Sights, sounds and smells of Kaduna’s Kawo Bridge

The stench of urine welcomes one on approaching Kaduna’s Kawo Bridge. This is because the place serves as a public toilet to the large crowd of people transacting one business or the other under and around it. Apparently not minding the smell, hawkers, labourers, beggars, food vendors, taxi and bus drivers, as well as tricycle operators, popularly known as Keke NAPEP riders, come there to earn their daily bread. 
Constructed by the government of then-governor Ahmed Makarfi, the bridge was expected to ease the traffic congestion around Kaduna metropolis, but years after its construction, the bridge has become a beehive for buyers and sellers and even petty crime. However, no-one sleeps under the bridge because it is adjacent 1 Division Army Headquarters.
Traders, especially those into the sale of rubber shoes and slippers have practically taken over the sidewalk and turned them into shops where they display their wares, preventing pedestrians from having access.
Daily Trust also gathered that all is not well in routes surrounding the bridge as cases of accidents which have resulted in some deaths have been recorded because motorists try to manoeuvre through the hustle and bustle of the area.
Abdullahi Abdulkarim has been selling rubber shoes and slippers under Kawo Bridge for the past three years and revealed he has achieved a lot for himself since he started the trade at that particular location.
“Before, I used to sell my goods at Unguwan Mu’aza and at times for two to three days I will not sell anything. I got so frustrated that I confided in a friend who advised me to move to this place and the rest is history. Because of the influx of people into Kawo Motor Park, business is good,” he said, adding that the challenge they are presently facing is the fact that they have heard the government has plans to push them out of the area. Mu’azu pointed out that they are family men and have responsibilities to live up to, but admitted that a lot of petty theft takes place of items such as phones. But he pleaded with the government to help them by letting them be.
Asked if there are rampant cases of pedestrians being involved in accidents along the road, he said recently a woman was hit by a car while crossing the road but only sustained injuries.
A merchant, Alhaji Samaila Gogori, who sells items including rings, earrings, cooking utensils and traditional medicine, after lamenting the heat of the sun, said the exhaust fumes coming from vehicles is threatening his 35-year-old trade because it is dangerous to health. “But we have no option than to continue sitting here to earn a living,” he intimated, adding that they tried to get shops owned by Kawo Motor Park, but were unsuccessful because everything has been politicized.“It is only when you know someone that favours will be given to you. So I decided to sit here in the sun to earn a living because I cannot leave my family to starve,” Gogori added.
Muhammad Abubakar, 72, is one of the oldest traders along the road. He has been trading there for the past 65 years. He said: “The present government should know that the poor masses voted them into government and they should put them into consideration when making some laws. This is where I have been all these years. I have been using this trade to take care of my two wives and 15 children.
“The government is asking us to leave this place and we have nowhere to go,” he said, adding that if he is asked to leave the place without an option, he will die of frustration because not knowing where his next meal will come from will be a challenge.
Abubakar gave the example of his colleague, Tasiu Ado, a shoe repairer who comes all the way from Kano State to earn a living under the bridge.
Describing what a typical day is like for him, Ado said he comes out every day and wait for customers. “Especially with the motor park close by, people will definitely need to fix their shoes,” he said, adding that he does not face any major challenges, except when he does not make sales on slow days and that “as a poor person, no one will want to lend you money, so if you do not make sales on a particular day, you might have to go to bed hungry.”
 A groundnut seller, Rabi Salisu, said business under the bridge was just fair. “It is not like business here is booming as the cluster of hawkers suggests. It’s just that one is optimistic. With the influx of people plying the road from different locations around the country, one would think that business will boom and I guess that is why most of us are here.
“We are attracted by the traffic gridlock that sometimes lasts for an hour, especially when there were checkpoints around the area. While people are stranded on the road they tend to patronize hawkers, but today, with the checkpoint gone, the business here is not as good as it used to be,” she said.
On her part, Sayiba Umar, a 70-year-old beggar, said she was pushed into begging when her husband died her children were still very young. “I have no regrets because from this, I have married off my two daughters and I can provide for myself. Alhamdulillah, there have been no challenges for me in this spot I have been occupying,” she said.