekend). Manhattan is gridlocked whenever he is town due to security drills.

If I owned the Hilton or Sheraton Hotel Abuja, I will tell the President of Nigeria to keep their money, my hotel facilities are not available for him. Any day the administrative machinery of the government has an important function in any hotel, other fee-paying users are subjected to so much inconvenience. The routine of going in and out becomes such a challenging task that other hotel users have a sense of being momentarily held as prisoners. Is it worth it?

At the Abuja International Airport as in Lagos, there is a mandatory airspace closure for 20 minutes before and 20 minutes after any “VIP movement”, meaning a presidential flight either landing or taking off. You are safer when your flight is on the ground, but it is not the same thing where you are up there in the sky, hovering around in circles, buffeted by hard, rain-bearing clouds while the waiting lasts. Must VIP flights bring our airports to their knees? The President has his own terminal building they call the presidential wing, why not appropriate money for a runway for their flights so that they do theirs and “we the people” run our lives without interruptions?

In terms of time, fuel, man-hours, Abuja needs to start long-term thinking. If officials are to start doing their jobs, they can ensure better road and sewer conditions. A known fact is that greedy officials force contractors to cut corners and help them through poor or non-existent supervision. But the thing that will work is to have a system that holds, not only Minister and Permanent Secretary, but the Director, the Chief Engineer, the assistant chief engineer and the contractor responsible each time public utilities such as the clogged manholes fail.

Abuja, Nigeria’s new federal capital which once boasted of the best infrastructure in the country should not be allowed to be destroyed by greedy officials and politicians. This city needs a re-think on how to deal with urban infrastructure and transportation.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Print
  • More
  • Pocket
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Previous Post

One Scandal Begets Another in Ekiti State, By Ogaga Ifowodo

Next Post

Thinking About Nigeria @ 54, By Dele Agekameh

Related Posts

Zamfara Gold As Commonwealth, By Zailani Bappa
Opinion

Sheikh Gumi, Governor Matawalle and the Sands of Time, By Zailani Bappa

February 2, 2021
June 12 As Democracy Day Needs To Be Reconsidered, By Bashir Tofa
Opinion

The Need To Act Now To Stop the Ethnic Conflagration!, By Bashir Othman Tofa

February 2, 2021
Kofi Annan: In Service of the World, By Ejeviome Eloho Otobo & Oseloka H. Obaze
Opinion

Biden’s Likely Policy Orientation Toward Africa, By Ejeviome E. Otobo and Oseloka H. Obaze

February 2, 2021
Agenda for ‘Born Again’ JAMB and TETFUND, By Tunde Musibau Akanni
Opinion

Oyeweso, A Celebrated Historian, Ascends the Sixth Floor, By Tunde Akanni

February 2, 2021
Before Nigeria Burns, By Akin Fadeyi
Opinion

Is President Buhari Presiding Over the Last United Nigeria?, By Akin Fadeyi

February 2, 2021
On A Soyinka Prize In ‘Illiteracy’, By Biko Agozino
Opinion

Obasanjo: Only Those Who Did Not Do Well Went Into the Military, By Biko Agozino

February 1, 2021
Next Post
The ‘forgotten’ girls of Chibok, By Dele Agekameh

Thinking About Nigeria @ 54, By Dele Agekameh

The New Northern People’s Congress, By Remi Oyeyemi  

The New Northern People’s Congress, By Remi Oyeyemi  

Editorial

  • EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

    EDITORIAL: The Urgency of Tackling Nigeria’s Second Wave of COVID-19

  • EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

    EDITORIAL: Unearthing the Cogent Lessons In the NESG-CBN Economic Policy Imbroglio

  • EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

    EDITORIAL: COVID-19: Calling On Nigeria’s Billionaires and Religious Leaders To Step Up

  • EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

    EDITORIAL: Bichi Must Go; Buhari Must Halt Slide Into Despotism

  • EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

    EDITORIAL: The Flaws In Governor Emefiele’s Five-Year Plan For Central Bank of Nigeria

Subscribe to our Opinion articles via email

Enter your email address to get notifications of new opinion articles as they are published.

Join 526,525 other subscribers

Most Popular

  • Nnamdi Kanu and Buhari’s Purported Death: The Facts and Fiction (2), By Nonso Robert Attoh
    Nnamdi Kanu and Buhari’s Purported Death: The Facts and Fiction (2), By Nonso Robert Attoh
  • What is the Nigerian Dream?, By Taiwo Odukoya
    What is the Nigerian Dream?, By Taiwo Odukoya
  • The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Bad Consequences and Dangers of Adultery and Fornication (Zina) In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Islam Doesn't Allow A Husband To Beat Or Slap His Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
    Islam Doesn't Allow A Husband To Beat Or Slap His Wife, By Murtadha Gusau
  • The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
    The Qualities of a Good Leader In Islam, By Murtadha Gusau
  • Gov. Abiodun’s Largess Amidst Miserable Rewards For Best Students, By Olabisi Deji-Folutile
    Gov. Abiodun’s Largess Amidst Miserable Rewards For Best Students, By Olabisi Deji-Folutile
  • Belu Belu and Bone-Setting: Traditional Medicine to the Rescue, By Bunmi Fatoye-Matory
    Belu Belu and Bone-Setting: Traditional Medicine to the Rescue, By Bunmi Fatoye-Matory

Like us on Facebook

Like us on Facebook

Podcasts

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Main News
  • About Us
  • Contact

© 2021 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Democracy and Governance
    • Bámidélé Upfront
    • Jibrin Ibrahim
    • Okey Ndibe
  • Economy
    • Ifeanyi Uddin
  • Issues of the Day
    • Adeolu Ademoyo
    • Aribisala on Tuesday
    • Dele Agekameh
    • Pius Adesanmi
  • Politics
    • Ebeneezer Obadare
    • Femi Fani-Kayode
    • Garba Shehu
    • Hannatu Musawa
    • Zainab Suleiman Okino
  • Guest Columns
  • Faith
    • Article of Faith
    • Sunday Ogidigbo
    • Friday Sermon
    • Elevated Sight

© 2021 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.