A Short Diary of an Abuja Boy

Abuja City

 

By Omoniyi Ibietan

Simbo Olorunfemi prompted this recall with his spectacular post, “Headies in Atlanta, NMA in Abuja”. So, I felt nostalgic. After responding to his great piece I thought to share my response here because I didn’t realise I would write so much in a short time. So, indeed, nostalgia was the first reaction as an Abuja boy after reading his.

I got to this city with my mom in 1985/86. At that time Wuse II, Garki II and what we know as city centres today did not exist. Agura was the leading hotel until Nicon Noga Hilton Hotel, NNHH (now Transcorp) was built and openedin 1987, then Sheraton debuted, then Hyatt Regency built what’s now Nicon Luxury Hotel. Eddie King Burger was our Mr. Biggs Then few ‘joints’ sprouted, among the popular ones was owned by a lovely Tiv family, just by their home corner in Area 2 Section 1, where we all queued to buy roasted peppered chicken.

My mom (thankfully by my side as I write this), had her official quarters behind Area 1 Shopping Centre, she ran a triangular routine Office-Home-Church. I always looked forward to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays because they are church-free days, at least for her denomination, CAC. On those ‘free’ days she would take me to NNHH which just opened for business. To attract people, 6-7pm everyday was called HAPPY HOUR. Everything sold in the Hotel that hour was at half the regular price. Area 2 Shopping Centre was the main city centre, later UTC Area 10 where we gathered for sports and some socialisation and networking. I met my girlfriend in my neighbourhood but we often took a wslk to UTC to socialise. If you met any Abuja person in Lagos or elsewhere in those days, you could tell it was Abuja you first met. We all knew ourselves.

You could buy 10 big tubers of yam for just 3 naira and a basket of eggplant, tomatoes etc for just half the price of 10 tubers of yam. Water supply was impeccable, there were no boreholes nor wells. Lower Usuma Dam supplied every home pipe borrne water. Electricity supply was 24/7, 365 days. There was no power outage in Abuja in my first three years. The first outage occurred on 30th September 1989, and it lasted for just an hour. NEPA announced the outage for 7 days before it happened, and pleaded the outage was to enable it undertake a TAM (Turn Around Maintenance), in preparation for the Independence Anniversary Celebrations.

I remember having an invasive medical procedure at Garki Hospital in 1989, for just 2.50 (Two Naira, Fifty Kobo), yet it was performed by consultants, all were Nigerians who largely studied abroad but they ran the hospital well. In those days, no one is allowed to spread clothes outside of the buildings or on the railings of the balcony. The fear of Gen. Vatsa was the beginning of wisdom. He would ride on horses in the evening, looking for violators. Clothes outside and by balconies are collected and taken to FCDA where owners will pay to have them back. All roads where buildings are to be cited are completed before buildings are constructed. Gen. Vatsa (FCT’s best Minister, may God rest his soul) had a task force that inspected buildings to ensure all amenities were in place, including places to dry clothes, before the buildings were allocated.

Everywhere was peaceful and secured. If you travelled and returned at night, you could walk home without being scared, if there are no taxis at the time. Taxis were cheap, 80 kobo from Area 1 Shopping Centre to NNHH. It was real fun until December 12, 1991, when IBB moved to Abuja. From that moment everything changed, robbery etc. came. Things became expensive. Let me contextualise this.

General Babangida’s movement from Lagos to Abuja did not come with a modicum of strategic planning it deserved especially concerning food policy and supplies, housing and crime control. So, without increase in food supplies to sync with the growing population, the natural economic law of correlation of Demand and Supply was activated. Also, without adequate accommodation, for all those who moved with General Babangida from Lagos, Abuja began to experience congestions in housing. Slums began to sprout, usually at the end of each street, as people improvised shelter. And naturally, criminalities evolved with conurbations.

It marked the beginning of the destruction of the Abuja Masterplan. Even Aso Rock is improperly cited. Same for Eagle Square, where our Presidents took Oath of Office. From the information I got from a member of Akinola Aguda Panel, which recommended Abuja as the new capital for Nigeria, the present location of Eagle Square was meant to be a terminus for trains or coaches bringing civil servants to the city from places like Abaji and Lokoja where civil servants’ residences were to be located. By original conception, few public or civil servants were to live in the city. It explains why Mamman Kontagora and Nasir El-Rufai tried to decongest the city. Kontagora, my God rest his soul, tried to develop satellite towns, and for those already instituted, he was intentional in making the towns have access to basic facilities in the metropolis. As we know, El-Rufai made conscious attempts to recover the Masterplan. He was going to demolish ECOWAS Secretariat because, as we learnt, it’s location was meant to be the cite of a major sewerage for Asokoro District.

Then, sadly and suddenly (as Fela would say), the phenomenon of Abuja marriage crept into the social space stealthily. Many people with subsisting marriages simply ‘remarried’ in Abuja because their spouses were in Lagos. Indeed, many MDAs set the tone for this saddening reality. Many agencies didn’t plan their relocation properly, especially the allocation of housing and other facilities that would make workers to settle in properly in the new city. Many people git married just because of accommodation. Besides, many civil servants interacted so closely without respect for privacy because for mostly junior staff, a flat could be allocated to three persons, the living room became a shared resource, like the kitchen and even conveniences, from there boredom and unwarranted intimacy caused people to start dating and mating, many had children together while still married to their original, legitimate spouses in Lagos. It was so bad that NTA had to produce a special feature/report on the phenomenon, many homes were ‘broken’…

Otherwise, early history of Abuja was fun-filled. We played, we went to the library in Area 2 (sometimes we are there before the library is opened and we would read till 5pm when it closes), we visited Old Parade Ground, we went to night clubs (Safari in NNHH and Dazzle in Sheraton), we played football, basketball at UTC, we did workouts in the morning. In fact, I was on a morning routine exercise the day the 1990 Coup occurred. I didn’t know there was a coup until I got to Area 10 and was told (politely) by a soldier to go back home, after he told me what was happening in Lagos. Strangely, that day I didn’t listen to the radio before leaving home and as I jogged northwards, I saw very few people also doing workouts but not up to 5 people right from Area 1 up to Area 10, which was typical of Abuja of mid 80s. The old Abuja can be sleepy, almost like a deserted city early in the morning and late night, but it was a safe city, very safe.

 

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