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MEMORIES FROM PYANKASA, AVBIELE AND BENIN CITY
Twenty four hours before making the trip to Benin City, Edo State, I decided to visit a reverend gentleman friend of mine who lives in Pyankasa Village. Pyankasa is one of the many villages like Aleta, Kushigworo, Karmajiji, Lugbe, Soka – located off the airport road in Abuja. Most Nigerians who come to Abuja seeking to wade through the Nigerian thoroughfare, and who seek what can loosely be termed the golden fleece live in these villages. Accommodation in the city centre here is a no-no, except perhaps you are willing to part with as much as N800,000 to N900,000 monthly as rent. These villages are usually as unplanned as they can be, and it is usually a regular occurrence to find effluent flowing right across your doorstep.
When I lived in Pyankasa, life appeared a bit better that all the other villages. This was 2012 to 2015. There were private and public schools, a good primary health care centre, a police post, and a magistrate court. The streets were untarred, and power was verily intermittent. I was often to regret coming home to the dark and undulating thoroughfares lined with dirt, sewage and disorder. The only roads that were tarred were the ones leading to the village and no more.
But on 2 October 2023 as I approached Pyankasa, I thought I was lost. But here it was and indeed it was the Pyankasa of old. On both sides of the Pyankasa road, I saw the many things that were not there before – the beautiful estates nearby, the schools and the irregular shopping centres. The dirt road leading to the village had been tarred, and as I got to the village proper, I was to stare in wonder at the sleek roads within. After I was done with my friend, I took a walk around the village.
Walking down to the main road, I found that nearly every road had been tarred, akin to what I had seen in some villages in Europe. The villagers told me that they were lucky to have one of theirs at the helm of affairs who took the development of their village to heart.
Most of what I saw about the sleek roads in Pyankasa has been subject of quarrels between me and some of my Edo brethren. For over five years, I have tried to draw attention to state of the roads in Edo State. At first it seemed as though I was a lone voice in the wilderness, but matters came to a head after the convoy of Governor Godwin Obaseki was stuck in one of the roads in Benin City overtaken by flood.
My trip to Edo State from Abuja on 3rd October 2023 appeared smooth, until we got to Avbiele in Edo State and had to take a detour into the town to avoid the ruined federal road. If you were to compare Avbiele to Pyankasa in terms of size, population and historical antecedents, you are likely to agree that Avbiele by far stands head and shoulders above Pyankasa. But Avbiele has no roads, it is riddled with undulating gullies and thoroughfares. The journey from Abuja to Auchi had taken us less than three hours, but we spent the next five hours meandering though one thoroughfare or the other on this axis of Edo State.
We arrived Benin City completely broken, traumatized and shattered. Veering off the airport road in Benin City into the innards of this ‘city’, I was to find as well that many roads in Benin City, and beyond, are in bad shape.
Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku, editor in chief/publisher WADONOR, cultural voice of Nigeria
