By Martins Idakwo
There are over 7 billion people settled all over this little planet, where more than half of us live in cities.
Mankind has, over the years, evolved into urban species, especially in developing countries.
Abuja is the destination of innumerable unemployed people who migrate to the city in search of perceived employment opportunity and of those who see the city is much safer than other parts of the country.
Welcome to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, where we have over 5 million people and more living here.
From its monuments and memorials, the story of our nation is told in riveting, grandiose fashion.
The city’s roads are decked out in style and provide the utmost comfort for their motorists.
Abuja night scene thrives, in sporting traditional classics and you can’t miss new restaurants opening week after week.
International presence is always felt, as the city serves as a melting pot for cultures from around the world.
The performing arts are given spaces to shine throughout the various Districts, while the National stadium brings out passionate fans for every game. To top it up, navigating the city is a breeze, weather.
Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria located in the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). It is a planned city and was built mainly in the 1980s, replacing the country’s most populous city of Lagos as the capital on 12 December 1991.
Abuja’s geography is defined by Aso Rock, a 400-metre monolith left by water erosion. The Presidential Villa, National Assembly, Supreme Court and much of the city extend to the south of the rock. Zuma Rock, a 792-metre monolith, lies just north of the city on the expressway to Kaduna.
The indigenous inhabitants of Abuja are the Gbagyi (Gwari), with the Gbagyi language formerly the major of the region language, and others in the area being Bassa, Gwandara, Gade, Dibo, Nupe and Koro.
In light of the ethnic and religious divisions of Nigeria, plans had been devised since Nigeria’s independence to have its capital in a place deemed neutral to all major ethnic parties, and also in close proximity to all the regions of Nigeria.
The location was eventually designated in the centre of the country in the early 1970s as it signified neutrality and national unity.
Another impetus for Abuja came because of Lagos’ population boom that made that city overcrowded and conditions a capital city full of experiences and cultures.
60 years ago, less than 3,000 people lived here and everyone uses to say Abuja is virgin land.
To know how original the city was, there is just one person that can give us the best and precise response. Pastor Danlandi Jeji, the president, Original Inhabitants Development Association (OIDA).
‘’The indigenous inhabitants of Abuja are the Gbagyi (Gwari), with the Gbagyi language formerly the major of the region language, and others in the area being Bassa, Gwandara, Gade, Dibo, Nupe and Koro.
“In light of the ethnic and religious divisions of Nigeria, plans had been devised since Nigeria’s independence to have its capital in a place deemed neutral to all major ethnic parties, and also in close proximity to all the regions of Nigeria”. He told me
He also added that ‘’the location was eventually designated in the centre of the country in the early 1970s as it signified neutrality and national unity.”
Despite its reputation for handing out big contracts, poverty and unemployment loom!
When people come to Abuja, they usually don’t want to leave. That is why there are so many people here, a young man once told me. They try to stay back and get “connected.” They are eventually forced to leave when the connection does not seem to come. Little did the man know that he was telling me part of my own story.
That was not the case for Michelle Sow, a fisherman and a tailor originally from Senegal. Right from the time he made up his mind to come to Nigeria, Sow had always wanted to move to the capital city of the country. It was not until April of 2016 that he was able to realize his dream of doing so.
It was a dream come true because Abuja gives him the opportunity to reach a larger audience for his work, and then move to Europe where his final destination is.
Sow describes Abuja as the “second-largest economy” in Africa. After South Africa. “Coming to Abuja became a necessity in a bid to add up to my experience, explore and define a voice for myself through my chosen path. Abuja became the next spot,” he told me.
“Abuja became an eye-opener to me based on where I had been before moving into the city.”
Sow lives in Karu village under the Abuja Municipal Area Council, just before Nyaya, about a 10-minute drive from the Federal Secretariat. He does his tailoring at his brother’s shop where he gets his daily income. Karu is one of the 16 districts, or cadastral zones, in Phase two of the city. Builders of the city, according to a 1979 master plan, divided Abuja’s development into four phases, with a projection that the city will have a population of 3 million by the year 2010 and a maximum population of 4 million later on.
Everything kept going as planned except the day something happened! What is it? The unthinkable! Someone had stolen Sow’s bag where all his valuables including his international passport. ‘’This has made me remain here because without your passport you cannot travel by air,” he lamented.
Mavis Akor, a graduate of physics, from the University of Jos, who decided to influence her NYSC to Abuja, thought she was coming to a city full of milk and honey, where everything, at least on the surface, falls in pleasant places.
‘’I had been in Abuja previously for a wedding but left-back to Jos, the capital city of Plateau State. After then, I said I was going to do my service year here,” she said.
‘’Accommodation was my biggest challenge, and so I had to stay in different types and forms of shelter; from sleeping on bare floor to sleeping in someone’s shop, a hairdressing salon.’’ She added.
‘’As early as 4 am I would get up and take my bath and then clean the salon I take refuge at night.’’
All over Abuja, you’ll find people like sow and Mavis trying their best to earn a living.
A few become wealthy, but a vast majority only get what to live on.
However, against all odds, they turn Abuja into a city of opportunity, full of hustlers, resourceful, energetic and extremely optimistic with the phrase ‘’One-day e go better”.
For Sow, Nigeria is a beautiful place but there is one problem!
Electricity, he keeps wondering why it keeps going off. “As a tailor, electricity plays a major part in the business, unlike Senegal the electricity keeps going off and no one gives you an explanation for this.”
Just like Sow and the Mavis, there are just a few people who have been drawn into the federal capital territory, which keeps expanding at the rate of 30,000 every year.
