Mararaba-Check-Nyanyan-Point

Abuja is a wonderful place to live in especially if you have experienced lasgidi traffic in its full glory. A first timer in abuja would be amazed that full business activities doesn't begin until around 9am, and transportation is very hassle free until say 7:30am which is a sharp contrast to Lagos. Moreso, the way Abuja has been designed, the low income earners have been made to reside in satellite towns such as Lugbe, Kubwa, Kuje, Zuba, Mararaba-Nyanyan axis.

A good place to enjoy and feel the lasgidi traffic incase you are missing it, is the Mararaba-Nyanyan axis. It's the most busy environment in the whole of the North(Sabon gari market road,linking Ibrahim Taiwo road ,will come a distance second) because it's a gateway to low cost of living and also linking other states such as Plateau,Nassarawa,Benue state.

Mararaba-Nyanyan axis accounts for a sizeable percentage of the working class in Abuja because it offers a pocket friendly house rent, foodstuff, daily needs and transportation. Thus, a breakdown by a car or truck or accident poses a big threat to movement in and around the axis. situations have occurred that people get home late in the night as a result of a truck falling on its side along the road.

It has all the thrills and feels of a busy metropolise and you better be on your way home early enough to avoid....you catch the drift. A new twist was added when Army Checkpoints were erected in the wake of the 2014,April 14 bomb blast which left scores dead and injured. One is found on the Nyanyan bridge, another by the Karu bridge while a grand checkpoint is found on the express just after passing the Karu bridge heading back into Abuja town. Movement along the axis became strenuous and intimidating due to activities of the soldiers on the road who diligently search vehicles. I remember being stuck in this traffic for more than 5hrs in the afternoon on my way back from Kurudu-Jikwoyi-Karu area with my car AC bad and the sun was dancing in the sky in full splendour. You could be lucky to spend just two hours going and coming from the axis on a good day while it could be worse ,sometimes especially during the Market day of the area.

While many have commended the federal government for the removal of the checkpoint around the country due to the untold hardship been experienced in areas where such existed, it should be pointed out that the reasons for their existence are still with us. Therefore, we are left to decide which of the two evils we are ready to live with:

NO CHECKPOINT - vulnerability to attack but tree flow of traffic.

CHECKPOINT - curtails activities of insurgency but invariably causes TRAFFIC GRIDLOCK.

My opinion is that the Checkpoints should have remained until we have won the war against insurgency so that there can be peace and lack of fear. Sometimes, we have to suffer hardship to achieve that which will enable and ensure a better society in the long term. Though no amount of checkpoint will restore the lives which has been lost, its existence has greatly secured the city.