Mararaba, a sprawling slum town at the gateway to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from the North East corridor is known for chaotic traffic which leads to constant gridlock on the Keffi-Abuja Expressway.
The town, which is in Karu Local Government of Area of Nasarawa State borders Nyanya, a satellite town in the FCT, with the same urban infrastructure deficit as Mararaba.
Interestingly, recently female soldiers drafted from the newly created Nigerian Army Women Corps (NAWC) have been battling to bring sanity to the road corridor.
Daily Trust observed that before the stern looking female soldiers were deployed to manage traffic at the Mararaba Bus Stop, gridlock would keep motorists going to or coming back from work in Abuja on the road for over an hour.
The female soldiers also enforce the use of the pedestrian bridge. They apprehend and dish out punishment to pedestrians who dash across the road within few metres of the bridge. Offenders are made to stand at attention and raise up their hands for a long time or are made to squat on the ground.
“The traffic situation here used to be so disorderly, and when the soldiers came, we heaved a sigh of relief. If you are coming back from work in the evening, from 05:00pm to 08:00pm, you could spend at least an hour from the stretch between Nyanya and Mararaba Bus Stop,” Mr. Charles Ateke, an estate surveyor, who plies the road daily, said.
“Now, there are days you spend a maximum of 15 minutes from Nyanya to Mararaba because the soldiers, very young women, are punishing recalcitrant drivers who park on the road to discharge passengers,” he added.
Another motorist, Tony Chukwelu, said since the soldiers assumed the duty of controlling traffic on the road he felt at ease closing from work in the evening.
“Apart from unruly drivers, I feel everybody who plies this road likes to see the women soldiers controlling traffic.
“I personally like the discipline they enforce on the road. The traffic situation is mainly caused by indiscipline on the part of drivers, especially commercial drivers and tricycle riders. So it is good that they are punishing them,” he added.
However, Chukwelu said the soldiers had of recent not been regularly posted on the road, adding that anytime they were not there, it took up to an hour to get out of the gridlock.
Daily Trust observed that when the soldiers apprehend a driver violating parking regulations, they (drivers) are most times made to climb the roof of their vehicles, stand there and wave continuously to the public.
Daily Trust learnt that a number of factors are responsible for the gridlock, and prominent among them is the indiscipline of motorists who park on the road to discharge passengers, pedestrians who refuse to use the bridge and run across the road to cross it and lack of transit infrastructure like parking lot in the heavily populated town.
Traffic management is the work of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the police, but the two agencies have been overwhelmed by the situation in Mararaba over the years.
A policeman who spoke with our reporter under condition of anonymity, said the bus stop was infested with hoodlums and that anytime the police and FRSC personnel tried to enforce traffic regulations, the offenders in cohort with the hoodlums, would descend on them.
A trader near the bus stop, Sani Abdullahi, said the soldiers’ presence had also helped in checking the crime rate in the vicinity.
“Mararaba Bus Stop which has been notorious for handbag snatching, phone theft and pick pocketing is becoming safer now because of the presence of the soldiers.
“The hoodlums who perpetrate the crimes are now afraid that if they are caught they would be severely dealt with by the no-nonsense soldiers,” Abdullahi explained.
A cross section of residents who spoke to Daily Trust expressed appreciation to the female soldiers for working hard to bring orderliness to the Mararaba road corridor and also expressed great admiration for their doggedness in enforcing discipline on the road.
Some of the residents urged the soldiers not to relent in clearing the road of congestion and enforcement of the use of the pedestrian bridge.
“What they are doing here is admirable and it is a reminder that if all Nigerians are disciplined and law-abiding, service delivery would improve and there would be less suffering for most Nigerians,” Dossy Dennis, a resident, said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, explained the rationale behind the creation of NAWC when it was inaugurated in April, 2019.
Gen. Buratai said the NAWC concept was to harness the potentials of female officers and soldiers to build a force ready to support army operations and engagements.
He spoke in Jos in a keynote address at the maiden NAWC Training Week and explained that events in the country had necessitated constant improvement of the security apparatus which was one of the major policy thrusts of the Buhari administration.
Gen. Buratai said, “The dynamics of army operations in this dispensation are such that the female personnel cannot be left behind. They are vital to the attainment of the army’s operational objectives, especially in the North East where women and girls involved in the insurgency as either victims or villains require specific female attention.
“There is no gain saying the fact that there are some military operations such as psychological operations, in which the female officers and soldiers by their gender excel over men.”
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