By Donald Iorchir
Infrastructure such as roads, pipe borne water and electricity are key to societal development as far as this century is concerned.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which has over the years gulped huge capital expenditure on infrastructure especially during its formative stages, is deeply embroiled in lack of the aforementioned necessities of good living, especially in its satellite towns and rural areas.
Presently, all the roads in the Federal Housing Complex at Karu have turned into deep gully erosions and haven of heaps of refuse.
The situation at the Complex deserves urgent intervention, if the houses must not collapse due to erosion.
Similarly, the road leading to Gwagwalada from Kuje is in absolute state of disrepair, despite the fact that the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, promised, during the flagging-off of Ishyaku Shaban Tete’s campaign, that the repair would be completed last year.
A few kilometers were haphazardly asphalted after the Minister’s promise, but nothing more ever since. Due to the deplorable state of the road, motorists experience nightmares plying it every day.
“A journey that shouldn’t take up to fifteen minutes takes almost an hour because the road is bad. We really want the authorities to help us and repair the road,” a motorist told Blueprint.
Gwagwalada, where the University of Abuja, Abuja Specialist Hospital and a few other federal institutions are located, is equally yearning for attention in terms of roads.
Though a few of them are good, many of them need to be upgraded. Drainages also need to be dug on their flanks to add to their life-spans as well as to beautify them.
Lack of drainages has added to the problems already created on the roads by heavy rainfall. Though there have been appreciable progresses in power sector in the town, a lot still needs to be done to reach every nook and cranny; because presently, some areas rarely see it. Zuba, a ward in Gwagwalada Area Council, is the worst hit, as residents of an area called Ikwa lamented to Blueprint that they had spend three months with only one blink of it.
The importance of electricity to the development of the industrial sector cannot be quantified and, as such, enormous task is required to accomplish it.
“To do business in Zuba is hell. No light. You only see electric poles, consequently, things are expensive here,” a resident, who gave his name s Musa, lamented.
Pipe borne water which is key to healthy living, going by the saying that water sustains life, shouldn’t be lacking in the FCT, considering its prestige, but in the rural areas and the satellite towns, it is not available. Having known the importance of good drinking water to healthy living, its availability should be enhanced with vigour.
However, while the FCT Administration must be commended for the token development it has achieved, it is necessary to insist that more efforts are required at the rural areas and the satellite towns.
To salvage the situation, there should be collaboration among the stakeholders, especially the Area Council chairmen whose responsibilities are to ensure rapid development of the communities that make up their respective councils.
However, a key factor that would trigger development in the rural areas is construction of roads. Roads would make transportation of farm produce from the hinterland to the city easy, affordable and quicker.
