The Abujan Kwata is a well-known and familiar name on the outskirts of the Bauchi metropolis, but the twist of irony about this area is that it is one of the totally neglected parts of the state.
Arewa PUNCH reports that Abujan Kwata is where the stark reality of abandonment and the negligence of a self-acclaimed progressive government is very evident.
This community has been left in its deplorable state for several years, with a totally collapsed two-kilometer road connecting Abujan Kwata, Nasarawan Dawaki, and Mongoroji to the main road, thus, making road travel a daunting task.
That is not all – the absence of essential amenities like primary schools and hospitals have turned the lives of residents into a daily struggle for survival.
Further investigations by our correspondent exposed the harsh realities faced by the people of Abujan Kwata and other neighbouring communities begging for the urgent intervention of the state government to restore hope and dignity to this forgotten community.
Despite its seemly obvious proximity to the Bauchi city center, it will take one a 20-minute ride on a motorbike to traverse the 2.2-kilometer road from Kofar Wambai to Abujan Kwata-Nasawarn Dawaki-Mangoroji, which connects to the new bypass linking Gombe and Maiduguri highways.
There is no denying the fact that this area personifies a remote village, lacking all the basic amenities.
The community leader, Alhaji Zakariya’u Abdullahi, who is the Mai Unguwa of Nasarawan Dawaki in the Dawaki ward, during an exclusive chat with Arewa PUNCH about the struggles and hardship the residents must face in accessing their homes, especially during rainfall, due to the deplorable state of the road, lamented that, “The community’s efforts to contribute sand in other to fill the road, as well as promises by successive governments to fix has all been to no avail.”
Abdullahi noted further that, “The lack of a health centre in the area, despite its large population, thus making it difficult to transport the sick to nearby hospitals is another trouble the adjourning communities also suffer.”
Also speaking the Chairman of the Nasarawan Dawaki Community Development Association, Umar Gambo Jibrin shared an account of how a fire incident engulfed a house, but firefighters couldn’t access the area due to the bad road, a situation which led to significant losses.
He recalled that “During the 2023 election campaigns, the Secretary to the Bauchi State Government promised to address their plight if the administration was re-elected for a second term of office. However, in spite of the peoples’ mass mobilisation to reelect the sitting administration, residents continue to suffer.”
Another resident, Malam Bala Abdulkadir Habibullah, bemoaned the fact that his children must travel six kilometers daily to access primary education, as there is no government primary school in the area.
He emphasised that “if not for the importance I place on education, I would consider not sending the children to school due to the dangers they face daily on their way to school in Shekal, Zannuwa, or Bakaro,” he remarked.