Al Makura And The Mararaba Metaphor

When Terrible Roads Rattle Residents

IN July, when President Muhammadu Buhari jetted out to the United States on an official visit, Governor Tanko Al Makura was on board. Going by the broad smiles that lit his face during the photo ops that followed at the White House, it seemed apparent that the Nasarawa helmsman enjoyed his time in Washington.

He must have commuted on smooth roads, just as he would have been spared the ordeal of moving on driveways that end up damaging the vehicles and wasting precious man hours of citizens going out for work and business. On the whole, Governor Al Makura must have savoured the beauty and comfort of world-class infrastructure provided by visionary governance. In fact, the governor must have taken these good things for granted. That is however not the experience of residents of Mararaba, the sprawling suburb that shares its boundary with the Federal Capital Territory. In Mararba getting these basics that make life a bit bearable, is like searching for the proverbial oasis in the desert.

Residents of Mararaba, this writer included, on a daily basis have to endure the indignity of navigating through terrible roads, which in turn precipitate traffic snarls. The irony is that some of the roads in question are not actually long stretches that would gulp a lot of money, if they are to be fixed. Modest effort at governance, and a little push to meet citizen’s expectations could solve a great deal of the challenges being encountered by people in the area.

Take the strategic Abattoir Road, which links the back end of Sanni Abacha Road to Karu on the FCT side of the axis. The severely dilapidated portion that causes traffic snarls for several hours during morning rush hours is less than two kilometres in length. A proactive government does not need all the monies in the world to simply get its act together and fix this cause of a daily inconvenience to citizens. For years, that stretch has remained in its terrible state, with attendant monumental cost in terms of time wasted by commuters, and damage to vehicles.

However, beyond the question of road infrastructure, is the need to scrutinize Al Makura’s philosophy of governance, especially with regards to how he views Mararaba, when juxtaposed with the rest of Nasarawa State. There is no doubt that the economic and social vibrancy of Mararaba, even in spite of the clear neglect by government is a case of how Nigerians are capable of moving on with their lives in the face of lethargic governance. Taking advantage of comparatively cheaper rents and lands, and its proximity to the FCT, there has been an upsurge of people in the Mararaba axis. The thinking that a lot of people would move out of the area after the dastardly Nyanya bombings of April 2014 has proved to be wrong. Many more working class people dodging the astronomically high property rates of the Abuja city centre are trooping to Mararaba for reprieve. Through sheer self-help, people have, on their own, opened up communities by building their homes, while hoping that someday government would wake up to its responsibilities. Street Governance Committees are springing up to fill the governance void. They hire vigilantes to provide security, and in some cases propose to build police posts to attract police presence.

With its pulsating nightlife, occasioned by a restless population that moves round the clock, Mararaba is positioning itself as a hub for entertainment and the hospitality industry. The boon in the hoteling sector is suggestive of a middle class with disposable income to spare. Also, an informal business district is springing up especially on the Nyanya-Keffi corridor, with no explicit input and direction from the Nasarawa State government.

No doubt, there are agencies, running around like headless chickens to get all manner of fees and charges from the massive surge of real estate development in the area. But like every such predatory effort, it is all about taking, there is no blueprint for giving back in terms of development. The results is that residents on streets like Zarma, Zamani, and deeper ends like, Angwar Albarka and Rugan Madaki navigate through gullies to get to their homes.

It is so bad that as they are building their homes, residents equally make elaborate plans to acquire Special Purpose Vehicles to navigate the non-existent roads in these communities. What rankles most is that Al Makura and his team have more or less overlooked the potentials of Mararba as an economic hub, if provided with fairly good infrastructure. The government, after providing the requisite infrastructure through creative approaches, would then be in position to get healthy revenue through property taxes, with a win-win strategy. The spotlight must also be placed on Karu Local Government Area, which appears as lethargic as the state government, with regards to transforming the Mararaba axis.

In the vortex of governance, citizens in emerging economies like Nigeria expect their leaders to explore ways of replicating the beautiful things they see on trips to the advanced parts of the world. For residents of Mararaba in Al Makura’s Nasarawa, his presence on the trip to the United States would be a colossal waste, if he does not begin to move to deliver the gains of such exposure to the people. Mararaba has huge economic potentials, which a government with creative instincts can convert to a cash cow in a mutually beneficial sense. In these trying times, when oil money is no longer so easy to come by, the ball is in the court of helmsmen like Al Makura to take the initiative to make the difference.