Anyone who has stayed in more orderly and decent cities would marvel at life in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory.
It is common to see residents abandon pedestrian bridges to run across the highway in a hurry to get to their destinations. Many motorists do not respect the traffic light while some recklessly drive against traffic on One-Way.
They do not care because there are no officials to arrest and sanction them.

At night, many roads are without light at a time of heightened insecurity, exposing residents to danger. Worse of all, the sight of some residents openly defecating in public places has become more common.
Abuja is showing all the signs of administrative failure while the Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello, continued to remain anonymous—an absent leader.

The FCT, which is currently contending with various administrative challenges, has seen an unprecedented population growth in the last 15 years, but the city has refused to grow at similar pace.

Given its status as the fastest growing capital in Africa, it is shocking that maladministration is fast destroying the beauty of the city.

The FCT is begging for leadership and redemption as the following challenges reveal.

No Public Toilets, Open Defecation Is The Answer.

Open defecation has become a popular practice in the FCT as people defecate in public areas such as Area 1 Bridge, Apo Bridge, Julius Berger area and Airport junction. Residents also defecate under the bridge that links Gwarinpa to Lifecamp, Kado and Jabi; the road that links Jabi to Wuye, Apo Cemetery and environ.

The practice is also seen around Lugbe Federal housing Junction; under and around the overhead bridge, In front of National cancer Institute along the Airport road, among others.

The executive order signed in 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari to tackle open defecation has not worked in Abuja because the Minister has not done anything about it.

Obviously, the FCT is not taking any action on the initiative launched in 2019 tagged ‘Nigeria Open-Defecation-Free By 2025: A National Road Map.’

Speaking to THE WHISTLER, Ali Tahiru, who runs a POS business at Julius Berger roundabout said his work environment makes it difficult for him to breathe. “To be frank, the smell is really bad, and when it’s sunny the odour is worse and one can hardly breathe well. What I do when I can no longer withstand the smell, is to relocate my kiosk,” he said.

Tahiru, who is also guilty of open defecation, however, urged the government to build standard public toilets.
“There is nowhere someone can ease themselves around here because there is no public toilet. My prayer is that government should help build a toilet even if it is to pay before use, and most importantly they should also do something about this open defecation,” he added.

However, the Public Relations Officer for Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Janet Peni, refused to respond to questions on open defecation in the FCT. She asked the reporter to send text or whatsapp messages, but didn’t reply the messages..

No One Will Catch Us, Residents Ignore Pedestrian Bridges

In some cities, residents would think twice before crossing the expressway where a pedestrian bridge has been provided because they would be arrested. But not in Abuja where government is sleeping and where only revenue generating officials prowl the streets.

Many residents don’t use the pedestrian bridges and no one has been reported sanctioned by officials. The practice has led to the death of many who were knocked down by onrushing vehicles.
People are mostly found dashing across the expressway instead of the bridge at locations such as NICON junction at Ibrahim Babangida Boulevard , Cetraco at Gwarimpa, NNPC junction at Kubwa expressway, Piwoyi junction along airport road, Barger in Lugbe among others.

Some of the road users who spoke to THE WHISTLER said that the pedestrian bridges are not properly positioned along the bus-stops. Some also said they are scared to use the pedestrian bridges at night because of robberies and rape incidents that had been reported on the bridges.

Bisi Kazeem, the Public Education Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps who spoke to THE WHISTLER, said many residents had lost their lives due to the unlawful crossing of highways.
Kazeem said thE Corps is using the four strategies of education, persuasion, subtle force and enforcement to arrest the development.

Dark Roads At Night, Traffic Lights Not Working

Road users in Abuja are experiencing frustration in strategic areas of the capital city where faulty traffic lights often times lead to major gridlocks and multiple car accidents. Lack of functioning street lighting may have also worsen the problem.
Some of the places with faulty traffic light include Asokoro Junction, Federal Secretariat by Bullet House, Wuse Zone 4, 3rd Avenue Junction Gwarimpa, Gado Nasko Road, Phase 4 kubwa among others,

Rising Crime Level Makes City Insecure

Crimes are being reported almost daily in different parts of the FCT with no sign that the situation would change for better. The FCT police is poorly equipped to face the challenges posed by armed robbers, rapists and kidnappers, among others.
The FCT Counter Terrorism Desk Office (FCT CTDO) under the Minister of State, Hajia Miriam,could only warn residents to be more security conscious.
Criminals have turned under bridges in the city to their abode from where they wreak havoc on unlucky residents.
The bridges before the Ship House, at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) , before the GSM village and at Area 11 are notorious colonies for criminals.
There are other criminal dens such as the 1st diversion towards the Diplomatic zone/National Hospital from Games village roundabout , and the service lane from Berger roundabout to Wuye heading to Moshood Abiola National Stadium, where deadly stabbings have been reported.

How FCT Can Become Modern City Centre—Expert

Mr Tony Onwuma , an urban development expert, believes FCT must initiate the right laws to control the city.
Onwuma who works with Jedo Investment Company, Abuja, also said that proper city planning, provision of infrastructure and public conveniences for residents would make the city more “presentable.”
He said, “They need to put in the right infrastructure, because there are quite a lot of estates coming up in Abuja, and without proper town planning, without proper infrastructure all these places will not open up.

“Abuja is gradually becoming too populated, you will see different plan in different areas. Because of low pattern planning that’s why we have high rate of crime coming up in the city center. So, there need to be proper planning in various areas.

“There are quite a number of estates coming up in Lokogoma, Gwarimpa, towards Kasana and Lugbe areas, and once there is proper infrastructure and people can access all these areas it will reduce the rate of crime, and will also look beautiful. Government needs to start creating laws and putting things in place.”