Residents of Kwaita and Kwakwu communities in the Kuje Area Council, FCT, have condemned the FCT administration for the neglect of basic infrastructure in the area.
The residents expressed dissatisfaction in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kuje. They all called on the FCT administration to come to their rescue. Mr Simon Sheyigari, a resident of the area, told NAN that the deplorable condition of the road linking Kwaita and Kwakwu was making life difficult for commuters especially traders and farmers in the area.
According to him, the deplorable state of roads had hindered economic and social development in the area. “This is the only road linking this community and we don’t find it easy using it, especially when it rains. “I want to call on the FCT administration to come to our aid and get the road rehabilitated to facilitate development in the area,’’ he said.
Mr Manasseh Luka, a resident of Kwakwu community, said that the FCT administration has over the years neglected the deplorable roads in the area and had failed to provide other basic amenities for the people.
Luka listed potable water, good roads, electricity, schools and primary health care centres as their basic and immediate needs. He equally lamented that roads linking the communities with other parts of the territory were in deplorable state and called on the government to come to their aid. “Most of us are farmers and because of the bad state of roads, we usually find it difficult to transport our commodities and we end up selling them cheap.
“The most painful part of the issue is that we have been cut off from having access to electricity in the community,’’ he said. He said residents of the communities don’t have access to potable water, adding that many of them depended on water from streams, while others get water from commercial boreholes.
Mr Turu Monday, a farmer in Kwaita community, said that rehabilitation of the road would ease transportation of agriculture products to markets and enhance residents’ standard of living. “We are predominantly farmers in this community and our source of encouragement has been our ability to convey our produce to the market. “It has not been easy for us to convey our products to the market and we are forced to sell at give away prices within the community,’’ he said.
A market woman, Mrs Serah Tumaka, also appealed to the relevant authorities to assist residents of Kwaita community. She said that the poor state of the road had caused hike in transport fare, which had made it difficult for them to convey their goods to the market. Mrs Zaliha’u Ahmed, the Director, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), said all the complaints had been duly received by the Honorable Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello. (NAN)
