The residents of Kado Kuchi have accused Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) authorities of neglecting them as they lament lack of social amenities in the community.
Kado Kuchi, is a slum community in Jahi district, just after Next Cash and Carry, a mega shopping mall.
The district head, Alhaji Suleiman Dodo, told Aso Chronicle that the challenges they face are enormous and that their calls to the government to come to their aid appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
When asked about the biggest challenge they face, the chief said lack of a motorable road to the community was their major challenge.
He said the roads in the community were nothing to write home about, explaining that the community, for a long time now, has been calling on AMAC to come to their aid and provide them with the necessary infrastructural facilities but that all they get in return were promises that have not been fulfilled.
Alhaji Dodo said due to the bad nature of the roads, cars broke down very often. He said the red muddy road was full of potholes and always an unpleasant experience plying it, either on foot or in a vehicle.
One of the major roads that leads to the community begins from the Next Cash and Carry building but because of its bad state, riddled with plenty potholes, a drive from the shopping complex to the community takes about 30 minutes.
Dodo also lamented that the community lacks primary health care centre and that has continued to cause several issues of delayed treatment to people who needed urgent medical attention.
“Whenever a sick person needs emergency medical attention or a woman is in labour, we usually rush them to Life Camp, Wuse, or Maitama general hospitals for immediate treatment but because of the distance, sometimes, the person ends up dying in our hands before we get to the hospital,” he said.
The chief further stressed that he wrote a letter to AMAC appealing for the provision of amenities but despite promises to look into the requests, they are yet to receive any positive response from the authorities.
The district head also lamented that a heap of refuse close to the primary school in the area posed a health hazard to residents of the community.
“We need help from the Abuja Environmental Protection Board to evacuate it or to provide containers for dumping our refuse. We need a clean environment. If the surrounding is unkempt it leads to various kinds of ailments. We have raised alarm several times but we haven’t heard anything from the relevant government agencies,” he said.
He, however, appreciated the effort of the government in providing learning structures for both primary and secondary schools, but appealed that the compound be fenced for the protection of their children.
“The unfenced structures lead to pupils and students playing truancy, and they are exposed to dangers. The lack of fence at the school has paved way for kidnappers who hide behind bushes waiting for unsuspecting students,” he said.
He said recently, about four children were abducted by unknown individuals but that they were found through the collective prayers and search efforts of the people.
Lack of a pedestrian bridge on one of the roads on the outskirts of the community is another issue that has been bothering the residents.
The district head said there have been cases of students and even adult residents being hit by speeding vehicles but that their cries for intervention have similarly not been heeded.
The chief stressed the need for government to provide traffic warden that would help in controlling traffic and providing safe crossing for the children after school hours pending when a pedestrian bridge is constructed.
“The pedestrian bridge is something that will really help us as a community. In the last few years, our people have been hit several times by cars on the road and it is because of this that we need the bridge. Even if the government cannot provide a bridge for us, they should at least post a traffic warden that will control the traffic on that part of the road even if it will only be from morning to afternoon,” he urged.
Dodo also lamented that they lack drinkable water in the community. He said the only source of clean water was boreholes owned by individuals.
“The government’s attempt at providing water in the community has not been successful. Barely few weeks after the commissioning of a borehole, the tank stopped pumping and since then, we have not had potable water,” he lamented.
On how long the water tank had been malfunctioning, Dodo said it been down about four years now and they are left with no choice but to patronise water vendors for all their water needs.
He therefore appealed to the council authorities under the leadership of Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu Candido to liaise with the FCTA to come to their aid.
He said the community wants AMAC to provide security of lives and property, good water supply, electricity and also rehabilitate the road to improve their lives.
Abubakar Salihu, a resident of Kado Kuchi also said that they lack good source of water, explaining that the government constructed a borehole in 2013 unfortunately the project did not last long and is now in a dilapidated state.
He said the authorities came and repaired it but up till date it is not useful, saying that they have been depending on hand dug boreholes belonging to individuals.
Another resident, Grace Daniel, said they have limited power supply. “They decide on when to supply electricity. Sometimes we go for two days on a stretch without having electricity but I have heard that the power is being rationed so we do not even know what they are planning for us. When we complained about the situation, they tell us that they were working on it,” she said.
Reacting, AMAC Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu Candido, said the council is working hard to meet the needs of the residents.
Candido who spoke through his chief press secretary, Dayo Lawal, said his administration had provided infrastructure to all communities across the council’s 12 wards.
“No fewer than 63 life-impacting projects have been done so far,” he said. He added that infrastructure would soon reach the community.
