Driving at night in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is a dangerous thing to do as major highways in the city are in darkness and the city’s poorly lit streets have become a safe haven for criminals to perpetuate their nefarious activities.
Most drivers in Abuja rely on their car headlights and their knowledge of the city to successfully navigate through dark streets. Pedestrians are not left out of the agony of walking through the dark streets at night knowing that they could fall into the hands of street urchins, who could dispossess them of their cash, valuables and sometimes inflict bodily harm on them. Street lights are a crucial component of the infrastructure of any modern city as they provide illumination and security for residents. However, New National Star Investigations reveal that street lights installed on many highways and streets in Abuja are not functional.
This is noticeable in major streets like Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent in Wuse, the Asokoro – Nyanya axis, Garki, Area 1 route to Apo Bridge, not forgetting the Airport Road axis, Lugbe, Apo Resettlement (Zone A) and other parts of the city where the situation is the same. The situation, which is not uncommon in many parts of Abuja, has made it difficult for residents to move through many streets in Abuja at night. Daniel Egbor, a taxi driver who plies the Banex Plaza, Wuse 11, and Maitama route, which are high brow districts of Abuja, on a regular basis tells this newspaper that for instance, Mekong Crescent, adjacent to the Regent School, Maitama, has not had street lights for some months now.
Investigations also reveal that from Katampke Junction through Berger, Wuye, and down to Apo Roundabout there are no street lights. The same scenario is observed on the road from AYA Junction through the military cantonments up to Mpape Junction. “The long stretch from Life Camp Roundabout to Galadimawa Roundabout has no lighting of any form. In fact, all the roads in Apo, and Kabusa Junction (Lokogoma) have no street lights,” Ms. Sylvia Onyeke laments. Mr. Alloysius Erongche, a taxi driver who ferries passengers from the suburbs of Abuja, on the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Expressway laments that even though the road has street lights, lack of regular power supply hampers them from functioning at night. New National Star gathers that the deteriorating condition of the street lights is partly as a result of the activities of vandals who destroy the installations in a bid to sell the materials or perpetrate crime under the cover of darkness.
Mr. Jude Ojodomo, an engineer and civil servant reveals that “around June last year, at Life Camp, the roundabout had solar-powered street lights, but if you go there now, you will find that they have started malfunctioning. “The authorities may be doing their job, but people are wicked; they vandalize them. Also, the contractors are not to be trusted, despite the huge funding they get; their greed makes them buy cheap materials that end up being fake and don’t last just because they want a lot of gain from the money they have been given for the job.’
Another Abuja resident, Mr. Jude Chukwudi, who owns a shop in a popular plaza at Banex says; “you see a street today with lights, a few weeks later or two months later you will notice that the installation has been disconnected and that is when criminal activities increase. “There are places like this all over Abuja; one of such places is Wuse, Zone 5 just before the market. It is as if robbers do not want light there. It is a nightmare for motorists.”
Another respondent, Mr. David Osita, notes that there is a popular street, just after the Glo Junction, Wuse 11 that is coveted by prostitutes looking for potential customers. “If the street lights were working, a lot of the girls would not be hiding there to prostitute. People do it openly, but those who are shy and new to the business prefer the dark areas, so I urge the authorities to do something about it,” Osita states. A source at the office of the director, facilities management in the Federal Capital Development Authority(FCDA), who does not want his name in print explains that “it takes a lot of resources to put the street lights in place and the vandals are not helping issues.
A lot of money was involved in putting those things, but people out of selfishness destroy them. “We have so many of them that have been destroyed. Nevertheless, though the resources are scarce, the government is still making frantic efforts to bring them back on. “We are planning to procure, and bring them up this year. Hopefully, in this year’s procurement, we will pick those things up. The parts we need are all imported. So, when these things go bad or are vandalized, you have to procure and we all know the bureaucracy in government.”
When contacted, Etim Abak, Director of Traffic Management Department in the FCDA says, “more needs to be done. Abuja residents are accustomed to the operations of street lights for their daily safety movements on the city roads. So, we are making efforts to make the lights work well. “This implies that spare parts must be made available. Right now, we do not have spare parts. We do not have batteries, so we are in the process of putting these in order to commence installation.”
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