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| Areal Photo of Akwanga from Google Photos |
Nassarawa State is one of Nigeria’s thirty-six states. It is located in the North-Central region, touching Kaduna and Plateau to the North and Abuja and Benue to the South.
From an
indistinct past, the town has carved out the reputation of a stopover for
people travelling in all directions. Additionally, there is College of Education Akwanga that has pulled people from far and near. The town, thus,
becomes an enduring imprint in their hearts.
Sadly,
Akwanga is a paradox of sorts –iconic, yet forgotten. Given its popularity in
the country, Akwanga shouldn’t be in the cold. This, sadly, is what you see
when you pass through the town. Why has the town been left in the cold? When
governors come, why aren’t they able to see that Akwanga, by its special place
and the fact that humans live in it, should have been transformed for the good
of Nassarawa State and the joy of the people who pass through it? So, what have
past leaders of Nassarawa State been doing that is bigger than the subject of
building Akwanga? We could say that they are either selfish or don’t have the
eyes to see the necessity of its renewal.
When one
talks about Akwanga, the picture that comes to mind is of that small
roundabout, the business area. It is a small space that sadly accommodates the
scale of activities of a big town. It is, thus, distended and bulging with
cracks manifesting. Hence, the impression that one gets is that of a human
jungle. From this, it is rational to say that, from way back, there have been
expectations of expansion and the addition of physical brilliance. But the
decades scrolled by with nothing changing. The Akwanga situation mirrors the
character of Nigerian country towns, and we are speaking for all of them.
The outcome
is a country jungle of sorts. In that tight space, there are women selling fura
da nono, dudes roasting suya, fuelling stations, auto-mechanic
workshops that spill greases everywhere, motor parks, trodden litters from used
plastic bags, scores of school-age girls dashing back and forth with bowls of kunu
to cope with orders, and hoodlums on eroded road shoulders, scheming to pull
out the guts of your pockets. Ninety per cent of these humans walk with the air
of ignorance, a situation that stabs the heart of a deeply conscious human.
In Nigeria,
when we get educated, we don’t seem to know its purpose. Since independence, we
have run Nigeria without a purpose –we don’t seem to have something we intend
to achieve. The decades will roll past, trillions will be squandered and yet
the towns, people and everything else remain as crude as they had been for the
past one hundred years.
I wish I
was the Governor and ruler of Nassarawa State, the A. A. Sule. If I were, I
would have embarked on a careful demolition to create space that allows the
town to take in air. Then I will design a plan that ensures that the banks,
auto mechanic workshops, motor parks, fuelling stations, comfort rooms, hotels,
restaurants, and everything else are exclusively built and spaced, creating a
town of sparkle that is the pride Akwangans, Nassarawas and the people that
pass through.
