In such communities, good road is a luxury, potable water a mirage and secondary school education hardly accessible to the few due to the long distance and cost of transportation.
Giri community is an urban slum in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Located along Zuba-Gwagwalada Road, the community exemplifies one of such communities that have no government amenities, making life difficult and short.
Apart from the problem of insufficient or lack of infrastructure, Giri residents lament the loss of their farmlands to the FCT Administration, has allocated their land to powerful individuals in the territory for commercial and residential purposes.
Chief of Giri community Mohammed Alabachi said that large portions of the community’s land have been allocated to University of Abuja.
“Compensations were not paid to us, often times we are left at the mercy of those who acquire the lands, they give out a token to farmers who hitherto used the land for farming,” he said while describing the plights of the residents.
Coming into the community from the strategic Giri junction, one is greeted by a rough, crooked road, signalling the state of life of the residents and the dearth of infrastructural amenities in the area.
Some residents who spoke to Aso Chronicle did recall their experiences. Gbenga Solomon narrated that the community has been grappling with electricity problem until last year when it improved a bit through the efforts of Gwagwalada Area Council Chairman, Abubakar Jibrin Giri.
According to him, Giri provided some transformers to improve power supply in the community.
He said that the community still grapples with other infrastructure challenges. “For instance,” he said, “we don’t have pipeborne water here and there is no good road leading to the village, no good public hospital here but there is a private clinic.”
The chief, however, said the myth of witches and wizards attributed to the area is connected to an outbreak of a deadly cholera in the area sometimes in the year 2000. He said that through prayers, it was discovered that the witches were responsible for the disease and many trees were cut down to curb the cholera spread.
Another resident, Salihu Kachallo-Iko, said the residents also grapple with the challenge of potable water. He said that most residents buy water from water vendors in the community.
He said people sometimes resort to the use of water from a nearby Giri River, despite its unhygienic nature, adding:
“The sad thing is that people still defecate at the banks of the river because most of the houses in Giri are built without toilet facilities, a situation which leaves residents with no option than to excrete at the banks, especially in the rainy season when people are not ready to defecate in the bush.”
Our reporter observed that herdsmen also bring their cattle to drink water from the river. Pigs were seen feeding around the swamps of the river.
Our reporter’s glimpse also captured some women throwing parcels suspected to be their babies’ diapers into the river.
The state of the water, though flowing, leaves much to be desired from the government by the residents, blaming the water for causing some skin infections.
Despite the dearth of infrastructure, the population of the community is growing daily with more houses springing up.
Giri chief, Mohammed Alabachi, said: “Giri is a major connection to people going to the city centre [Abuja], Lokoja and even Zuba. The area has a history of serving as a centre of convergence of commuters going in and out of Abuja.”
Joan Bulus said that despite lack of infrastructure in Giri, FCT residents still relocate to the community because of demolition exercises in some areas, especially the city centre.
The 97-year-old traditional ruler, Mohammed Alabachi, said that the community is bedevilled by lack of amenities needed to make life meaningful.
He said the area has no roads, hospital, senior secondary school and potable water. He called on the Gwagwalada Area Council and Federal Capital Territory Administration to come to their aid as a way of improving their lives and giving them a sense of belonging.
He, however, commended the area council boss, Hon. Giri, for assisting in improvement of electricity supply in the domain.
Speaking further, he said, after the outbreak of cholera some years ago which led to the death of many residents, the community requested for a clinic during the administration of Zakari Angulu Dobi. The clinic was built but is not enough to serve the community, he said.
Alabachi, turbaned as the chief of the community 38 years ago, said the community derived its name, Giri, from a stream where early hunters who later settled “here” used to set local traps called “igiri”.
He said: “It was a white man who came here and asked of the name of the stream and they told him, it’s called ‘igiri’ (because the trap was usually at river banks) but the white man just wrote ‘giri’ and that was how this settlement became known as Giri.”
As both the residents and their ruler have stated, Giri community is in need of basic infrastructures to improve lives of people who are vulnerable to diseases as they continue to make use of water from the Giri for washing, bathing and other domestic uses. After battling supernatural forces to contain outbreak of cholera 14 years ago, another preventable cholera epidemic should not be allowed to threaten lives in the community.
Perhaps, their highest hope to get attention and succour may be now when their own son, Hon. Giri, is serving as Gwagwalada Area Council boss.
