Abuja slums where refuse heaps stand tall

Roads are not just basic infrastructure but part of the aesthetics of the environment. It therefore, offers the mind some pleasure to see well paved roads that are clean and adorable.

The beauty of good road networks has always been the flower designs, street lights and in some places ornamental trees planted either at the middle divide of the streets or by the street corners.

 

But it is not so in Nyanya, a part of the Federal Capital Territory  through Mararaba to Masaka in neighbouring Nasarawa State, as side walks in these places are lined with heaps of stinking and decomposing refuse dumped in no fewer than  30 dump sites all along the road.

To people of these areas, cleanliness and a beautiful environment are no longer requirements of life. They seem to prefer filth and dirt to a clean world.

As a major road, the Abuja – Keffi Expressway, which ought to be a free flowing expressway, is lined with dirt which spreads and expands everyday, covering   close to one lane, thus leaving thousands of commuters with just one lane to struggle for on their way to and from the City Centre.

Abuja Metro was shocked to witness this destruction of the environment during an event in those areas. Curious enough,the dump sites are even used as Bus Stops in Nyanya, Gwandara and Masaka, as it is common place to hear passengers calling on the bus conductor that he/she is to alight at the Dust bin bus stop, before Mopol Junction in Nyanya; Dust bin before First Gate in Gwandara and Dustbin before Under Bridge in Masaka.

Whenever the men of the Nasarawa State Environmental Protection Board are evacuating these dirt, the road, which serves as the only access road from Abuja to Keffi is blocked by bulldozers which are used to load the refuse onto tippers, causing a long chain of traffic jam or hold-up as it is often called.

The people are so used to the style of living with refuse mounds that even at the short intervals when they are cleared, the bus stop names after them stand as monuments to remind you of the prominence and place of the refuse sites to their lives that they possibly can’t do without them.

Source: Sun News