By Fred Ezeh
Mararaba is a border town between the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and Nasarawa State. Its proximity to Abuja, being the seat of power, has made it difficult to identify the boundary between the two states.
Densely-populated with middle and low-income earners, Mararaba is predominantly occupied by civil servants that work in federal government establishments in Abuja metropolis. These workers daily commute from this suburb to Abuja city centre, where most of the government offices and corporate establishments are located.
The workers apparently took advantage of low-cost houses, affordable cost of living and land to build a place of abode for themselves.
As a result of the high concentration of people there, basic infrastructure like roads, power, education and health facilities have been overstretched by daily inflow of Nigerians who have found solace in this part of the country in spite of the obvious social challenges that have made life and living unbearable.
The town is regarded by many FCT residents as one of the most populated towns in and around the FCT that is synonymous with poverty, absence of infrastructure and poor living standard, as evidenced in the daily complaints and lamentations of the residents.
Life could be unbearable in Mararaba, particularly in the rainy season, because already bad roads become worse and flooded as a result of blocked waterways. Electricity installations are pulled down by regular downpours, and the environment stinks due to open defecation and heaps of refuse that ooze offensive smells.
In the midst of this, epidemics are visited on the residents due to poor sanitary conditions. But as they strive to give themselves a better lease of life, those who could afford it turn to a mini (local government) providing amenities like borehole water system, power supply, medical services and security for themselves.
Commercial motorcycle, otherwise known as “Okada” has become the choice mode of transportation in Mararaba, that has to an extent exposed the people to several safety risks. Some of the operators claim to be “encyclopedia of Mararaba” having worked there for years.
As expected in such a place with low education and skills, some people turn to prostitution, hawking, armed robbery, cultism, child abuse and other societal ills to survive.
These vices reached a peak some months ago when economic recession visited Nigeria. The recession caused the loss of thousands of jobs and the collapse of many small and medium businesses, pushing more people into the labour market. The consequence was increase in crime.
Some of the criminals who operate under the cover of darkness position themselves to snatch phones, bags and other valuables from commuters, especially during rush hour (early morning and late evening) when people are going or returning from work.
Two friends, Margaret and Christy, told the story of how they were dispossessed of their handbags that contained valuable personal belongings at Mararaba Junction shortly after they alighted from a commercial vehicle enroute Maitama on a Thursday evening.
A motorist who identified himself as Kingsley also narrated how some hooligans distracted him while driving in the perennial traffic and made away with two phones kept on his car’s dashboard.
The Ogun State government, decades ago, took advantage of population overflow from Lagos to develop some industrial areas in Ota and environs, resulting in boost in its revenue and job opportunities for its citizens.
But the contrary seems to be the case in Nasarawa State as successive administrations have been incapable of doing the same.
Driving through Mararaba to the Abuja city centre at any time of the day could best be described as nightmarish. Roadside traders occupy half of the road with their wares, destitutes beg for alms, reckless parking by commercial motorists as well as recklessness by okada riders are the order of the day. Extreme caution is required to drive through Mararaba.
Painfully, thousands of commuters from Mararaba and other adjourning towns like New Nyanya, Ado, Masaka and travelers from Jos, Bauchi and Lafia are, on a daily basis, subjected to the awful experience of traffic congestion, particularly during rush hour.
Some of the affected workers told Abuja Metro that they were regularly served with official queries by their employers who never care to understand their predicament.
“We are surcharged virtually every month on account of lateness to work. This was no fault of ours but the perennial traffic gridlock that forces us to spend several hours on the road and get to work late,” a commuter lamented.
In an ideal situation, a journey from this part of town to Abuja city centre ought to take less than 20 minutes but it is stretched to several hours in most cases due to traffic obstruction created by either commuters or motorists in one way or the other, particularly along all the illegal bus stops created by these parties.
The architectural design of Mararaba has no major bus stop and as a result commercial and private motorists stop at will to either drop or pick passengers. While they do that, they totally forget that there are many other vehicles that ply the road and each time a vehicle stop for few seconds either to pick or drop a passenger, tens of others behind are forced to also stop and wait. The result, expectedly, is gridlock.
There was a vacant piece of land at Mararaba Junction a few years ago, which was used as a motor park. But some elite allegedly shared the land and built a gigantic shopping complex with little or no provision for parking space. That also compounded the traffic woes for road users.
Apparently left with no option, motorists were forced to turn the foot of the pedestrian bridge to a bus stop while the little remaining space was shared between destitutes, touts and hooligans who are all struggling to make ends meet.
The place has become a melting pot for drug abuse, prostitution, gambling and other social vices. Touts and hooligans are freely doing their business of bag and phone snatching, petty theft and harassment, among others.
The bridge was built for the use of pedestrians but pedestrians have abandoned the bridge for hundreds of destitutes who have turned the the footbridge to their place of abode. They eat, drink, feed their babies and also answer the call of nature there in the open.
However, in the midst of these challenges, FCT residents, particularly those from highbrow areas who love local lifestyles, still converge on Mararaba and adjourning towns for leidure and relaxation, especially at the weekend. They patronise prostitutes, beer parlours, fresh fish and pepper soup joints and other local life forms that are perhaps absent in the city.