Suleja: A Community In Need Of Urgent Attention

from Leadership Nigeria

This article profiles a town in nigeria that many poor workers settle in. - Kale

by Christiana Esebonu

The excruciating and disgusting whiff from compounds and streets that hit you as you walk through Suleja town, the sight of table water sachets, orange and sugar cane peels among other wastes, which litter the streets and gutters, the picture of pretty school-age girls sitting in line beckoning at any passer-by to buy nunu, roasted yams and oranges and young boys between the ages nineten and following people about with plates to beg for money and reciting a slogan, which is very common among beggars "sada-ka-sobo-da-Allah", meaning "Give because of God," is heartbreaking. All these paint a picture of a forgotten and sinking community.

To be sure, Suleja, a community in the Niger State can best be described as a negligible community yet to be hooked on to the national grid because of the darkness that has perpetually enveloped the city. What more? The wonky outlook of houses in Suleja is a strong indication that the area is evidently poverty, stricken and that the residents suffer from economic stagnation, cultural patterns that are unfavourable to development, and alternative employment opportunities.

Suleja is characterised by poor quality of life because of the scarcity of essential goods, facilities and malnutrition, inadequate health facilities and poor sanitation. All these serve as indicators and pointers to under-development. Investigations by our correspondents show that the community experiences high rate of population growth, total dependency burdens, high and rising level of unemployment, poor quality housing and above all, low level of living, not in terms of not having something to eat or drink, but relatively on quality and quantity.

This was the living picture and reality on ground when our reporter visited the area recently. In an interview with some respondents, some aggrieved residents highlighted the major problems affecting the area thus. "Since I came here, I have noticed so many lapses in the area. Their education situation here is zero; there are huge environmental and electricity problems", Mr. Nwokoro Davidson said.

Davidson told our reporters that anyone who lives in Suleja and sees electricity twice a week should "bows down to thank God for touching the minds of the PHCN, even if it is low voltage". "We are used to darkness in the absence of generators, popularly referred to as I pass my neighbour."

He also pointed out that they depend solely on local water vendors (mairuwas) as their only source of water, as they can not drill water well because they are not financially buoyant. He stressed that even if they were, they would not be given a land to do so as they are only tenants. For the few wealthy persons who have wells, "kai", he exclaimed, "they will not spare a drop of it to outsiders, considering its scarcity".

Ms. Vera Paul, a resident of Zone B in the area, decried the educational situation in Suleja as discouraging. She complained bitterly of lack of proper maintenance of school environment, low quality of teachers and lack of interest on the part of both the pupils and students. "Today is school day, but you will see school children, both in mufti and uniforms at parks, doing Agboro (touts) while some are hawking and roaming the streets", she said."

Vera lamented that laxity on the part of education officers must be dealt with if a positive outcome is expected. She said she intended to further her studies in Niger State, but from what she has seen so far, she couldn’t dare it; because "I firmly believe in the saying that your today will determine your tomorrow."

Madam Susan Gbenga, a civil servant who spoke on the general condition of "the voiceless masses", stressed the need for government of the state, to bear in mind that the business of governance is principally to serve the people by lifting them out of the depth of "despondency and abject poverty", which they are plunged into. "Governments should wake up and make incursions into the areas that had, hitherto, been either ignored or treated superficially" she said.

She maintained that government knew the areas that must be attended to but refused to act.

For Malam Yusuf Akilu, Suleja is a nice but dirty place. He said the area council, which was supposed to be a blessed land due to its closeness to Abuja, the nation’s capital, is today dominated by the shackles of poverty. He revealed that the area is made up of amalgamation of Hausa, Nupes, Gwari’s as majority, with some Igbos and Yorubas.

He described the environment as a major threat to development in the area, and the road network as dead traps. On the aspect of security, he said they are protected by God, disclosing that police officers are worsening the situation as they shoot sporadically on several occasions, extorting monies from innocent and frightened citizens of the area, after a thorough search.

Zyxtus Ademola, a trader in Suleja, had this to say: "We are just in the hands of our merciful God, because if not for Him, everybody in Suleja would have been lying lifeless in hospitals and clinics due to what the stinking environment has to offer". He stressed that the absence of culverts, good drainage system, pedestrian walkways, irregular water supply, lack of medical healthcare should be governments priority. He called on government to build schools and clinics as well as eliminate quacks in the area to better the lives of the masses.

Another resident in the community, Mr. Adamu Aliyu, told our reporters that certainly development must mean improvement in living conditions for which economic growth and industrialisation are essential. But if there is no attention to the quality of growth and social change, one cannot speak of development. This, he said, is the clear picture of what Suleja is. "The primary objective of government is to ensure secure and decent livelihood in the area, which they have failed to do or may have possibly forgotten."

Mrs. Bumi Solomon, who resides at Gabodan, also shared the views of most residents who spoke about the absence of good roads in the area, revealing that "if there is heavy down pour, one is not safe as school children who trek along the streets are often drowned with houses collapsing as a result of uncontrollable flood-from the bridge behind Kwamba garage that leads to Gabadan".

With these, one could only imagine the number of lives lost frequently in the community and the pains the residents go through.

Malam Murtala Abubakar, in a chat with LEADERSHIP, explained that the problems faced by Suleja residents are numerous. He stated categorically that both the state and local governments appeared to be less concerned with the social problems they face. He took pains to state details of their afflictions, pointing out that the area is over populated with only one general hospital and few unequipped clinics. "We survive by the help of chemist operators; honestly we are just are alive by God," he stated.

Alhaji Muhammed Sani, a youth leader in Zone C, said the government has failed the people. He explained that apart from the general provisions market called Modi market, Suleja residents would have to board okada to IBB Modern market, which is very far from the town.

He said most residents in the area use commercial toilets popularly called "Gidiwanka" after payment of N10 as fee, and those who may not have the money, choose other alternatives like using bowls to empty it at nights, or dig the traditional hole and cover it with zinc. "Oh what a life", he lamented.

The road network is the worst hit; to visit the next compound or street, you’ll need a stick to support yourself because of the narrowness of the roads. "On several occasions, we individually or collectively construct bridges with sticks and slabs, but we are tired and we are asking for government’s assistance", Sani said.

But the Managing Director, M. K. Photos, Malam Abdulkarim, said Suleja is over crowded with insufficient facilities. He said the Niger State government is trying, but that it just have to put in more efforts to improve the conditions of those who actually voted them into power. On traffic situation, he said the police, civil defence, road safety marshals and vehicle inspectors (VIO) must come to rescue Suleja from the unnecessary traffic jams as a result of untutored driving skills by most truck drivers, okada men who were chased out of Abuja, the increasing number of Abuja civil servant residing in Suleja, as well as bad attitudes of street hawkers, and stall owners who trade on the major roads, especially during the weekly Friday market.

The Chief Matron of Yahaya Alhassan Community Clinic, Kurmin Sarki Ward, Hajiya Ladi, told our reporters that the commonest illnesses in the area are malaria and typhoid, which she attributed to lack of potable water and poor environment.

She said most of the deaths and serious illnesses among residents are due to conditions that could easily be prevented and treated with simple remedies if only the government would cooperate.

In an interactive session with the Vice Chairman, Suleja Local Government Council, Hon. Abduli Adamu Madallah, LEADERSHIP gathered that on assumption of office, a seven-man committee, charged with the responsibility of carrying out projects in their various wards in line with their problems, was constituted.

This, he said, was done on realisation that more schools, markets, as well as hospitals, were needed, given the growing number of persons that need these services. "We acknowledge that dirt is a threat to people’s lives and so have constituted a committee that is assigned the responsibility of evacuating wastes starting from Kaduna Road which, has been achieved, Insha-Alllah. Plans are under way to start work at Iku-South ward Madalla, followed by the rest of the wards", he said.

"In order to achieve this, we have carried out emergency sensitisation campaigns on the committee’s activities, liaising with ward village and district heads for effective coverage and information. "We gave them three weeks to complete their project which is still on", he added.

"As regards real projects, we have started renovating Awala Ibrahim primary school situated in Kurmu Sarki ward".

He disclosed that on the issue of electricity, which is a major problem in the area, 10 new transformers were provided to them on request and have been mounted at different locations. Talking about water supply, he said plans were on ground to create some lines that would connect people with impress dam so that by the end of the year, the problem of water in Suleja Local Government would become history Insha-Allah.

"We officially commissioned comprehensive healthcare centres, and provided lights, water while ensuring that each time the supervisory councillor for health puts up her request, we meet it. On roads, we promised that every damage road in Suleja would be repaired, as we have asked the supervisory councillor of works to go on an inspection, to ascertain what it would take to rehabilitate the roads in Suleja", he added.

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