Where's My Kubwa?

This article, written by Collins Uma, won the First prize in our Writing Competition  

I lived in Abuja for over two years, from late 2007 when I graduated from Benue State University to 2010 when I got a job outside my Abuja. Yes, it is MY Abuja. I have lived in a lot of places but I've never felt at home anywhere as I do whenever I am in Abuja. In between these years I did the mandatory NYSC, Batch B 2008/2009. I was posted to Abuja so all I needed to do was take a bike from my house in Federal Housing, Kubwa, to the NYSC camp.

Being able to move around on bikes was one of the little 'perks' of living in a suburb like Kubwa, even car owners found it much cheaper than driving around. It still is. By the way, in the first place, living in Kubwa meant that one really cared about costs. A friend of mine who lived in Maitama and hadn't needed the services of a commercial motorcyclist for years often came over to visit because, according to her, getting on those bikes made her feel she was in Nigeria more than anything in Maitama did. I wouldn't know about that because, to me, even the air I breathe is somehow uniquely Nigerian, different from the air in other countries.

In the last weekend of November I was in Kubwa - the last time I visited was in 2011 - and I got a shock I'm yet to get over. Where were the dusty roads known as the Kubwa expressway that made me not wear white for two years? Where were the 'Gala' and 'Lacasera' and handkerchief sellers who ran beside the vehicles to sell their wares at great risk to their lives? How did these roads become four express lanes on each side? When did these neatly and aesthetically arranged yet fully functional streetlights arrive here? What in God's name happened to Dutse Junction? Who would have thought a flyover could be built between here and Kubwa Federal Housing junction? And all these in just two years?

The friend I travelled with could not believe it when I said it used to take me one hour to drive from Wuse to Kubwa. My brother tells us that they just woke up one morning to see a miracle of a road that led directly from the express into Phase 3. The miracle for me remains the disappearance of the dusty Kubwa express.

The two years I spent travelling on those dusty roads daily will forever remain in my memory. I guess I should have taken some pictures of that road, but who would have thought the dust, the traffic gridlock, and the market that was created by the holdup would disappear this soon?

As I write this we have just driven past the Lafia-Akwanga road, heading back to Abuja, from Makurdi. There is an accident on one side but the road is so narrow that we had to turn back and drive on the portion still under construction. The Lafia-Akwanga express has been under construction for as long as I can remember.

Successive administrations have raised hopes for its expansion and elimination of the dangerous bends. These hopes remain just that. Hope. One day contractors are mobilised, rocks are blasted and construction begins. The next day they're gone. After a while, that cycle is repeated. So much media attention has been given to the Lagos-Ibadan road, the East-West road, and even the Lokoja-Abuja road, but the Lafia-Akwanga road is equally important, regardless of the media neglect. Not a few lives have been lost on that road by commuters going into or leaving Abuja. 

I believe this same administration that took care of my dusty Kubwa express can do something finally about this road. Or should we wait for the railway? Abeg, leave stori. Meanwhile, Kubwa express here I come!